GtEAMNGS Ifc BEE CULTUKE. 



AUG. 



unfamiliar with what the trade demands. He be- 

 gan with a few colonies in 18Cfi, and has followed 

 the changes and improvements up to the present 

 time. As an advanced and experienced bee-rnaster 

 he has few equals. His location, one of the best 

 for white clover, has been favorable to success. 

 At one time, when canal-boats were the means of 

 travel, he took his crop to New York and sold it at 

 a price that would bring a fortune to the extensive 

 producer of to-day. 



Although we came rather unexpectedly, he oblig- 

 ingly left his work and showed us about. In an in- 

 ner room, another hand was sorting and cleaning 

 sections. Here we saw a section crate made to 

 hold the ordinary closed-side section with separa- 

 tors, and which met cur ideas nearer than any 

 thing we had ever seen or heard of. It was simple, 

 easily and cheaply made, protected the sections 

 both top and bottom; and by a follower and simple 

 wedge, sections were crowded tightly together. It 

 was a simple box, with solid sides and ends, with 

 slat bottom tirmly nailed. Slats were as wide as 

 the narrow piece of section. Movable wood separa- 

 tors were used, and the* ends projected into slots 

 sawed in the sides of the case. These were wide 

 enough to give some play. There was no bee-space 

 at either top or bottom of the crate. When on the 

 hive, the space above the frames gives one bee- 

 space beneath the first crate, and none is allowed 

 between the others. 



Sections come out cleaner than from any arrange- 

 ment we had ever seen; and what cleaning is nec- 

 essary is done with less labor. The tops of a crate- 

 ful are all cleaned and scraped before removing; 

 and when emptied, and the crates cleaned, they 

 may be loosely filled with the cleaned comb honey, 

 and tiered up in the honey-house to ripen. Blocks 

 may be put under the corners of each case to raise 

 each a little from the other, to give a free circula- 

 tion of air. It was made to cover the brood-cham- 

 ber of the large hive he uses. We should be inclined 

 to make it in two parts, so that the outside could 

 be brought to the center when desired. He uses 

 the large Quinby hanging frame, and in the home 

 apiary were many of these hives. Here we were 

 shown some very fine Italian queens. He manu- 

 factures a smoker of heavy tin, with double valve 

 to protect the bellows from Are, and which differs 

 from others in many respects. 



We were driven to the out-yards, in w T hich we 

 were much interested. They are from three to six 

 miles apart. All colonies were in chaff hives, with 

 movable outer case, although different from what 

 we saw at Manum's. Entrances were level with 

 bottom-board instead of being underneath. Hives 

 were numbi red, and arranged in groups of four or 

 five, facing outward instead of in rows. At each 

 yard is a small work-shop. To get the bees out of 

 sections, cases of honey are taken from the hives, 

 placed in a dry-goods box, and covered with a cloth 

 which is occasionally turned. One apiary is located 

 in the edge of a wood where they are protected 

 from winds. The underbrush is cleared away, and 

 we think the apiarist in charge must appreciate the 

 situation in the heat of summer. Queens are kept 

 clipped, and at the beginning of the honey season 

 they are removed to prevent the issue of natural 

 swarms. This plan has been described in Glean- 

 ings. Mr. Crane, with Captain Hetherington and 

 P. H. Elwood, who have been studying this prob- 

 lem, have adopted it in preference to any other. 



Sweet clover is very plentiful throughout this re- 

 gion, the roadsides being covered with it, and It 

 furnishes some honey. Id 18(58 Mr. Crane commenc- 

 ed to plant alsike clover; and since, many in that 

 vicinity have grown it. 



The season of 1869 was one of the best, and he se- 

 cured 3000 lbs. of comb honey from about J20 colo- 

 nies. In 1883, 26,(00 lbs. from 300 colonies. In 1885 

 his crop was 23.000 lbs. In 1887, 18,500 lbs. ; ami last 

 season, from 550 colonies in the spring he secured 

 about 11,000 lbs. of comb honey. During the sea- 

 son, this number in five yards of about 150 colonies 

 each are cared for by himself and three men. 



Although long an " advocate of wintering on 

 summer stands," he has lately come out in favor of 

 cellar wintering. 



Mr. Crane is of middle age, of good height, spare, 

 rather nervous, and of light complexion. He has a 

 wife and one boy, a bright child of six or seven 

 years, of which he is very proud. He is a promi- 

 nent Prohibitionist in his town, and is interested in 

 church wor'j. He has followed bee-keeping be- 

 cause his health was not of the best, and he was 

 obliged to give up other aims. For the same rea- 

 son he does not further extend his operations nor 

 write more for bee-journals. He informs me that 

 the first bee-book published in America was printed 

 in Middlebury, just fifty-two years ago. 



Our time being limited, we reluctantly took leave 

 of Mr. Crane and family, and boarded the train for 

 Larrabee's Point, where we hoped to find Mr. J. H. 

 Larrabee at home. 



The station is on the Addison branch, between 

 Leicester Junction, on the Central Vermont Rail- 

 road, and Ticonderoga. After passing the stations 

 of Whiting, Shoreham, and Orwell, and just be- 

 fore the train crossed the trestle and drawbridge 

 over Lake Champlain, which is here quite narrow, 

 we were dropped at a crossing near which was 

 friend Larrabee's home. 



After making inquiries we started off across the 

 fields; and after a half-mile walk reached our des- 

 tination. Here the bee-keeper's eye at once noted a 

 good number of neatly painte.t chaff hives, ar- 

 ranged on ground which slopes to the south, from 

 the pleasant and comfortable-looking farmhouse, 

 with its wide front porch and guard of trees and 

 shrubs. 



We were heartily welcomed by both Mrs. Larra- 

 bee and son, the only ones of the family at home 

 during our stay, which they made very pleasant. 



John Larrabee is a bright young man of about 25 

 years, and is social and very friendly. He has had 

 bees five years, and now keeps 98 colonies, mostly 

 blacks, with a few colonies of hybrids and pure 

 Italians. All are in chaff hives with movable outer 

 eases. 



The soil here is a heavy clay, and white clover is 

 very plentiful. There is some basswood on the 

 ridges, and sweet clover abounds on all the road- 

 sides, although the latter, he informs us, gives no 

 surplus. His bees have paid their way from the 

 start. Tn 1885 he increased from 8 to 18 colonies, 

 and obtained, 500 lbs. of comb honey besides. That 

 season the bees gathered clover honey from the 

 middle of June till the middle of September. In 

 1887 he obtained from 30 colonies, 20(0 lbs. of comb 

 honey. Last season he secured, from 98 colonies, 

 8300 lbs. His comb honey was put up in cases hold- 

 ing twelve 1-lb. sections, and the quality and flavor 

 were fine. 



