I8a5 



GLEANmGS IN BEE CULTCRE. 



847 



cal; a great deal less expensive; and, in our opin- 

 ion, as good, if not better, save in the one instance 

 of not allowing' the frames to be removed while the 

 hive is turned over until it is turned back again. 

 We do not presume to know how much of an objec- 

 tion this would be to the average liee-kecper, or 

 whether any, but are inclined to think that it would 

 all depend upon how often occur the necessity and 

 occasion for removal at the particular time the hive 

 is thus reversed. It is not presumed that the hive 

 shall be turned up very long at a time, if we thor- 

 oughly understand for what purpose and wlion it 

 should be done. 



Now asto the question, Can our hives that we now 

 have in use lie easily- altered to be revertiblc ones? 

 We think that the most of the kinds in use can be. 

 and at very little trouble and expense. We i-emod- 

 led about 80 this spring. Hempiiii.t- & Goodman. 



Elsbury, Mo. 



ra — ^- pw 



A PLEASANT REMINISCENCE OF 

 CHILDHOOD DAYS. 



A SAMPLE OF A BOX-IIIVE MAN. 



RTEND ROOT:— Our first business transaction 

 dates Jan. 11th, 1883. In connection with 

 business as one of your Western customers, 

 you will probably know the name. As I have 

 as yet obtained no great distinction among 

 men as an apiarist, or any other vocation, you 

 may consider my scribbling of little consequence, 

 and lay it aside, or consign it to the wasto-bivsket. 

 Be this as it may, I will proceed to give an account 

 of myself, and the progress made in our '• chosen 

 pursuit" throughout my locality. 



My father was a bee-man before me, hence you 

 can throw the mantle of charity over me, if I ap- 

 pear too enthusiastic. He emanated from Ken- 

 tucky soil, and pitched his tent in the exact locality 

 of the writer, in the spring of l«:i8. Civilization was 

 then battling with the red man and wild beasts of 

 the forest. Settlements were very sparse, and 

 those twenty miles distant were considered neigh- 

 bors. 



Within a dozen rods of our present residence is 

 the site of the old log cabin. Two little mounds 

 are all that remain to mark the location. The two 

 mud-and-stick chimneys that have long since fallen 

 to decay leave the only monuments to the memory 

 of the pioneer days of our parents. How my mem- 

 ory reverts to the many incidents related by my 

 parents, while they were occupants of this rude 

 domicile, of how the wolves howled, panthers 

 screamed, night-owls screeched, and many unac- 

 countable noises made nights hideous! how they 

 had to make tight coverings over their pigs, to pre- 

 vent "varmints" from carrying them off; how, 

 within an hour or two hunt, they could secure the 

 best of venison and wild turkey; and frequently 

 within a stones throw of the cabin; how they lived 

 for months on venison, hominy, and wild honey, 

 with an occasional abridgement of johnny cake and 

 sassafras tea. 



It was in those days that we might date the dawn 

 of bee culture on the Hambaugh homestead. Cap- 

 tured in the wilds of the forest, and with the pro- 

 verbial "log gum" prepared, the increase soon 

 brought its reward, and a primitive apiary was the 

 result. Under the supervision of my father the 

 bees were a source of considerable revenue. Being 



a man of strong constitution and indomitable ener- 

 gy, the suiTOunding forests gradually gave way to 

 fields of waving grain. The old log cabin was event- 

 ually superseded by a large residence; and ei'e his 

 death the "iron horse" was traveling through his 

 possessions, and the landscape was transformed 

 into a beautiful panorama. The onward progress 

 of civilization had worked wonders, and none were 

 so well calculated to realize it as those who had en- 

 dured the drawbacks and privations of early pio- 

 neers. 



Never has the old homestead been entirely desti- 

 tute of the busy bee. The "hum " used to gladden 

 the heart of my father: and though the modes of 

 management were those of the primitive days, he 

 took great pride in them, and many a barrel and 

 keg of strained and "mush " honey has he sent to 

 market. Within my own rec<;l!eetion I have seen 

 old-fashioned "log gums," that would require three 

 or four men to handle, carried from the brimstone- 

 pit to the old house, where its contents were dis- 

 posed of. The harvest, which took place the first 

 cold weather in winter, usually lasted a week or 

 ten days, and the wax was by no means a small 

 factor in the enterprise. An old resident in our 

 neighborhood states that he paid for eighty acres of 

 land with money obtained from beeswax alone. 



It was always a source of pleasure for me to as- 

 sist my father with his bees; and as he grew old, 

 the care (f them gradually fell to me; as the bees 

 were considered a matter of minor Importance, no 

 special pains were taken, other than to have plenty 

 of "gums " in readiness for the swarms, and w'len 

 they issued, hive them, place them in a fence- 

 corner, j^nd let them go till the harvest caine 

 around, then what the moth-miller had not de- 

 stroyed we would confiscate, except sufficient for 

 the next year's increase. 



It was about four years ago that I took my first 

 step forward in the art of t)ee culture, and I must 

 confess it was a very short one. I took no broader 

 view of the art than to follow those of my own 

 knowledge who were the pronounced bee-men. An 

 elderly gentleman of our county, by the name of 

 Walsh, was the pronounced bee oracle, and I par- 

 took freely of his instructions, which were some- 

 thing of this order: "You are bound to give the 

 bees i-ooin for their surplus fat, the natural ac- 

 cumulations from the under part of the abdomen" 

 —a terrible dagger to comb foundation. He says 

 the extractor is a humbug, and has done more to 

 degrade the honey market than any other one 

 thing, and ought to be abolished. Ho is also ad- 

 verse to the use of sections for surplus honey. He 

 also states the Italian bee is far inferior to our na- 

 tive blacks, and are fit for nothing but to rob, pil- 

 lage, and sting. He says father Langstroth is a 

 humbug; that the movable-frame hive was in use a 

 century before him. He laughs at the idea of 

 building up weak colonies with brood from the 

 strong, to avoid moth. He has been puzzling his 

 brains for years over an effectual moth-trap, which 

 he claims to have perfected, and a queer device, too 

 complicated to describe, can be seen under every 

 one of his hives. He says that nectar does not 

 emanate from flowers, but from the elements, and 

 falls like dew; and, were there no flowers, bees 

 would gather honey from church-steeples and 

 house-tops. 1 could relate many other cranky no- 

 tions of this respected gentleman, but this will suf- 

 fice to show how far some can wander who will not 



