788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



isolated colony. Friend France is so much 

 opposed to dampness that his hives are all 

 upon stakes. The northwest wind can 

 sweep right through under every hive ; but 

 it has got to get up through good chaff pack- 

 ing, and. if I remember correctly, tarred 

 paper besides, before it can chill the toes of 

 even the lowermost layer of bees in these 

 big structures. I think the top is hinged, 

 so it turns over and rests on a stake, but I 

 may be mistaken. Now, if you still have 

 more questions to ask, we will submit them 

 to friend France himself ; and if I have 

 made any mistakes he can set me right. 



Let us now skip over the hills to the beau- 

 tiful town of Orion, on the banks of the 

 Wisconsin River. The town is not very 

 much, it is true ; but its location haunts my 

 memory still as one of the prettiest spots on 

 the face of old Mother Earth. I can give 

 you only one brief glimpse, taken from 

 friend Snyder's pretty home. He has cop- 

 ied your old friend 



so far that there is . 



a stairway at the 

 back side of his 

 honey - house, and 

 a little platform 

 up near the roof, 

 where the children 

 climb around and 

 play. It was up 

 on this platform 

 where we stood 

 that foggy morn- 

 ing, hoping the 

 sky would just 

 lighten up a little 

 bit. Well, it did 

 enough so we de- 

 cided to try it, and 

 the Kodak was 

 snapped several 

 times toward the 

 hives, Ignotum to- 

 matoes, and the 

 grapevines. The 

 cut shows the re- 

 sult. You can see 

 the tomatoes pret- 

 ty well ; also the 

 grapevines. The 

 ground was soft, mellow, and clean. I fair- 

 ly ached to get a sharp-toothed steel rake 

 and rake over the surface ; but it did not 

 really need it, for he and his children had 

 fixed it nicely. I hardly think they expect- 

 ed Uncle Amos to come around, for I had 

 just written him that I could not well make 

 him a call. And then those bee-hives! 

 Friend Snyder is a carpenter, and so the 

 hives were made just right, and, as a matter 

 of course, each hive was so like its neighbor 

 that nobody could tell one from the other. 

 Now, to make hives unlike by architecture 

 and carpenter work is expensive ; so friend 

 S. decided to paint them unlike, firmly be- 

 lieving that bees distinguish colors just as 

 we do. He has remarkable taste in making 

 these decorations tasty, and at the same 

 time having them unlike. With the dim 

 light we had, the Kodak could hardly catch 

 it; but it' you look sharp I think you will 

 see the scallops, festoons, brackets, etc., all 



A GLIMPSE OF FRIEND 

 THE BANKS OF 



done with the paint-brush. Perhaps his 

 good wife helped him before she left her 

 little home for that home beyond ; for some 

 of the embellishments are strikingly in a 

 line with feminine taste and feminine work. 

 May God's blessing rest over that mother- 

 less home ; and may the father, and children 

 too, always find enjoyment and satisfaction 

 in working together inside of the fence that 

 incloses their own dooryard. 



We will now stop at the Agricultural Col- 

 lege, on our way home from Manistee. Ka- 

 tie is playing on the pretty lawn in front of 

 Prof. Cook's house. She remembers Uncle 

 Amos, and tells me that her papa is proba- 

 bly in his office, over across the grounds. 

 Although I have been there a good many 

 times, there are so many buildings, and so 

 many offices, that I can't just now decide 

 which is Prof. Cook's. She tells us it is in 

 the building occupied by the museum. Oh, 

 yes ! where the bugs, butterflies, etc., are 

 pinned fast in 

 glass cases. When 

 I got there, one of 

 the students said 

 friend Cook had 

 just started off 

 across the fields ; 

 and on looking out 

 of the window we 

 caught a glimpse 

 of a couple of peo- 

 ple away in the 

 distance, going 

 rapidly from us. 

 Now, although a 

 cousin of mine, 

 who lives in Lan- 

 sing, and Blue 

 Eyes, were in the 

 buggy waiting for 

 me to come down, 

 I started across 

 the lots after Prof. 

 Cook. I did call 

 to them to go over 

 to the greenhouses 

 and gardens, and 

 seethe nice things, 

 if I did not get 

 back as soon as 

 they expected. Where do you think I found 

 friend CookV Why, he was right in the 

 middle of a Held of several acres of Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant. He was out with one 

 of his students who had charge of this de- 

 partment. They were so much interested 

 in the sights that old Dame Nature had to 

 show that I was right close behind them be- 

 fore they saw me approaching. Of course, 

 there were a dozen things to look at and 

 talk about all at once. The Rocky Mountain 

 bee-plant had not made a good stand. It 

 had come up just about as I told Prof. Cook 

 it would when he told us of his project at 

 the convention in Columbus, about a year 

 ago. We have always had trouble in get- 

 ting the Rocky Mountain bee -plant and the 

 spider-plant to germinate. The only way of 

 getting a good stand for a whole field is to 

 raise the plants and then set them out as 

 you would tomatoes. In this way we can 

 have the ground covered with bloom, every 



SNYDER'S APIARY, ON 

 THE WISCONSIN. 



