GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



Vice is a mdiister of such hideous meiii, 

 As, to be liaU'd, needs but to be seen; 

 But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 

 We first endure, then pity, then embrace. 



This young man had entered into temptation, 

 endured, pitied, embraced; and instead of liv- 

 ing a loved and us(4'nl meml^er of society, this 

 one evil liad made him a felon. Down with the 

 traffic that fills our jails with so many wreclvs! 

 is the watciiword of the Rambler. The last we 

 saw of our neighbor, he was still sliowing his 

 shackels to people on tlie street as he was hur- 

 ried along to jail. 



Cau 



We whirled merrily along through the famous 

 Hoosac Tunnel, and over a very winding way 

 among the charming mountains that thus early 

 began to be tinted liere and there with the 

 glowing autumn foliage. B>it few farmhouses 

 were seen in these valleys; but we now and 

 then came suddenly upon thriving villages. As 

 we neared Worcester the country looked more 

 thriving agriculturally, and a machinist of 

 Worcester gave the Rambler much information 

 al3out this portion of Massachttsetts. and of 

 Worcester in particular. One item of interest 

 to bee-keepers is that here the first wire nails 

 were manufactured in this country. The wire- 

 works occupy a large space in the city, and 

 employ 3700 men, and make an immense amount 

 of wire and nails. 



We arrived in Providence in the evening, and, 

 after a night's rest at the Merchants' Exchange, 

 we were ready for the duties of the day, and 

 that was to attend the R. I. State Fair, held in 

 Narragansett Park, and award the premiums in 

 the bee and lioney departnu^nt. 



We reported at the secretary's office; were 

 shown where to find the sweet things, and pro- 

 ceeded to take a private inventory before we 

 made our identity known. In our pre-ramble 

 around the room we came across a young man 

 by tlie name of Arthur C. Miller, and we reveal- 

 ed our identity. Bro. Miller then passed our 

 identity around among the rest of the bee- 

 keepers, and we all made a mutual exchange of 

 identity by clasping hands. "Yes," said Mr. 

 A. M. Cole. " I knew the Rambler as soon as he 

 came in. That long-tailed coat, that timbrella, 

 and tliat nose, looked so natural." We found 

 not only a happy-looking crowd of bee-keepers, 

 but a show of magnificent proportions; and we 

 observed aloud to the friends, that Little Rlioda 

 had a better disijlay than tlie great Empire 

 State ever had. There were nearly 100 (Mitries, 

 and about «130 in premiums to award. The R. 

 I. Experiment Station, in charge of Prof. Cush- 

 man, made a tine display which did not cotupete 

 for preiuiums. Nearly every style of hive in 

 use by prominent bee-keepers was in this dis- 

 play, and a novel feature was a large cage in 



which a natiu-al swarm was clustered on a 

 branch of a tree, as in natuial swarming. 



The exhibit of comb and extracted honey 

 proved by its quality and quantity that Rhode 

 Island had not suffered much from a dearth of 

 honey, and bee-keepers were accordingly feel- 

 ing well. The various races of bees were rep- 

 resented in five full-sized glass hives and nine 

 nuclei. The lioney department was filled from 

 morning until evening with a crowd of curious 

 and interested visitors, and it was i)ronounced 

 one of the features of the fair. From the exhibit 

 of appliances we gleaned the fact that Rhode 

 Island bee-keepers are as ingenious and pro- 

 gressive as any in tlie world. This down-east 

 Yankee ingenuity was manifest in Mr. Miller's 

 foundation-fastener, illustrated some time since 

 in Gleanings, and which is gaining favor witli 

 bee-keepers; also Dr. Merchant's crate for 

 comb honey, which we will try to describe In the 

 future; also many articles in the exhibits of 

 Mr. Thos. Pierce,"A. M. Cole, Mr. NIvens. and 

 Prof. Cushman, all showing ingenious labors 

 for the elevation of our industry. 



Aside from l^ee-keeping, the Rhode Island 

 Fair was in every way a success. Every de- 

 partment was large and well tilled; the weather 

 was exceptionally line, and .50,000 people were 

 upon the grounds during the best days. 



Narragansett Park is In the suburbs of Provi- 

 dence, a no mean city of about 1.30,000 popula- 

 tion. A drive with Mr. Miller through a good 

 share of it gave us a chance to see its many 

 points of beauty and historic interest. Among 

 the thousands of noble shade-trees in the city 

 are a great number of English linden, making 

 excellent pasturage for city bees, of whicli there 

 is qtute a number. As those conversant with 

 tlie history of Rhode Island are aware, this city 

 was founded by that liberal-minded old man, 

 Roger Williams. The people venerate his name 

 to the present day; and his familiar greeting. 

 "What cheer?" is found upon many places of 

 business. After he had beeji buried 200 years, 

 or, as a satirist expresses it, "until he became 

 sufficiently dead," he was exhumed and buried 

 in Roger Williams Park, where a splendid mon- 

 ument is erected to his memory. Upon digging 

 to where the remains ought to have been, it 

 was found that the roots of an apple-tree had 

 complet(dy al)Sorbed the bones, and taken the 

 form of a man. This curious root foi'tuation is 

 now to be seen in the historic museum of the 

 city. As several generations had eaten the 

 fruit of the tree, the question was seriously 

 asked, "Who ate Roger Williams'?" Our sat- 

 irist happily explains the situation: 



But a jolly old apple-tree rooting- around. 

 Seeking- for phosphates under tlie ground. 

 Followed his back-bone all the way down. 



And old Mrs Williams's too. 

 What's bred in the bone, in the fiesh will show; 

 What's bred in the root, the fruit will know; 

 For two hundred years this fruit did grow. 



Till posterity ate him up. 



Rambler. 



BEE-HIVES. 



A SUB.JECT THAT INTERESTS ALL REE-KEEPEHS. 



In my bee-l<eeping experience I have found 

 that I could generally get the attention of al- 

 most any bee-keeper when I had a new hive to 

 exhibit, or was ready to discuss the hive-ques- 

 tion. In fact, there is nothing connected with 

 bee culture that will aitiact the attention of 

 the average bee-keeper, or one that interests 

 him more than a good bee-hive. Almost all 

 bee-keepers are looking for something better in 

 hives than what they have in use. In my day 

 I have devised not" far from twenty different 



