614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



of the apiary, and the slope of the grounds, etc., 

 Mr. Hutchinson says: 



From eight o'clock in the morninis: until lialf-past 

 one in tlie afternoon (when I left for home) tliere 

 was scarcely a moment when there was not a swarm 

 in the air, and sometimes two or three. Tliere were 

 queen-traps on almost all tlie hives. As two or 

 more swarms would unite and then go piling- into 

 one liive. perhaps one from which a swarm had not 

 issued, Mr. Taylor would remark with a smile, "I 

 wonder what Mr. So and So" (mentioning some 

 man who had said that bees always go back to their 

 own hives when the queen is not with them) "would 

 say if he were here now." 



We suspect that " Mr. So and So " means us ; 

 at any rate, we will assume that it does. We 

 did not say that bees would ''always go back to 

 their own hive" when the queen was not with 

 them ; but we did say, on page 275, that swarms 

 in the air. without queens, were "not nearly so 

 apt to unite." We have just been down to ask 

 our neighbor, Mr. Burt, his experience in this 

 line. He clips all his queens ; and although he 

 has a good many swarms he tells us that it is 

 very seldom that he finds that two swarms in 

 the air will unite. In the great majority of 

 cases, each swarm will go back to its own hive. 

 But then, friend Taylor, you know bees have a 

 way of doing things differently for different 

 bee-keepers. 



Later. — Since writing the above we ran 

 across one of Dr. Miller's straws (this issue) 

 wherein he says his bees '"are worse than usual 

 about uniting and going back to the wrong 

 hive when they swarm without a queen." We 

 suppose friend Taylor will smile broader than 

 ever when he reads that straw. Nevertheless, 

 Mr. So and So doesn't give up yet but that 

 swarms without a queen are more apt to go 

 back to the old location. 



ANOTHEK WHEELING-TOUR AMONG BEE-KEEP- 

 EKS; A VISIT AT H. R. BOAEDMAN'S. 



A FEW days ago a small party of wheelmen 

 invited your humble servant to accompany 

 them to Norwalk, a town some 43 miles west 

 of Medina. In the company was a cousin of 

 ours. Miss Gray, the only lady. Some fears 

 were entertained as to whether she would be 

 able to stand the trip; but we agreed to let her 

 set the pace, and accordingly she rode ahead, 

 taking such a pace as would be to her perfectly 

 easy. When we reached Litchfield, 10 miles 

 away, we found we had taken just one hour. 

 Wellington. 10 miles further on, we reached in 

 the same time; and still our lady pace-maker, 

 instead of being fatigued, was jubilant with 

 spirits, and eager to go on. However, we stop- 

 ped at the hotel for a half or three-quarters of 

 an hour. After resuming the journey the next 

 point we reached was Norwalk. 23 miles fur- 

 ther on, over roads less easy of travel. With 

 Miss Gray as pace-maker we made the time in 

 two hours and a half, making the whole jour- 

 ney of 43 miles in four hours and a half. Our 

 pace-maker was somewhat tired ; but after 

 dinner she seemed to be as fresh as ever, and 

 ready to finish her journey to Sandusky, mak- 

 ing a total of 70 miles. At Norwalk we left the 

 party to make our way back home, intending 

 on the wav to visit, perhaps a little out of our 

 road, Mr. "H. R. Boardman, a bee-keeper who 

 needs no introduction to the readers of Glean- 

 ings. Reaching his apiary at East Townsend we 

 found that the bees were still working strongly 

 on clover and basswood, and the merry hum of 

 thousands of workers was delightful indeed, for 

 so late as July 31. . We looked about the apiary 

 and saw no one. Finally we discovered one of 

 the helpers crating up honey in the honey- 

 house. We feared that Mr. Boardman might be 

 away — possibly at an out-apiary; but as for- 

 tune has usually favored us on these bicycle- 



tours, we were told by the young man that he 

 was in the house. A knock at the door brought 

 the response, "Come in I'" A moment more 

 found us in the presence of our East Townsend 

 bee-keeper apparently sending out bills for 

 honey shipped. We had given him no intima- 

 tion of our visit: and after he had recovered 

 from his surprise we began to talk bees at once. 

 We arrived there about 3 o'clock, and told our 

 friend that we could not remain long, as we 

 wished to get home that night, and there were 

 some 40 miles ahead of us. As usual, we found 

 our friend full of bee-talk. About the first 

 question we asked was, as to 



WHAT HAD BEEN THE HONEY-FLOW. 



"In some respects it has been remarkable," 

 said our friend. "My honey is not all off yet ; 

 but one of my men estimates that my crop of 

 comh honey will be somewhere about 10,000 lbs., 

 from one apiary of less than 175, spring count." 



" But you have more than one yard, haven't 

 you?" 



" Only the one. I had some forty colonies 

 last fall in an out-apiary, that I did not feel dis- 

 posed to put any more expense upon, and just 

 left them out of doors, to take their chances, 

 with the result that they nearly all died; and 

 what lived were too weak to be of any use. 

 But," said he, " I lost none at the respository 

 here at home, wintered on my plan." 



" Then," said we, " your loss was not due to 

 any fault of your method, but to lack of atten- 

 tion." 



"That is justit." 



As our time was limited we changed the con- 

 versation pretty often. We next asked our 

 host if he could explain why clover had begun 

 to yield in the good old-fashioned way this 

 year, and had failed to do so for the past four 

 or five years. 



"I don't know anything about it," he an- 

 swered. 



We then suggested the theory that all sorts 

 of crops have their cycles of four or five years 

 of yielding well, and also their cycles of yield- 

 ing little or nothing. 



" That is one of things that I ' don't know,' in 

 the language of Dr. Miller,'" said our friend. 

 " But I know." he continued. " that all kinds of 

 clovers have been yielding remarkably this sea- 

 son. Sweet clover seems to be doing more than 

 usual." 



" Yes," we remarked, " as we came along it 

 seemed to skirt the roadsides almost our entire 

 journey, and we observed that it was thickly 

 covered with bees. But how do you account 

 for the fact that these sweet clovers seem to 

 select the roadsides for so many miles? Down 

 in Medina they say, in spite of our protests, 

 that A. I. Root goes out nights scattering 

 sweet-clover seed along the roadsides." 



" Yes," said Mr. Boardman, " they are accus- 

 ing me of a similar thing. The fact is, the 

 seeds drop down by the roadside, and during 

 muddy weather they are picked up by wagon- 

 wheels and extended over miles of road." 



"There, there! you have given us a new 

 idea," we exclaimed. " We have tried before 

 to convince our Medina farmers that we did 

 not scatter the seeds; but here we have the 

 real explanation." 



" Yes,'" said Mr. Boardman. " within the last 

 few years sweet clovers have taken a wonder- 

 ful growth throughout the country. We never 

 used to see them.'" 



Again we changed the subject, for we desired 

 to pump our friend as much as we could before 

 we left. 



" Do you still cut out combs from the brood- 

 nest of your side-opening hive?" 



" I do," he replied, " but I am using more 



