THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



15 



Pretty state of thinjis to be confessing, 

 isn't it ! Tlie jee-inasfer, put off the grounds, 

 and his business stopped. In all the years 

 since the above note was written I do iiot 

 recall that I was ever driven away from a 

 hive that I wished to open and go through : 

 but I have beeB driven off the premises when 

 1 tried to hoe the ground times without uum- 

 t>er. To hoe in a large apiary when the bees 

 object to it is pretty nearly one of the things 

 that "can't be did." The fury of the little 

 fellows increases at such a rate, and their 

 numbers soon begin to show the geometrical 

 ratio of increase, that one stays not on the 

 order of his going but goes at once. The 

 proper solution of the difficulty is, of course, 

 to do all hoeing and stirring ground by 

 short spells, at early dawn, and while dusk 

 is coming on. I suspect that the humic acid 

 of soil, which is always diffused around in 

 the air more or less when fresh earth is 

 moved, re»ihids the bees of their own acid 

 poison. The smell of it in the air convinces 

 them that duty requires a general and mis- 

 cellaneous row. If not, what makes 'em act 

 so, won't somebody tell ? 



"Jan. 9th. Thermometer 01=^. No frost 

 at night for a long time. Bees out lively. 

 South side of double stand (11-2) closed 

 with dead bees again. Looked in ; they 

 seemed all right at the top." 



This, mind you, is the north line of Ohio. 

 The entries show the winter of '7!t-'S0 to 

 have been almost worthy of Florida. Yet, 

 as the above indicates, some colonies of bees 

 contrived to die off with very disagreeal)le 

 rapidity ; and my sixty-three colonies which 

 I bought in the fall turned up as only fifty- 

 six in the spring — a loss of seven. When we 

 have mild winters we may be thankful for 

 them, as they do not subject us to such 

 frightful losses as the severe winters do : but 

 the mild winters have trials and dangers of 

 their own ; and it is doubtful if there is any- 

 thing better for the bee man than just a 

 good, quiet, "snug" winter, eventuating in 

 an early spring, 



•January 14th. like a worthy beginner that 

 I was, I went into the inventing business. 

 The reader shall be spared the lengthy de- 

 scription. Suffice it to say that it was a very 

 elaborate cage for introducing queen-cells, 

 that got invented. As it did not contain the 

 fealure of letting the young queen release 

 herself, it is not up to high water mark now 

 I want to say one good, honest, hearty word 

 in favor of beginners' inventions. Invent, 



invent, invent all you please. The man who 

 invents will progress : and the man who pro- 

 gresses will "get there." That the inven- 

 tions themselves will ornament the lumber 

 room, and stir you up to wonder at yourself 

 years hence, signifies nothing — go invent 

 'em all the same. But here comes an item 

 that warns me to retract a trifle. We must 

 have a proviso that the inventions are not to 

 be very expensive ones. 



"Jan. 19th, commenced digging the ditch 

 for the hibernators." 



My invention took such a behemoth turn 

 that I deliberately proposed to sink my 

 groups of nine hives each into the ground, 

 and have movable roofs over them. The 

 roofs were to be hoisted in all fine weather 

 and let down in all severe weather — a fine 

 job for winter mornings and evenings ! For 

 summer part of the hives were to stand on 

 the bottoms of the hibernators, and part of 

 them were to be perched on the bank— the 

 roofs meantime to be manipulated as great 

 shade boards. A good many dollars of 

 money and a good many days of work went 

 for the tile and the long outlet drain. (lood 

 sense at length came whispering around and 

 made herself heard, saying, " Fix one or two 

 groups that way, and try them for a year or 

 two ; see how it works ; especially see how 

 you like the summer manipulation of things 

 before you dig up your whole apiary by the 

 roots." I said I would. And then, don't 

 you believe, the jade went to work and per- 

 suaded me to first try three or four diminu- 

 tive hibernators with only one hive in each. 

 These would be inexpensive and easily man- 

 aged. Like a docile sheep I listened to her 

 voice, and did so. The result of this prelim- 

 inary experiment was neither a resplendent 

 success nor a flat failure : but the edge of 

 my enthusiasm was so dulled that no grand 

 hibernator after the original plan was ever 

 made. 



"Jan. 27th. Same weather. Thermome- 

 ter 58°. Overhauled eleven colonies of bees. 

 All but three had brood. Two of these 

 three had leaky roofs." 



Ah, those leaky roofs ! We have bee keep- 

 ers too scientific, and bee keepers too closely 

 chained to the hard, every day facts ; we 

 have bee keepers that handle their bees too 

 much, and those who handle them too little ; 

 we have bee keepers that spend too much 

 money on fixtures, and plenty of bee keepers 

 of tlie opposite description ; but the bee 

 keeper who takes too Diuch pains to keep his 



