1889 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



16? 



BEE-KEEPING IN SOUTH AFKICA. 



CHAPTER II. OF A MISSIONARY'S EXPERIENCE IN 

 STARTING IN BEE-KEEPING. 



9 EAR GLEANINGS:— In my first letter, pub- 

 lished Dec. 15, I promised to send Chapter II. 

 of my experience when I found time to write 

 it; and that seems to be the present time. I 

 told you that I had three boxes of bees (I do 

 not feel justified in calling- them hives) as the re- 

 sult of my capture of about three times that num- 

 ber of colonies of wild bees. Then I sent to Ameri- 

 ca for " a good book on bee-keeping"— Langstroth's. 

 I knew that bees were in the habit of sending off 

 swarms; but these of mine, if they had ever swarm- 

 ed, did it when no one was about. It was not pos- 

 sible for me to keep watch of them, and how was I 

 then to increase the number of colonies? I read 

 what was said about "artificial swarming." Ah! 

 there is the solution of the difficulty. I determin- 

 ed that I would divide my three colonies and make 

 them into six, and another year the six would be- 

 come twelve, and a third year— but I will go no 

 further. I believe I was to be contented with ten 

 good colonies. Mr. Langstroth's directions for ar- 

 tificial swarming- are very specific, but there were 

 difficulties for which he had not provided. For one 

 thing, our seasons are "the other end to." He 

 talks about swarms in May; but that is when our 

 winter begins. That is all the winter we have, if 

 it is proper to speak of a winter where there is not 

 even a frost. Then, again, he speaks of certain 

 plants being in bloom, as the white clover, the 

 basswood, etc., none of which we have. Of course, 

 we have honey-plants, and, of course, bees swarm, 

 and swarm when there is honey to be gathered; 

 but what are the honey-plants of Natal, when are 

 they in blossom, and when do bees swarm in a 

 country so warm the year round that there is no 

 frost? I did not think so much of these various 

 conditions then as I did after I had tried artificial 

 swarming. The directions were so plain that 1 felt 

 sure I could succeed. Mr. Langstroth gives fair 

 warning- of the danger of failure, and of the need 

 of going slow. But as people so often, when they 

 hear a good sermon, give it to their neighbors, so I 

 considered that these warnings were for those who 

 did not follow the directions carefully. 



I had about a dozen hives with movable frames 

 made in the Industrial department of the school. 

 This department had only just started, and the 

 boys in the shop did not yet know much about 

 using tools. I must also confess that it was my 

 own fault that I did not get better hives. I did not 

 think I could afford expensive hives, and so at- 

 tempted to have some paraffin-cases made over in- 

 to hives. Kerosene oil is called " paraffin," in 

 Natal, and comes to us in tins protected by wooden 

 cases. These cases, when laid on the side, are 

 about the size and shape of an L. hive; but al- 

 though they were cheap, it was a penny-wise and 

 pound-foolish plan, as cheap investments so often 

 are. The trouble was not that the hives retained 

 the smell of the kerosene, but there were cracks 

 and knots in them, and in time the cracks became 

 wider and the knots came out. To make matters 

 worse, I tried to make them into observing-hives, 

 with a glass and a door at the back. I can see now 

 how foolish it was; but that did not help any then. 

 As some one has said, " If only our foresight were 

 as good as our hindsight, how wise we should be I" 



My hives were made and painted in our winter, 

 so when spring- came I was ready to multiply my 

 three colonies into six. Formerly I had carried on 

 my operations with bees at night; but now acting 

 on a suggestion of Langstroth's, that whoever at- 

 tempted to do any thing with bees at night was 

 sure to repent of it, I determined to try the day for 

 transferring- and dividing my bees. I had made a 

 bee-hat by framing a small glass and sewing it into 

 a strip of mosquito-netting. Like many others in 

 this country, we had the idea that mosquitoes 

 abounded everywhere in Africa, and took out with 

 us a large roll of mosquito-netting, which we never 

 had occasion to use. My bee-hat was not a suc- 

 cess. The moisture from the breath, condensing 

 on the glass, made it little better than a piece of 

 tin to look through, and the frame bumped against 

 my nose and face rather disagreeably. I had 

 bought a pair of weeding-gloves, which answered 

 very well for bee-gloves. I see friend Root does 

 not approve of handling- bees with gloves; and I 

 will confess that, when I saw the gloves covered 

 with stings, and thought that every sting meant a 

 dead bee, I felt very sorry for the bees; but my 

 sorrow was tempered with thankfulness that the 

 stings were in the gloves and not in my hands. 



The day selected for operations was bright and 

 hot, and the time about noon. Armed cap-a-pie we 

 sallied forth ; that is, I was armed ; but the native 

 boy who was to assist me was not. My unpainted 

 boxes had become somewhat rotten by this time, 

 and the bees had found numerous places of exit 

 besides the one I had made for them. It was not an 

 easy task to carry out the direction of the book— to 

 close the entrance of the hive and remove it to 

 another place while transferring. I might close 

 one entrance, and the bees would rush out from 

 half a dozen others. However, I thought I could 

 manage it. My plan was to throw a sheet over the 

 hive, lift it quickly from the ground while the boy 

 grasped the ends of the sheet underneath the hive 

 and twisted them together, and thus confined the 

 bees. The plan worked beautifully until a stray 

 bee made straight for that boy's eye, causing him 

 to drop the sheet and run. Strange as it may seem, 

 those bees were in a decidedly bad temper as they 

 rushed forth to see what it all meant. I thought 

 my armor was bee-proof, but soon found out my 

 mistake, and ran to find out where my boy had 

 gone to. The spectators all laughed, and this sug- 

 gests a puzzle which might be offered by some en- 

 terprising paper as a prize puzzle. There is no 

 copyright on it. Puzzle: What is it that is so fun- 

 ny in seeing- other people stung? I do not ask this 

 reproachfully. I have myself been in both places, 

 and I laughed when I was a spectator, and didn't 

 laugh when I was in the other place. At that par- 

 ticular time I was in the other place, and did not 

 feel like laughing. 1 began to think the day was 

 no better than the night for handling bees, and 

 that Langstroth might have said, " Night or day, 

 you will be sure to repent of it." 



It will probably be thought that, under the cir- 

 cumstances, we postponed further operations to 

 another day. Very likely that would have been 

 the part of wisdom; but wisdom was an article we 

 had not yet acquired so far as bees were concerned. 

 I afterward learned that the principal object of 

 bee-keeping was to acquire bee-wisdom. No; I did 

 not wait till another clay, but, readjusting my ar- 

 mor, I went back and tried again, and finally drum- 



