i92 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



Well, we left our friend •with his infidel tioolss and 

 his theories, and wc next met with agrenuine sur- 

 prise. We met, near Charlotte, an old friend who 

 formerly peddled honey for the Itambler. His ex- 

 perience in bee culture on his own hook had shown 

 him tbe ups and downs, lilje all the rest of us, and 

 we found him immense! j' enjoying the downs. His 

 family called such spells tirades. His fit was the 

 most exasperating- we ever saw. It had taken hold 

 of him bad, both internally, externally, brain and 

 muscle. We found him near the wood-shed, sur- 

 rounded with bee-hives that had formerly been a joy, 

 and he was just slivering them into kindling-wood. 

 In our astonishment we cried out, " Why, friend 

 JJlake, what on earth are you doing?" 



" DtJRN THE BEE-HIVES !" 



"Durn the bee-hives," says he; and after a final 

 finish of the one under dissection, he rested on his 

 ax-handle, and said: 



" See here, friend Rambler, you and I have always 

 been good friends. We played In the band together. 

 I beat the drum and you blew the horn. I know 

 you have a tender spot for bee-hives; but, durn the 

 hives! Ill smite 'em worse than I ever did the 

 drum; " and he smote another hive all to flinders. 



" But, see here, friend, why don't you sell your 

 hives? They are well made, of good pine lumber. 

 You ought to get the price of the lumber out of 

 them." 



"Yes, yes; I know all about selling hives. Let 

 me tell you a little story. Five years ago I came to 

 this portion of the State to work at the blacksmith 

 trade. I started in the bee-business, and succeeded 

 well for two years; got up this hive; it is different 

 from any other you ever saw, and I was going to 

 get it patented; but the seasons changed, and I 

 have had losses ever since, and now I have only five 

 colonies out of fifty. Nobody wants the hives. 

 They are odd size, and even when I do find a cus- 

 tomer he Is some poor shirk who never pays for 

 them. So, here's the remedy; it is short and sure, 

 and there'll be no danger of my spending any more 

 time and money on the durned hives. I tell you, 

 this bee-business is wonderful. You get more'n ten 

 thousand traps on your hands; and when you want 

 to get out of the business, nobody wants to buy. 

 Why, I'd trade these forty hives for forty good 

 milking-stools. T could sell them to almost any 

 farmer." 



His tirade took strong hold of him again, and with 

 a " durn the bee hives " his ax made havoc with the 

 fixings. Our Hawkeye caught him. We are pleased 

 with the result, for it is a reminder of some almost 

 similar fits on the part of the R.^^mbler. 



Friend R., I am very glad you have given 

 us a touch, with an illustration, in regard to 

 the dark side of bee culture. If anybody 

 should ever be tempted to go into bee cul- 

 ture because Gleanings represented that 

 it afforded better inducement for making 

 money than any thing else, I should be very 

 sorry. Bee culture has its capabilities, and 

 there are, occasionally, favorable seasons or 

 brief periods when excellent results can be 

 made in a very short time. And it is also 

 true that one who is full of enthusiasm, and 

 has the good sense and judgment to succeed 

 in almost any business, would probably 

 make a /air crop during almost any season. 

 At the same time, it has perhaps more dis- 

 asters connected with it than almcst any 

 other industry. Of course these may, to a 

 large extent, "be averted by keen oversight 

 and looking ahead. As with many other 

 rural industries, the one who succeeds with 

 bees will probably be the one who has a real 

 genuine love for them. 



MOBE ABOUT FIXED DISTANCES. 



ANOTHER DEVICE. 



Notwithstanding the fact that I have not had 

 much experience in moving bees more than in buy- 

 ing and selling, nor that I know that I never shall, 

 yet I have read all the testimonials in Gleanings 

 with much pleasure. On p. 4.51 Dr. Miller has given 

 Ernest what he perhaps considers a pretty good 

 " dose." I thought I would come out and help him 

 take it. I have pondered over each new device, to 

 see if I could find something that would help me to 

 space frames in a hurry, especially when I'm work- 

 ing with a colony that takes delight in defending 

 its home; but I have as yet found nothing that 

 suited me. They all have the fixed distance indeed 

 —so much so that one can't move the frames either 

 way to get one out. Yet Ernest's remark, in his 

 comment on Dr. M.'s article, is a very strong argu- 

 ment in favor of some kind of spacer. As Dr. 

 Miller says, that furniture-nail seems to be the 

 nearest practical of any thing yet mentioned in the 

 journals; but, hold on! I had forgotten to mention 

 the new device I have invented. Now, Ernest, 

 earnestly listen while I try to describe it. Take 

 strips of heavy tin and cut them into 1%-inch 

 lengths, % inch wide; round the corners of one end, 

 and punch a little hole in it for a tack; cut the oth- 

 er rather in the shape of a board sled-runner. From 

 the long corner of this end, measure % inch and 

 give it a square bend. Now for the way to use 

 them. When you have 30 made— if your hive has 

 nine frames that will be the number required— tack 

 one in the upper left-hand corner of the inside of 

 your hive, the distance from the end you want them 

 on the frames, and even with the top. Now take 

 the frame next to that side of the hive the spacer is 

 on, and put one on the side of the top-bar next to 

 you, as near the end as you think best. Treat each 

 top bar the same way all through on that side. 

 Now go diagonally across the top of the hive to the 

 near right-hand corner, and tack one on the inside 

 of the hive as before: then on the over side of each 

 top bar, making one spacer at each end of each 

 frame, but on different sides. You see, with the 

 longer part of the tin tacked on the top-bar, one at 

 each end on opposite sides, the short end with the 



