336 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



M A V 



be so, in order that the flying bees may not find 

 your horse in their line of flight. Of course, if 

 your hives face in opposite directions, as is some- 

 times advisable, it may not be possible to get very 

 near without fretting- in the way of the bees. 



RAMBLE NO. 15. 



A SWA-REE. 



CHEAP ARRANGEMENT FOR BEE-STANDS. 



The lay of the land may have something to do 

 with the order in which the hives are placed; but 

 whatever the arrangement, let your distances be 

 accurately measured, and let every stand be leveled 

 in one direction with a spirit-level, so there shall be 

 no danger of combs hanging out of plumb. I like a 

 very cheap stand that can be easily leveled, costing 

 so little that I can afford to let it stand the year 

 round, and thus avoid measuring and leveling each 

 spring. Take two pieces of fence board or other 

 board, long enough to hold two hives (if you don't 

 want your hives in pairs let the boards be short 

 enough for a single hive); lay them parallel on the 

 ground, and level them, letting one be enough low- 

 er than the other (an inch or so) to allow the hive 

 the proper pitch forward; then lay, across these, 

 loose boards, that may be old, long enough to ac- 

 commodate the hives. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



I agree with you, friend Miller, that, after 

 a stand is once leveled up, and fixed as we 

 want it, we can not afford to move it and 

 have to go over the same thing again. 

 Now, in the stand you describe and illus- 

 trate you do not say that any part of it pro- 

 jects beyond the hive ; but I am afraid, 

 from the looks of the picture, that it does 

 project ; and one of the first things 1 decid- 

 ed vehemently in bee culture was, that no 

 bee-hive should ever stand on a board, stick, 

 or any thing else, that visitors might step 

 on. I need hardly tell you why. A great 

 many times in visiting apiaries— that is, api- 

 aries belonging to a certain class of people, 

 I would find the hive sitting on a board or 

 stick. After the grass has got so high as to 

 conceal the board from view, somebody 

 comes along and steps on one end of it, and 

 the hive is tilted. Of course, they will not 

 have presence of mind enough to get away 

 until the bees are out in force to resent the 

 insult. Another thing I decided on was, 

 that there should be no holes under the 

 stand where toads, spiders, snakes, or any 

 thing else, could hide. Our chaff hive has 

 no stand at all, as you know ; and the Sim- 

 plicity has none except the cover that is 

 used as a bottom-board, and this is set on 

 four half-bricks ; and may be your stand is 

 just as good as that everlasting Simplicity 

 top or bottom board. But I have had my 

 say about it, and the friends and yourself 

 and the readers of Gleanings can now fix 

 theirs as they have a mind to. 



§EEING much, recently, in the journals about 

 I, We, Us & Co., the Rambler will say we after 

 this. Somebody has said that we meant him- 

 self and his wife. All I have i6 my pony Nig, 

 and Nig and I are together much of the time, 

 so we means the man and horse in our case. 



A hardware merchant, an enthusiastic amateur 

 bee-keeper of Whitehall, had called upon the Ram- 

 bler many times, and, in answer to many pressing 

 invitations, one bright August afternoon found us 

 at Mr. McLachlin's home. Whitehall is at the head 

 of navigation on Lake Champlain, and also at the 

 head of the raging Champlain Canal. The village 

 presents the appearance of some of those Alpine 

 villages in Switzerland, which the Rambler has 

 visited (in his dreams). Streets run on terraces 

 above each other, and many a gorge and rocky 

 nook surprise the traveler. T found Mr. McL.'s 

 residence surrounded with outcropping rocks, and 

 in the rear of the house a rocky nook surrounded 

 with evergreens, and provided with rustic seats 

 and tables, which at the time seemed to lie 

 around in some confusion. Mr. McL. explained 

 that a swa-ree the evening previous had disarranged 

 things. The Rambler was upon the point of asking 

 what was the nature of a " swa-ree," when it occur- 

 red to him not to expose his ignorance before cul- 

 tivated people, thinking he would pick up from 

 conversation whether it meant swarming bees or 

 something to eat or drink. We were just so tickled 

 that we held our tongue (Nig and I), for Mrs. McL. 

 then and there suggested that we have a swa-ree 

 after tea. We (Nig and I) said we would help to the 

 best of our ability. 



Mr. and Mrs. McL. had a fine family circle of chil- 

 dren, from a babe in the cradle to a boy eight or ten 

 years old, and we were pleased to note with what 

 care all questions were answered and correctly ex- 

 plained, and how bright and intelligent the children 

 were, and interested in every thing the parents 

 were. Church, Sunday-school, day-school, the bees, 

 poultry, the cow, horse, and flowers, were all sub- 

 jects of conversation. The careful answers to their 

 many questions led them to put implicit confidence 

 in the parents, and it was a beautiful home and 

 family, so much in contrast with many a sad home 

 in which the Rambler has been. 



After tea, all prepared for the swa-ree; and the 

 Rambler was in a sweat of consternation to rind 

 that the leading part had been assigned to him. To 

 And relief we went out by the back door and inter- 

 viewed the hired girl. As a leading question, we 

 (Nig and I) asked her if she was fixing for the swa- 

 ree. Said she, "Arrah, now, mon! go along wid 

 yees. I niver shwore in my loife. It's a purty ques- 

 tion yees be axin me— me, a mimber of the Catholic 

 church, and to-morry the day of conflssion— out 

 wid yees!" Investigation didn't proceed further 

 in the direction of hired girls with handy dish- 

 cloths and broom-sticks. We went around the 

 house and found the whole family, including the 

 cat and dog and some of the neighbors, seated on 

 the lawn near the bee-hives, and Mr. McL. said he 

 wished me to conduct the swa-ree by explaining 

 various matters of interest in a bee-hive. 



"Well," said we, mentally, "if that's a swa-ree, 

 the Rambler is at borne." We explained that ;| 



