1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



947 



•ed for packing are good enough so long as they 

 are dry when put in, and kept dry while it is 

 in; but there is a great difference in the value 

 of the various materials that are used for 

 filling the cushions. The best of these is card- 

 ed wool; next in order of value is cork dust. 

 Chaff should not be used. What is needed is 

 something that will transmit the moisture — not 

 absorb it. Dry sawdust, such as is made by 

 ripping up dry lumber in a factory, will serve 

 the purpose. I have tried all these, and I 

 found chaff cushions come off the hives in the 

 spring matted and mildewed, and those filled 

 with wool or cork dust come off as light and 

 dry as the day they were put on. 

 Owen Sound, Ont. 



AMONG THE BEE-KEEPERS OF WISCONSIN. 



By Httny Latlnop. 



On the 12th of Septem- 

 ber I started on a trip 

 through the basswood re- 

 gion of Southern Wiscon- 

 sin. A short account of 

 what I saw and heard 

 may be of interest to the 

 readers of Gleanings. 



Going first to Wauzeka. 

 Wis., situated on the Wis- 

 consin River, I there took 

 ihe Kickapoo Valley R. 

 R., which runs up the riv- 

 er 35 miles to a village 

 called Soldiers' Grove, 

 passing through Crawford 

 Co. The valley is narrow 

 in most places, with high 

 bluffs on each side, and 

 one can not see what is be- 

 yond these ridges as he 

 rides along. The bluffs abound in basswoods, 

 while the river-bottom is a tangle of fall flow- 

 ers. I met only one bee-keeper on the way up. 

 I talked with him a few moments while the 

 train stopped at a small station. He did not 

 appear to be a very advanced bee-keeper, and 

 said he did not take a bee-paper. I asked him 

 if he would take Gi.eanings. 

 " No," said he, " I don't like it." 

 I asked him why he did not like it, and he re- 

 plied. " There is too much Christ in it." 



How impossible it is to please everybody I 

 But I trust that this brother will soon change 

 his mind, and learn that Gleanings is his 

 friend, not only because it will help him to do 

 better with his bees, but because it Jkis Christ 

 in it. 



From Soldiers' Grove I took the stage to Vio- 

 la, 15 miles further up the river. From this 

 point the country becomes n.ore beautiful. The 

 hills remind one of the highlands of the Hud- 

 son below West Point, N. Y. There is a great 



abundance of thrifty basswoods; and the hill- 

 sides, being very steep, there will always be 

 much of it that will be left standing. 



The stage-driver, I ascertained, was also a bee- 

 keeper. He had about 20 colonies; did not take 

 a bee-paper; said he knew enough about bees 

 to carry him through. I thought I would test 

 him a little, and the following conversation 

 took place: 



" Mr. R., did you ever have any experience 

 with foul brood?" 



He hesitated a moment, and replied: 



" Yes, I had one case last year." 



" What do you consider the best way of treat- 

 ing it? " 



" I guess the best thing to do is to burn them 

 up. I burned one last year." 



I agreed with him that his treatment was all 

 right for foul brood, and he went on to say that 

 he rather thought he had a case of it in his yard 

 at that time, but had been too busy to attend to 

 it; " and," said he, " I have seen cases of it so 

 bad that they would lay a dozen eggs in one 

 cell.'' 



At this point I opened my eyes a little wider, 

 but concluded to say no more on the subject. 



In the vicinity of Viola there are several bee- 

 keepers who number their colonies by the hun- 

 dred, and usually produce good crops of honey. 



From Viola I went westward in Vernon Co. 

 to a point near Viroqua. Here I visited Mr. W. 

 M. Cox, who in times gone by has produced 

 some fine crops of honey. The poor seasons of 

 late have somewhat dampened his ardor, and 

 very much reduced his stock. But he intends 

 to build up again, and try to do better. He has 

 taken Gleanings for many years, and, unlike 

 the other man referred co above, he likes it be- 

 cause it has so much of Christ in it. and says it 

 has been a great help to him in hisChristian life. 



Returning to Viola, my friend and brother 

 John Willan, who is an evangelist in these 

 parts, took me with his pony team 15 miles fur- 

 ther up the river to a place called Rockton. We 

 saw many good locations for bee-keeping; great 

 quantities of basswood in the hills, and very 

 few bees kept. Some of the names in this val- 

 ley would bring a smile to the face of a judge. 

 At one place .John pointed to a small valley en- 

 tering from the east. "That,'" said he, "is 

 Goose Creek. A man of the name of Gander 

 used to preach there. On the hill to the north 

 lives a family of Drakes, and a short distance 

 in the other direction is a family of Goslins." 



How is that for a web-footed community? 



On returning to Viola I visited the home and 

 apiary of Mr. Andrew McCarty, the successor of 

 M. A. Gill, well known to the readers of Glean- 

 ings. Mr. McCarty has a beautiful home, a 

 good wife, and 2(X) colonies of bees, 100 of which 

 are in the home apiary, and the rest at a place 

 several miles down the river. He uses the 8- 

 frame Langstroth hive, and works exclusively 



