784 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



dad stood thar with a whip ready to kelarrup 

 us. When we got through an' had the honey 

 in the wash-tub he'd tell us tu take the chips, 

 as he called these sections, fur playthings. He 

 was a curis man, dad was." 



"I should say he was," said Fred, as through 

 the boy he got another view of the man's de- 

 pravity. 



Matt Hogan would come over as the work on 

 the ranch would allow, and the three made 

 short work of the sections and supers, and the 

 hives were soon supplied. 



Fred now turned his attention to the erection 

 of the cabin; and with Gimp's aid he had that 

 in such a stage of progress that on Friday night 

 he returned Gimp to Mr. Buell's, rewarding 

 him liberally with several pieces of silver, 

 which, being the first he had ever earned, gave 

 him such a sense of ownership and. of his im- 

 portance as he had never before experienced. 



Fred and nearly all of the men on the Gher- 

 ing ranch were quite punctual in their attend- 

 ance at the Sunday-school. The general at- 

 tendance became larger as the Sundays passed, 

 and Matt Hogan became so much interested 

 that he had gotten together a jolly class of Irish 

 boys, and over in one corner he was teaching 

 them rules of sobriety and good order, " accord- 

 ing to St. Patherick," as he expressed it.'; 



When Mr. Buell persisted in putting into 

 practice his preaching, and brought back an 

 improved Gimp with his earnings in his pocket, 

 Mrs. Dawson had faith that her day of pros- 

 perity had arrived. Covering his charity with 

 a little diplomacy, Mr. Buell purchased fish of 

 the boys, or wild berries and mistletoes of the 

 girls, and soon had them all well clothed. The 

 better influences thus set in motion had their 

 effect, and the family began to rise to a higher 

 worldly and spiritual level. 



Fred's bees made remarkable progress consid- 

 ering the lateness of the transfer, and his sec- 

 tions were gradually filled. The season was 

 prolonged by moisture in the river-bottoms, and 

 by August his forty colonies had increased to 

 fifty, and yielded on an average 100 pounds per 

 colony. The pile of beautiful comb honey in 

 the one-pound sections, all crated and nicely 

 graded into three lots, filled the half of his 

 cabin, and created quite a sensation on the 

 Ghering ranch, and all of the men were getting 

 the bee-fever. 



"Thatvas acaseof somedings from nodines," 

 said Mr. Ghering, as he looked wonderiugly at 

 the pile of filled crates. " Let me see. You get 

 10 cents a pound, may be more; 5000 pounds, 

 that make you $500. You vork only two dree 

 months, somedimes go to meetin', go fishin', go 

 to see Miss Buell. That vas so. You vas von 

 rich man. One tausend colonies make $10,000. 

 Mine cracious! Fred, you vas von millionaire 

 — von golt-pug — before you vas d'rty years old. 

 Mine cracious! I vill set out mine whole ranch 



to bee-hifes;" and Mr. Ghering walked to and 

 fro with his hands in his pockets, grasping his 

 imaginary fortune. 



" It is very easy to figure out great profits in 

 the production of honey, but quite another 

 thing to realize them. The greater the number 

 of colonies, the greater the expense; and it has 

 been found that one man with a little help now 

 and then, with a moderate number of colonies, 

 say 500, will realize about as much clear profit 

 in the long run as a person owning a thousand 

 or more. But you can figure up great fortunes 

 now for a few days while I run down to Sacra- 

 mento with a few samples and try to market it." 



Matt Hogan's colony, on anotber portion of 

 the ranch, under Fred's supervision, had made 

 remarkable progress, and had secured 150 

 pounds of honey. This was added to Fred's 

 pile, and he said to Matt, " I shall want you to 

 look after your honey and mine while I am 

 away." 



" Sure and I will," said Matt. " I will occupy 

 yer cot out here; and while me one eye is fasht 

 asleep I'll keep the other cocked on the honey." 



Fred's journey down the river was prosaic 

 enough. Heavy clouds were gathering, with 

 every indication of rain. Everybody on the 

 boat was glum to a painful degree, and Fred 

 was glad to get into the business rattle of the 

 city. He was fortunate to find ready sale for 

 his honey at 10}4 cents, and agreed to deliver It 

 within a week. He was loth to leave the city 

 so soon again; but putting business before 

 pleasure, he took the very next steamer up the 

 river. The indications of rain were more pro- 

 nounced; but wiseacres said it would not rain; 

 or if it did it would be of short duration, for it 

 was a month too early for a general downpour. 

 In spite of these prridictions, it did commence 

 to rain; and when Fred landed at Ghering's 

 wharf it did pour. Matt had given faithful 

 attention to the honey. To him every section 

 looked as beautiful and precious as a diamond. 

 The little cabin protected it nicely from the 

 pouring rain. 



"And now," said Fred, slapping Matt enthu- 

 siastically upon the shoulder, " if it will only 

 stop raining we will have this honey down to 

 the city, and our money for it, in less than a 

 week." 



But the rain continued, and the next morn- 

 ing the river commenced to rise. 



" We will certainly haf a flut," said Mr. 

 Ghering. " The water-sheds of old Shasta will 

 sent down water enough for a dosen rifers; 

 then look out for the levees further down." 



The rain continued without intermission all 

 day, and toward evening the river had become 

 still more swollen, and swept swiftly around 

 the chalk butte, carrying upon its muddy and 

 turbulent surface much debris from far up 

 stream. 



"Fred," said Mr. Ghering, "I think you'd 



