808 



GLEANINGS IN MKE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



MR. BLOW S BEE-HIVE WORKS AND APIARY AT WELWYN. 



each member, and it usually occupied two months 

 to make an expert tour of tlie county. 



A rapidly increasing business demanding more and 

 more personal attention,combined with the fact that, 

 after Mr. Peel had ceased to be connected with the 

 H. B. K. A., Mr. Blow was not in touch with his 

 successors, caused the latter to resign his position. 

 He was one of the very few who ever produced one- 

 piece sections in this country, most elaborate ma- 

 chinery having been designed by him and put down 

 at Welwyn for this special work, one machine alone 

 costing £300. After a somewhat lengtliy trial it was 

 found that our r.ative woods were unsuitable for 

 competing witli American timber, so this part of 

 his industry was abandoned. Mr. Blow has also 

 designed— as most bee-keepers are aware— a number 

 of important improvements in bee appliances, for 

 which he has received many medals. His mind was, 

 however, quite as much concerned in the study of 

 the bee itself, and. on liearing the fame of Oriental 

 bees, he determined to verify or disprove the many 

 laudatory reports concerning them. With this 

 view he made several journeys to tlie Mediterra- 

 nean—principally to North Africa, Malta, Cyprus, 

 Syria, and Egypt. After collecting and bringing 

 home, at the expense of a vast amount of time and 

 money, upward of one hundred stocks from these 

 districts, one season's experience convinced him 

 that the usefulness of Oriental bees in this country 

 was ?i (7, so he promptly abandoned their importa- 

 tion; and, although some persisted in singing their 

 praises, they were ultimatels^ obliged to accept the 

 same conclusion. His next journey was undertaken 

 with a view to inquire into the merits of Carniolan 

 bees, and after a month's investigation in Carniola 

 he was convinced that all that had been said in 

 their favor was well founded. In this district tlie 

 front of eacli hive bears a pictorial representation 

 of some sacred, allegorical, or humorous subject, 

 and Mr. Blow has in his posses.sion a small collec- 

 tion of hives so painted. He has traveled through 

 Canada and the United States for the purj ose of 

 inspecting the American system of honey-raising. 

 The detailed results of these expeditions have been 

 published by Mr. Blow in an illustrated pamphlet, 

 ■which contains not only much valuable matter, 

 but many interesting reminiscences. 



From quite early years Mr. Blow has taken a deep 

 Interest in Natural History, especially Botany, one 

 of his first published works being entitled, " Contri- 

 butions Toward a Flora of the Neighborhood of 

 Hitchin." To Pryor's "Flora of Heitfordshire," 



published by the Hertfordshire Natural History 

 Society, he is probably the largest contributor, with 

 the exception of the editor, and his extensive col- 

 lection of British dried plants is included in the 

 Herbarium of the University of Edinburgh. The 

 Jimrnnl of Botany contains numerous contributions 

 from his pen. and several articles by him have ap- 

 peared, from time to time, in the Flora cle V Guest 

 dc la France. For his valuable services in botany 

 he was elected a Fellow of the Linna^an Society, at 

 the meetings of which he is generally present. Like 

 other busy men, Mr. Blow finds time to attend to 

 local matters, and is one of the Guardians for the 

 parish in which he lives. 



It is on a lovely summer's day early in May that, 

 after an enjoyable drive through some of the most 

 beautiful of Hertfordshire scenery, an artist friend 

 and myself arrive at Mr. Blow's new works adjoin- 

 ing Welwyn Station. We are at once struck with 

 the suitability of the situation, as, in consequence 

 of its contiguity to the Great Northern main line, 

 all railway passengers can not fail to notice the 

 works and hives. The erection of the new works, 

 cottages for men, residence for himself, in addition 

 to the removal and relaying down of the large 

 quantity of machinery, transportation of several 

 hundred hives of bees, laying out the apiary and 

 planting it with many thousand fruit-ti-ees, etc., 

 etc. — all this has been accomplished and the place 

 put into working order within twelve months— a 

 fact which says much for Mr. Blow's energy and 

 enterprise. 



On entering the works where forty hands are em- 

 ployed all the year round, Mr. Blow first conducts 

 us to the portion of the factory devoted to hive- 

 making. Here are twelve different wood-working 

 machines, and a number of men busily putting 

 together the hives, which will soon find their way all 

 over the world. The first element in the success of 

 bee-keeping is a properly constructed hive; and not 

 only this, but one that will withstand climatic in- 

 fluence. The latter desideratum can be obtained 

 only by having it made of the best seasoned wood, 

 and, in order to s^ecure this, Mr. Blow never works 

 up any wood vintilitlias been stacked in his own 

 sheds for at least three years. A hive badly con- 

 structed in the first instance, or which has been 

 made of " green " wood, is often the cause of people 

 giving up bee-keeping in disgust. The latter kind 

 of hive gives every encourtigement to " propoliz- 

 ing," and when manipulation is attempted the 

 removal of frames, etc., is attended with difficulty; 



