1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



595 



up. We were at the time coming home from a 

 neighboring- village, with three or four swarms, 

 and some honey we had taken from the attic of a 

 hall building. The bees do not always wait for a 

 building to be unoccupied. A sight that had quite 

 a funny side to it was one we saw on the same trip. 

 A "section" man on the railroad lived with his 

 family in a house that was something like a bee- 

 hive and dwelling-house combined. Bees were 

 buzzing all around on two sides of the house, so 

 that the children and everybody kept out of that 

 part of the yard. There were, I think, seven 

 swarms. What had been the pantry was covered 

 with bees on the windows inside. One door was 

 fastened up, because, should you open it, a hive of 

 bees would be a foot above your head. We went 

 upstairs to make an examination, and found bees 

 in the windows inside. The whole place was won- 

 derfully suggestive of a big bee-hive, and the hu- 

 man inmates had learned to take the matter as 

 coolly as could be expected. We offered to pry the 

 boards off and take the bees awaj ; and although 

 we left our addiess, and they were very willing to 

 get rid of them, we have not heard from them to 

 date. It may be because they think it less trouble 

 to stand the bees, now that thf-y have become used 

 to them, than to write us a postal card. But we 

 must go over and see about it, for I know they 

 would thank us to take the bees away. 



BEES IN CHIMNEYS. 



Several have told us of bees coming down their 

 chimneys, in their efforts to find a home. I once 

 saw a hive with a comb in, placed on the top of a 

 chimney to coax some bees out that had taken ref- 

 uge there, and let the family breathe freely again, 

 for they were not used to bees. It is often that 

 bee-men are called upon here to remove a swarm of 

 bees that have found a lodging in some dwelling. 

 We keep a large strong cold chisel for that purpose. 



It must be remembered that the dry climate here 

 has given us a country without trees, except the 

 live-oaks, in limited numbers. The bees have very 

 little chance to start new homes in the trees, and 

 must get into some building if they can, or take to 

 the mountains. What cavities there are in the 

 trees soon get filled with bees, and they are not 

 large generally. We have got into the habit of 

 calling small swarms " tree swarms," if we don't 

 know where they came from. I could take you to a 

 dozen trees with bees in, within a short mile of 

 here. One is in an oak under which the public road 

 to the railroad station passes. It has two small 

 swarms. As the trees are valued for shade and 

 ornament, it is rather ditflcult to get permission to 

 cut into them. 



We were rather pleased to see the swarms com- 

 ing from the lowland to the highland at the base of 

 the mountain, where our apiaries are. The black 

 sage around us was just in bloom at swarming time, 

 and it called the bees our way, and it seemed as 

 though all our empty hives and boxes would catch 

 bees. We had five or six on the horizontal limb of 

 a large live-oak, with a cleated plank running down 

 to a ledge of rocks near by; and I several times 

 walked down that plank with a hive of new bees, 

 direct from the Lord, so far as I could know. We 

 got a few swarms also by putting some store-boxes, 

 with old honey inside, in the trees. 



So it came about in some wonderful way that a 

 large apiary for a beginner has been built up. It 

 seems very strange, when I stand in the midst of 



the eager, buzzing throng of bees, scurrying in all 

 directions, that four short months ago I knew noth- 

 ing, practically, about bees. My experience then 

 was confined almost entirely to seeing my dear 

 mother, years ago, when I was a child, take the old- 

 fashioned glass-ended boxes of honey from the 

 hives. I remember with what intense delight I 

 watched the bees and looked at the wonderful 

 comb filled with that nectar that every child likes 

 so well. This feeling all came back to me, just as 

 it was then, when I saw some hives of bees at a 

 friend's near Los Angeles, and decided to leave the 

 strife of the city and deal not with men so much as 

 with these little creatures which the great God 

 had made, and which seemed to understand him 

 better than the mass of seeking, bargaining men 

 in the city. It would be hard to give you a correct 

 idea of the relief with which I turned away from 

 the strife for exis ence in commercial circles in 

 Los Angeies, to watch for a half-hour these busy 

 workers; but busy it seemed to me in an (iitirely 

 different way. I never want to forget that day. I 

 promised God, that, if he would let me have some 

 of those pretty bees out in the beautiful clean 

 country, I would never try to be rich again. If you 

 have never tried to run a race with the sharp busi- 

 ness men of a large city, be satisfied with your bees 

 until God calls you into some other sphere. 



Since our apiary has increased so rapidly in these 

 short months since spring, there have been several 

 critical times. But the most critical of all was 

 when Henry and I both got to taking credit for the 

 success we had met. During this period, before we 

 got this feeling driven away, I believe nothing 

 flourished about the apiary as it did before. Dis- 

 trust in each other sprang up, and we might have 

 been foolish enough to separate had we not realiz- 

 ed where the trouble was. How strange that wo 

 should feel so humble and so happy in beginning, 

 and that we should come near forgetting it when 

 success came, and so spoiling it all I 



We have extract* d so far, up to July 20, about 27 

 of the tjj-lb. cans. Of the comb honey, we have had 

 but 130 lbs. This is a small showing compared with 

 some California apiaries, and we have at times 

 been ambitious to have several hundred stands. 

 But perhaps we have enough for the first year. 

 Had we more, we should not have the time we now 

 have to spend in the study of the Bible, which is the 

 most delightful book of all, when understood. We 

 learn there how man came to be out of harmony 

 with the happy order cf creation, and how to get 

 back into place again. As you may well suppose, 

 we enjoy this study far above bee-keeping. 



When I came out into the country in California 

 there were so many new and strange things that I 

 felt almost like a child commencing to learn every 

 thing over again in a new world. The wonders of 

 the mountains, the trees, and the fruit, made a 

 deep impression. Figs, prunes, and peaches, are 

 now ripe. We have a long stick to poke the figs 

 down from the trees in our yard. Apricots are 

 about gone, but the scattering ones that are left 

 are good. The fruit is like the peach, but the 

 tree looks like a cherry-tree. Banana, palm, pep- 

 per, eucalyptus (or rubber-tree), and many species 

 of the cacti, are here. Geraniums grow higher than 

 my head, and sometimes they make hedges of them. 

 The " daisy," that the Ohio farmers are so afraid of, 

 grows into a tree here with wood and bark. 



Sierra Madre, Cal., July ~'4 W. S. Ritchie. 



