1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



45 



script as a memorial of iiis visit, and of his kind 

 and fatherly advice. 



" No," he said, "' I want that sermon for my 

 own use." 



After he left his room the next morning I saw 

 lying upon the floor a sheet of common writing- 

 paper, foldfd so as to be hardly larger than the 

 palm of my hand, the leaves being fastened to- 

 gether with a crooked pin. Showing it to Dr. 

 Braiiiard I said, " I feel strongly tempted to se- 

 crete this paper, but I suppose it must be re- 

 turned to Mr. Beecher." 



"Not at all.'' he replied. " Dr. Beecher will 

 never think of it again. Of course, if he asks 

 you for it you must give it up." 



He never inquired for it ; and, with its old 

 pin undisturbed, it was in my possession over 4:.* 

 years, until, at the earnest request of one of the 

 professors, I presented it to the library of Wa- 

 bash College, Indiana. Few indeed are the 

 persons who could make much, that would re- 

 semble the original, out of the scrawled manu- 

 script of that wonderful discourse. 



I can not resist the temptation to give a short 

 description of a laughable interlude which took 

 place the next morning, in the lecture-room of 

 the Theological Seminary. An appointment 

 had been made for Dr. Beecher, who was then 

 Professor of Theology in Lane Seminary, Ohio, 

 to address the students on the religions wants 

 of the West. After a stirring appeal to the 

 young men to "* go West." the doctor asked Mr. 

 Brainard to make some further remarks, and 

 resumed his chair upon the platform. For a 

 while he listened with fixed attention*; and 

 then, apparently forgetting every thing else, he 

 tcjok from one of his pockets a penknife. He 

 first tried its edge on one of his fingers, and 

 then, propping one of his legs upon the other, 

 he began very vigorously to give his knife the 

 desired edge by using the sole of his boot as a 

 whetstone. Several times he tried the edge 

 again upon his finger, until at last he seemed 

 satisfied with his job, and returned the knife to 

 his pocket. His attitude, after this perform- 

 ance, was just the same as before, and no doubt 

 he himself was unconscious of this curious dis- 

 play. L. L. Langstkoth. 



Dayton. Ohio. 



Continued. 



THE NEVER-FAILING Ci) BASSWOOD. 



HOAV A WISCONSIN BEE-KEEPEK SI'LIC'ED OUT 



A POOR season; notes on rambler. 



Editor Gleanings: — Having been taught a 

 never-to-be-forgotten lesson on the instability 

 of worldly things (this year), and having per- 

 sonally visited a large number of the apiaries 

 of Grant, Crawford, and Vernon Counties, dur- 

 ing the past autumn. I think I may be able to 

 place a few ideas in readable shape before your 

 readers. 



You see. aftor Ifi years of experience in these 

 basswood foi-ests. and only one partial failure 

 in the honey-flow from that source. I naturally 

 became conceited that my locality, at least, 

 was infallible. So last spring when we set out 

 our 3(X) colonies in good condition, I said, " Now 

 I will put out two acres of raspberries and 

 blackberries, and begin the construction of a 

 large and commodious house there. After the 

 honey season I will complete it through the aid 

 of my little workers." I accomplished my 

 part all right; but the bees failed to connect- 

 not only failed to finish my house, but failed to 

 give surplus enough to eat on one mess of bis- 

 cuit; but, instead, drew on us for .5 bbls. of 

 McKinley sugar to complete their winter 

 stores. The season left me in possession of one 



fact; namely, that it is possible for the honey 

 crop to fail, even in Southwes'ern Wisconsin. 



When speculating as to the cause of the 

 deai'th of honey I should like to borrow Dr. 

 Miller's term, " I don't know." The basswood 

 bloom was fresh and luxuriant in the valleys, 

 and all the conditions seemed normal during 

 basswood bloom, for the 



Rain had ceased to pour 

 About a week before; 

 And the days and nights were hot. 

 But the nectar, it was naught. 

 The electric feeling, it was there. 

 But honey here is very rare. 



There, I never knew till this minute that I 

 was a poet. 



I suppose the excessive rains had something 

 to do with it. I heard one discomfited farmer 

 say that it rained 40 days in May and 45 in 

 June; but I have since thought he must have 

 meant times instead of days. After meeting 

 with this complete failure in my honey crop I 

 was confronted with the fact that the house 

 would have to be finished next season, and that 

 five healthy and vigorous children would need 

 considerable to eat and we^r, besides a lot of 

 schoolbooks, before another season. So, guided 

 by the axiom that "a man is not always licked 

 when he is down," I took an agency from the 

 old reliable Richland Co. Nursery and com- 

 menced work two months ago. I have not only 

 earned $100 per Tnonth for myself, but have 

 greatly enlarged my circle of acquaintance; 

 seen the ruins of scores of small apiaries, but 

 found out that my own locations were among 

 the poorest for this season. Out of some 1500 

 colonies that I visited, only four had taken any 

 surplus. ^ly friend (and neighbor) Mr. A. G. 

 Wilson, had taken a small surplus from .50 colo- 

 nies he had moved down the Kickapoo River to 

 Wooster, in Crawford Co. Mr. J. W. Van Allen, 

 of Haney. had also taken a little; also friend 

 Dexter, of Boscobel, had a small quantity. But 

 Mr. A. A. Armes, of Hurlbut, Crawford Co., 

 had done the best of any one I have heard from 

 in this part of the State. He secured some 45 

 lbs. per colony. 



I found the conditions much the same in all 

 the apiaries I visited. The stores showed that 

 the bees had worked diligently all summer, for 

 their stores were made up of a small mixture 

 each of every thing, from apple bloom to aster; 

 although the best yield being in the fall, it 

 makes the honey average dark. It is a novel 

 sight for me to look into the brood-nest and 

 see nearly all of the winter stores dark honey. 

 I never saw it before in this section of the 

 country. 



.Vdjacent to the above-named apiaries I saw 

 considerable of the so-called fireweed growing 

 where fire had run over the ground last spring. 

 This. too. is something new for this country, 

 and I suppose partly accounts for their small 

 surplus. Many more bees will die this winter, 

 which will nearly rid the country of imitators, 

 who declare they intend to keep bees enough 

 for their own use only, but still keep from 20 to 

 30 colonies in the field, and all they accomplish 

 is to use up the pasture and produce, and get a 

 few small dauby lots of honey, which they 

 use to spoil prices with instead of using it up 

 in their families, and giving it away to their 

 neighbors, which is all it is fit for. The pains- 

 taking bee-keepers have their bees equalized, 

 fed (if necessary), and snugged away for win- 

 ter, and we have again pinned our faith to 

 them, hoping they will do better next season 

 than the last. 



I wish to say here, that my experience with 

 the score or more of men who keep bees that I 

 have visited in the last two months is verv 



