198 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar 1 



and walk along with him. One minute I felt 

 a little lonely and almost homesick because I 

 was a stranger in a strange land ; but the next 

 minute I was — almost one of the family. A 

 little later I was astonished to hear that I was 

 expected to " preach " in the evening ; and 

 before I could correct the statement the friends 

 were introducing me as Rev. A. I. Root. Aft- 

 er my talk in the evening the pastor remarked 

 that, even if it was as I said in my introduc- 

 tion, I was no preacher, and never had, and 

 surely never would even try to preach a ser- 

 mon, he felt, notwithstanding, they had lis- 

 tened to a very good sermon from a business 

 man's standpoint, and told in a business man's 

 language. 



I shall always remember with pleasure the 

 way in which the people of four different 

 churches in Wewahitchka unite and work to- 

 gether in all Christian work. It rejoices my 

 heart, also, to know they have a law, well en- 

 forced, that keeps saloons out of all the small 

 towns in Florida, and perhaps this is the rea- 

 son they have so many good men and women 

 working together in harmony. Now, Florida 

 should speedily get a similar law that will 

 stop the cigarette business among blacks as 

 well as whites, for it is getting a fearful hold, 

 even among the small boys ot both colors. 



Alderman & Roberts have the largest num- 

 ber of colonies in one spot I ever saw or heard 

 of. In lb91, 6So stands of bees, all in Mr. 

 Roberts' dooryard, gathered an average per 

 colony of 65 lbs. More than 22 tons of honey 

 was brought in to that one spot, in one sea- 

 son, and all collected from flowers within the 

 range of the bees' flight. Can the world fur- 

 nish a parallel ? At that time there were no 

 other apiaries near ; but now there are several 

 within three or four miles that will likely 

 make another yield like that improbable. 

 There may be other points out in the swamp 

 equally good, but the apiary would have to be 

 situated on a platform of boards, above high 

 water ; and Mr. Alderman says that, during 

 the dull season, when nobody is around, the 

 bears would be almost sure to destroy an api- 

 ary so located. 



During the great yield I have mentioned, a 

 single colony, one of that 680, brought in 18 

 lbs. in one day. Only one was placed on the 

 scales, and that one was probably no better 

 than many others. The source was mostly 

 from a tree called tupelo, and this tupelo hon- 

 ey never candies. 



Much time and honey have been spent, and 

 very likely much wasted, on arrangements for 

 extracting honey, and doing it rapidly. Mr. 

 Roberts has, perhaps, one of the best-arranged 

 extracting-houses, for his has been gradually 

 arranged as real practical work seemed to in- 

 dicate it should be. With his apparatus, and 

 ten people, mostly his children if I am cor- 

 rect, they have extracted ten barrels (perhaps 

 two tons) in a day. 



Sometimes when I meet with such earnest, 

 honest, and kind Christian men and women, 

 in whose every thought and word the love of 

 God shines forth, I rejoice that God has per- 

 mitted me to live, and know this kind of peo- 

 ple. I found such friends at Wewahitchka. 



Mr. Isabel, of Wewahitchka, has a very 

 neat and pretty apiary. The hives are set on 

 stands, much as I have described ; the ground 

 is raked clean and level, and it is really a plea- 

 sure to walk around through it. As we came 

 up he said he had a queer case of robbing. It 

 was still going on quietly, but the robbers 

 were coming out and running up the front of 

 the hive before taking wing, but heavily la- 

 den. The bees belonging to the hive either 

 didn't know their stores were going off, or 

 didn't have spunk enough to fight. Mr. Isa- 

 bel sprinkled flour on the robbers (a /a Utter), 

 and hastily vvatched the entrances to all the 

 200 or more hives. In about a minute I call- 

 ed, "Here they are, boys ;" and all hands 

 came to see the dusty white bees scramble in 

 with their huge loads. In a minute more we 

 " swapped " places with the hives. The load- 

 ed robbers rushed in as they had been doing, 

 as soon as we got the hives in place ; but, lo 

 and behold ! they were taking their stores into 

 the very hive they took them out of ! One 

 can imagine how they rushed out and in, rub- 

 bing their eyes to be sure they were awake, 

 and may be scratching their little heads in per- 

 plexity to know what had happened. At any 

 rate, in 15 minutes both colonies were quiet, 

 and apparently normal. The colony that 

 wouldn't protect themselves, of course re- 

 ceived quite an accession of bees, and, very 

 likely, bees that knew how to fight. I wish 

 we might invent a similar plan to wake up 

 mayors and policemen that can't see the ruin 

 saloon-keepers are doing by violating the law, 

 unhindered, right under their very noses. 



The Apalachicola River has been for a week 

 on a rampage. For a hundred miles or more 

 the water is pouring over the banks at inter- 

 vals on either side, and going off into the 

 swamps and woods, but still the water keeps 

 up. Like other large rivers on low flat ground , 

 the sediment brought down for centuries past 

 has raised the river bed and banks above the 

 surrounding country, and now it is breaking 

 out into new channels. It looks odd to see 

 streams pouring out of a big river, all along, 

 instead of emptying into it. Such freshets 

 are common almost every spring, and when- 

 ever there is much rain. When we bee-keep- 

 ers were all together one day Mr. Alderman 

 told 



A PRETTY GOOD FISH STORY. 



He had a nice garden with a good tight close 

 picket fence about it, to keep out the chickens. 

 One night the river came up suddenly, and 

 while the yellow water was pouring in at the 

 garden gate, which had been left open, he 

 noticed a school of good -sized catfish pouring 

 in at the garden gate with the water. After 

 they all got in, and the water had settled down 

 a little, the folks went out in a boat, swung 

 the gate shut, and fastened it securely. The 

 small fish slipped out between the pickets, but 

 the big ones were captured in such numbers 

 they had catfish enough for all the town for a 

 long while. We all had a big laugh, I assure 

 you ; but Mr. A. declared it was true, and he 

 is a very good man, and as honest and steady 

 as the day is long. 



