1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



197 



boys got to smoking cigarettes. His father 

 told him if he would break right square off he 

 would send him to the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege. The boy went one year, and was not 

 only cured of the bad habit, but he put his 

 schooling in practice, grew the cabbages, and 

 from the sale of them got money enough to go 

 back to college again. 



I was remarkably impressed with the very 

 neat and tidy appearance of every thing about 

 the "Day" home, ©ven the poultry-house 

 was as clean and neat " as a parlor," or pretty 

 nearly that, when you compare it with most 

 chicken-roosts. Just before I came away my 

 friend explained it. Some time ago I de- 

 scribed how Terry had cleaned up all of the 

 trash and every thing unsightly, and moved 

 all the old rubbish, not only back in the lots, 

 but put it over back of a hill where it could 

 not be seen at all from the house. I think 

 Airs. Day had something to do with clenr.j)g 

 up around the Day home. Well, it made me 

 ashamed of our home. I had given a little 

 " lecture " on the subject, and Mrs. Root had 

 pointed out the unsightly things, but it was 

 "put off" again and again. Mr. Day says 

 there is ;«6»;/t'j in such a " slicking-up." He 

 says now if he wants a stick or board of a cer- 

 tain size or kind, instead of hunting all over 

 the premises for it he just goes over where 

 they are all put away, nicely sorted, and puts 

 his hand right on the very best thing there is 

 on the premises for that particular purpose. 



The names of places in the western part of 

 Florida are certainly unlike, names of places 

 anywhere else, and they have always been to 

 me attractive and almost musical. I suppose 

 they are Indian names, and I should be very 

 glad to know the meaning of, say, Wewahitch- 

 ka, Apalachicola, etc. Of course, these names 

 are rather long ; but the place where I now sit 

 writing is called lola. This is short enough, 

 and very pretty — ever so much to be preferred 

 to — well, we will say Vanburen, a name that 

 is used in almost every State in the Union. 



Before daylight Saturday morning, Feb. 9, 

 the man who came down to the boat for the 

 mail at Marchand's Landing escorted me into 

 Mr. Marchand's home — yes, right into his 

 bedroom, and astonished us all by saying to 

 the sleeping man : 



'* Mr. Marchand, this is A. I. Root, the man 

 vou said vou exoected • " and. having done 

 his duty, the postman marched off, leaving me 

 to shake hands with a man before he had his 

 clothes on, and almost before he was awake. 

 Mr. Shepherd, the apiarist, was hustled out of 

 bed after about the same fashion, and then we 

 went out among the bees and talked bees. 



The Marchand apiary has so many things to 

 commend it I will describe it somewhat in de- 

 tail. Between 200 and 300 hives are arranged 

 in double rows so as to form a sort of hollow 

 square. The operator stands between the two 

 rows, and hive-entrances all point outward, so 

 he is never obstructing the flight by getting 

 before the entrance of any hive. The stands 

 to hold the hives are a sort of bench, say 16 

 feet long. The hives rest on boards 6 inches 

 by 16 feet, set up edgewise, and nailed to 

 stakes. The hives are supported just high 



enough from the ground to make it easy to 

 work without stooping ; and I want to say to 

 you that, after looking over quite a number of 

 hives, I don't believe I want any more down 

 fiat on the ground. The long stand (16 ft.) 

 has some objections, such as jarring the next 

 hives, getting around each hive, etc. ; but the 

 ease with which the whole apiary may be 

 lined up level, and rows straight, I think com- 

 pensates for all the other. I expect to give 

 you some kodak views of it all, later. At 

 present the hives have no shade over them, for 

 every bit of sunshine is wanted from now on 

 until very warm weather. When shade is 

 wanted, loose boards are to be placed on raf- 

 ters just high enough to clear the head. Mr. 

 Marchand uses only fixed bottom-boards, and 

 his plan of feeding is, I believe, about the 

 cheapest and simplest that can be gotten up. 

 A third strip of board runs the whole length 

 of the hive-stand I have described, placed so 

 if any hive is moved a little forward the back 

 end will drop enough on the strip so as to be 

 a little lower than the front or entrance end. 

 Now pour in a pint or quart of syrup right on 

 the projecting entrance, just after the bees 

 have stopped flying at dark, and your feeding 

 is done. No harm is done if the hives are left 

 this way, providing the back end is lifted up 

 and pulled back before a shower comes. When 

 you want to lift any hive from the stand, do 

 so by placing the back end against your body, 

 and right here comes in the need of hand- 

 holes on sides as well as ends of all hives. 

 Marchand and Shepherd both say the wooden 

 handles projecting from the hives are not 

 wanted in their apiary, and I quite agree with 

 them. We want no projections, to prevent 

 stacking hives up tight and snug, if we can 

 possibly avoid it. All hand-holes should slant 

 a little up as the cut goes deeper, and the 

 sharp corner of the board on the under side of 

 the hand-hole should be cut down or beveled 

 off. This apiary has hives all numbered ; but 

 the number is on the stand, under the back 

 end of the hive, and not on the hive itself. 

 Mr. Marchand has quite a lot of eight-frame 

 Dovetailed hives with sides of half-inch boards 

 instead of "s . Why are not these j ust as good 

 for this climate, thus saving both freight and 

 lumber ? Large amounts of pollen were car- 

 ried in, and quite a little new honey, the day 

 I was there. Mr. M. has another out-apiary, 

 like the one I have described, and the two 

 contain about 500 colonies. When I asked if 

 250 or even 200 in one spot were not too many, 

 Mr. Marchand said he one year got over 125 

 lbs. per colony right through an apiary of over 

 200, and that he has never gone below an av- 

 erage yield of 50 lbs. per colony — usually 75 

 or more. 



As there is no church or Sunday-school 

 nearer than Wewahitchka, 15 miles distant, I 

 took a boat again at night, and reached desti- 

 nation just as I saw some children starting for 

 Sunday-school with their Bibles in their hands. 

 I asked if I could not leave my valise inside 

 their gate and go with them. I had before 

 seen bee-hives in their yard, and when I learn- 

 ed that Mr. Thomas Spencer, their father, was 

 superintendent, I consented to wait a little 



