568 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



" Why, Fred Anderson," she exclaimed, as 

 she saw him, "the wild winds said to me this 

 morning that you would be here for breakfast. 

 And, papa." she said, " my mermaid fairy came 

 to me in the night and told me to hasten away, 

 for our Fred was in danger. The fairy led me 

 to the old bee-ranch. I crawled — crawled as 

 silently as a shadow — upon the old tree stump, 

 and all the fairies in the river and the woods 

 helped me to scream; and an evil man sprang 

 out of the weeds, with a big knife in his hand, 

 and he whined like a dog, and ran away; and, 

 papa, he will die— die;" and she showed her 

 teeth in that uncanny grin that the family 

 were so used to seeing." 



"There, dear Alfaretta," said her father, 

 " you shouldn't let such things enter your head. 

 You must have had horrid dreams in the 

 night." 



"If she has been dreaming," said Fred, "I 

 also have been dreaming; for what she says is 

 true." Then Fred rehearsed to an interested 

 group of listeners the various phases of the 

 night's adventure. 



"Wonderful!" said Mrs. Buell. 



" Inexplicable!" said Mr. Buell. 



"Supernatural!" quoth Mrs. Buell. 



"Yes," said Fred, "and I have had to pinch 

 myself several times this morning to find out if 

 I had feeling, and was in the land of the living." 



"And I," said Alfaretta, "have had to spit 

 snakes to see them crawl and squirm and 

 squirm." 



This remark caused evident pain to the 

 parents, and they arose from the table. Mr. 

 Buell and Fred were busy the next half- hour 

 in locating the new one-colony apiary. The 

 hive was placed some fifteen yards from the 

 house, in a cosy nook beside the cypress hedge, 

 and Mr. Buell felt himself nearly a full-fledged 

 bee-keeper. 



"And now, my good friend Fred," said Mr. 

 Buell, "I will tie my boat in tow of yours and 

 help you navigate your load to the Ghering 

 ranch. The boat is an unwieldy thing, and I 

 don't see how you brought it around the bend 

 thus far." 



" I had to work for it," said Fred, " and I have 

 no doubt the same amount of labor would en- 

 able me to get over the remaining three miles." 



Fred found the good strong arms of Mr. Buell 

 a great help in the management of the boat, 

 and in a short time his valuable load was moor- 

 ed at the Ghering wharf. 



When Mr. Buell started for home in his own 

 boat he said, " Now, Fred, to-morrow is Sun- 

 day; just run down to our place and cheer us 

 up." 



"I will, Mr. Buell, if I do not sleep all day," 

 said Fred, with a smile. 



The men on the Ghering ranch had just come 

 in to dinner, and they were full of curiosity and 

 questions; and Fred clearly saw that here 



would be a few more candidates likely to be 

 taken with the bee-fever. 



He refrained from telling Mr. Ghering or the 

 men of his adventure with Dawson. He had 

 no Alfaretta to step in and corroborate his 

 statements. He also thought that the men 

 would look upon his story as brag, and, not 

 wishing to appear in that light, he said but lit- 

 tle about his night's work. 



Mr. Ghering was getting so interested now in 

 the setting-up of an apiary upon the bluff that 

 himself, team, and all of his men turned in and 

 helped to get the material from the boat to the 

 bluff, half a mile away. So much help made 

 the task short and pleasant, and Fred blessed 

 the hour when he fpll among such good neigh- 

 bors. Matt Hogan was his foremost helper; 

 and, said he, "Misther Fred, does yees bees 

 afther thinking the loikes of me wud make a 

 baa-kaaper?" 



"I don't see any reason why you shouldn't," 

 replied Fred. " To become a bee-keeper you 

 must learn to take stings with equanimity." 



"Take baa-stings with equal-nimity, is it?" 

 said Matt. " Shore, Misther Fred, I don't loike 

 them patent medicines at all at all; wouldn't 

 it bees just as well to take the stings wid a 

 dhrop of whisky ? I'm afther thinking it would 

 betther suit the thraits of me char-acfc-ter." 



" Ha, ha! Matt," said Fred; " but equanimity 

 means calmness, coolness, composure. I have 

 heard of fellows who would court a bee- sting 

 in order to get a drink of whisky; but a true 

 bee-keeper must submit to stings, and not make 

 a fuss over it." 



"Oi see, Misther Fred; but me ould head bees 

 so thick it would take a mule to kick new idaas 

 into it. But I musht be lavin' yes, for there's 

 Misther Ghering shoutin' fur me with energy 

 enough to crack his liver, and me asittin' here 

 with— with — aqualnimity. I wonder do I get it 

 right, Fred?" 



"That's it; you'll do," said Fred, with a 

 smile, as Matt hastened away to the summons 

 of the boss. 



That evening the steamer Valetta came up 

 the river, and, in sight of Ghering's Landing, 

 gave the whistle three long toots. The men 

 knew from this signal that the boat would pull 

 up to the little dock, and hastened down to see 

 what would land. It was what Fred was ex- 

 pecting—his trunk. The men made a very 

 good substitute for a baggage transfer, and the 

 trunk was safely deposited in the cabin. 



A bee-smoker, honey-knife, queen-cages, and 

 several other bee-fixings, were placed before 

 the men for inspection. They had never seen 

 such tools before, and were greatly interested 

 in the explanation of their uses. But Fred did 

 not spend much time in satisfying their curios- 

 ity. He untrunked clean clothing, and hasten- 

 ed to the river for a bath. It is needless to say 

 that he slept soundly that night, and Sunday 



