20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



an exorbitant price for an inferior or foul- 

 broody apiary, he inveigled one of our leading 

 apiarists into leasing him a choice ranch on 

 terms exceedingly favorable to " ye traveling 

 man.'" Then, instead of staying at homeland 

 herding his bugs like a respectable bee-man, 

 this Rambler developed a decided mania for 

 spying out the country and making remarks 

 more or less vile about the inhabitants thereof, 

 through the pages of Gleanings. 



But, " the worm will turn;" '* the galled jade 

 winces," and I kick. The cinch pinches, and I 

 buck. Rambler knows from sad experience 

 what that means. 



Neighbor Fergtison and I took Rambler's 

 account of the Grayback trip good-naturedly; 

 but when that shameful " California Flap-jack 

 Act " appeared, there was a " blood on the face 

 of the moon.'" Then good Dr. Miller suggested 

 the propriety of pulling down my vest and 

 hunting a wife, or words to that effect, and this 

 last " straw "' had the proverbial effect of dis- 

 locating the spinal column of the patient 

 camelus. Then came a letter of inquiry from a 

 chap " 'way down in Tennessee." who chuckled 

 over my discomfiture, and I realized the neces- 

 sity of using some ink— of "shooting my dye- 

 stuff,'" so to speak. However, the Rambler 

 poured oil on the troubled waters by sending 

 me a letter in which he inclosed some "croco- 

 dile tears," expressed regret at the mischief he 

 had done, and explained that Gleanings' artist 

 was responsible for the unholy display of tongue 

 on page 768, to which Dr. Miller alludes in 

 words " writ sarcastic.'" Is it possible that, in 

 their laudable efforts to produce a race of long- 

 tongued bees, the Gleanings outfit have got 

 " side-tracked." and are trying to produce a 

 longer-tongued hee-heeper f And would the 

 new feature be extended to the bee-keeper's 

 wife? Heaven forbid! 



Now, Gleanings for Dec. 1st lies before me; 

 and after reading Bro. Root"s advice on page 

 898 I am constrained to make some remarks. 

 Uncle Amos' suggestion of suicide as a possi- 

 ble means of escape for such unhappy mortals 

 as myself is doubtless a good scheme; but I 

 could never do it during the watermelon season 

 — never! 



Bro. Root speaks of " lonely ranches where 

 bee-men stay year in and year out." Those 

 men are doubtless the ones who trouble the 

 conscience of the senior editor. Personally I 

 have had little experience of that sort, and 

 have usually spent more than half the year in 

 a very different line of business, and my apia- 

 rian life is a source of rest and change, as well 

 as pleasure and profit. One grows weary of the 

 restless struggle for existence in town and city, 

 where "man's inhumanity to man" is seen 

 oftener than the kindly "touch of nature" 

 that " makes the whole world kin," and wel- 

 comes the coming of the season when he can 

 " go off, 'way off,'" and for a few months revel 

 in the sunshine with " the blessed bees," beau- 

 tiful birds, and beloved books. Until reading 

 Bro. Root's advice I had fancied my simple 

 happy life in the companionship of kind old 

 Nature, who "ever faithful is to such as trust 

 her faithfulness," and " communes in various 

 ways " with them, rather harmless; and never 

 has the peal of church organ or chime from 

 cathedral spires inspired within my soul " so 

 calm, so deep, so holy a feeling " as came over 

 me when first I climbed the " tall cliff that lifts 

 its awful form " above the canyon where my 

 cabin now stands. I was hunting a " location," 

 and, leaving my pony at the foot of the moun- 

 tain, I reached the summit just as the sun 

 burst into view over old Grayback, and the 

 morning breeze tossed and rolled the sea of fog 

 that filled the valley below into great billows. 



till it looked as I have seen the ocean in a 

 storm. As the grandeur of the scene came over 

 me, lifting all that is best within me toward 

 the infinite, a sense of " the peace that passeth 

 understanding " came with it, and I exclaimed, 

 "Here we rest!" Yet Bro. Root thinks me a 

 miserable sinner, and "quotes Scripture'" to 

 sustain his position. What the sage of Medina 

 thinks is doubtless this: If in that wild canyon 

 a lonely bachelor can fUid health that makes 

 very existence a joy, sermons in its stones, old 

 friends in every llock of feathered visitors, a 

 constantly recurring benediction in its glorious 

 sunsets, and, above all, is raised to a sense of 

 oneness with the Unseen by the matchless 

 beauty of its summer nights, to what heights of 

 ecstasy might he not soar with a congenial 

 mate to share his joys and sorrows ? I believe 

 Uncle Amos is right, and must make haste to 

 " secure the substance ere the shadow pass- 

 eth,"" for surely the balmy winds would waft 

 to us a " breath from Eden's bowers,"' and " two 

 souls with but a single thought " would walk 

 in the garden, as did that first pair of which we 

 read in the front part of the Book. Often have 

 I wondered what purpose in the great economy 

 of nature that fig-tree has, that grows wild 

 below my cabin. Now I sabe! But right here 

 the Rambler gets in his wicked work, and ren- 

 ders vain my hopes of earthly paradise; for 

 what fair one would set foot in Wilder Canyon 

 after seeing the "California Flapjack Act'?"' 

 My chances would be better were said canyon 

 the regions described by Dante, with the legend 

 inscribed upon its rocky walls. " Leave hope 

 behind who enters here."' Verily I am out and 

 injured, and the Rambler is to blame. Mr. 

 Editor, please muzzle the " critter," or at least 

 keep him on a cliain, and don't permit him to 

 scatter all over the country in future. 



In closing, permit me to suggest that, if Mr. 

 Root would establish a matrimonial bureau at 

 Medina he would become a national benefactor, 

 and, it may be, ease his troubled conscience. 

 Children would rise up all over the country and 

 call him blessed! We need the gentler sex 

 in California, and could arrange to have them 

 sent to us in carload lots, F. O. B. (which means 

 For Old Bachelors like) H. E. Wilder. 



Riverside, Cal., Dec. 14. 



P. S. — I should be pleased to hear from any 

 lady bee-keeper who thinks that wilder sur- 

 roundings would be congenial. My canyon is 

 wild, and I am Wilder. 



THE DOVETAILED CHAFF HIVE. 



WHY AV. C. FRAZIER PREFERS IT AS A GENERAL- 

 ' PURPOSE HIVE. 



The best hive that has been put upon the 

 market up to the present time is the Dovetailed 

 chaff hive. This hive, as the name implies, is 

 dovetailed. It is made of three-eighths lumber, 

 double- walled, with a space of about 23.. inches 

 between the walls. This space can be filled 

 with sawdust, chaff, or, best of all, with ground 

 cork. The hive itself weighs only 4 lbs. more 

 than the single-walled hive. The cork packing 

 weighs only 4 lbs. extra, this making the hive 

 weigh only about 8 lbs. more when packed than 

 the single hive, and gives a hive that will pro- 

 tect bees on the summer stand in almost any 

 climate. But the greatest thing, and most ad- 

 vantage, is in having a hive that will protect 

 the bees in the spring. It is intended to use 

 this hive with a super on through the winter, 

 in which there is a chaff cushion. Some of us 

 don't find it convenient to use chaff cushions, 

 on account of the trouble to make them, the 

 time used in putting them on, and in removing 



