188? 



ULEAMINGS 12^ HKE CULTURE. 



47 



A CHAPTER FROM REAL LIFE. 



KOUGETTING TO CLOSE THE DOOR OF THE HON- 

 EY-HOl'SK, AND THE CONSEQUENCE. 



TN the bill of goods I ordered of you were a lot of 

 I'M nest pails. I ordered them for the purpose 

 W of extract in>r honey. There was but little call 

 ■*■ for the \argo pails, while I supposed they 

 would soil the best. I could not dispose of 

 them for wh-Jt they cost me, consequently I have 

 (lulte a number on hand. I found that quart pails 

 with 3 lbs. of honey sold by far the most readily, 

 and I ordered a gross of them from Fort Wayne. 

 They cost a little less than 5 cts. apiece, including 

 freight, and in them I sold the remainder of my 

 extracted honey very readily for 30 cts. each, in- 

 cluding pail. 



I had a ton of honey, including section and ex- 

 tracted. I commenced selling sections at 14 cts., 

 but most of them for a shilling, and the dark, or 

 fall honey, for 10 cts. I had 34 swarms in the 

 spring, and put .54 in winter quarters. Though 

 they apparently had honey enough for winter 

 stores, they were dying badly, and some were 

 atfeeted with dysentery. 



I was compelled to move my bees to keep good 

 friends with my neighbor who owned land but a 

 few rods from where they were, and I would not 

 have a quarrel with my kind neighbor for the 

 worth of the bees. 



IT.\r.,l.\NS, BLACKS, OR HYBRIDS— WHICH ? 



I have Italians, hybrids, and blacks, in my apiary. 

 .\s lioucy-gatherei'S, I know no difference. Some 

 (it I lie blacks are the most docile bees 1 have, while 

 (.ihcrsof the Italians and hybrids are too vindic- 

 ii\ (■ to handle without a quantity of smoke. T have 

 had hut one swarm ruined by worms in many 

 >('ars, arid those were blacks. After filling nearly 

 I.i:i sfoiions, they took to swarming, till but few 

 b('<'S were left; then the robbers ruined them, and 

 the worms made a clean sweep of them. I would 

 n:it care for Italians, if I did not hate to hunt black 

 queens so badly. 



.lUST HOW I GOT CAUGHT. 



It has been a very busy season with me, putting 

 up and repaix-ing buildings, with an abundance of 

 >vork on the farm ; and being of a nervous tempera- 

 ment (some like friend Boot) I often get in a hurry, 

 and from a fast walk I would get into a run. I had 

 lieeii taking off sections, and, for want of time to 

 put them on the shelves, I packed them helter- 

 skelter on the floor of the honey-house till a more 

 "convenient season " to put them away. It was 

 near the close of the honey season, and bees got 

 crazy at the slightest smell of honey. In my great 

 hurry one day I went into the honey-house for 

 something; and when I went out I slammed the 

 tloor after me, not thinking but it was fast, and 

 went about my business. After awhile, wife called 

 me, and said ] had better look and see what the 

 bees were doing. I did look, and, sure enough, 

 there were bees enough to make two good swarms, 

 in the house, on the windows, and piled on the 

 sections; and when 1 went in they " piled " on mr 

 too. If ever a fellow was stumped, I was. But 

 necessity always had been the mother of inven- 

 tion; and If it failed this time it would be the first 

 with me. 1 said, "Wife! I'll kill them with sul- 

 phur," and at it I went, and made smoke enough, 

 as I thought, to kill any thing. I closed the door, 

 and left them to their fate. In half an hour I came 



back and found but few dead. I thought best to 

 renew the sulphur smoke. I did so, but it almost 

 choked me, and I slammed the door after me, and 

 left them a second time to their fate. After awhile 

 I went back and found the door standing wide 

 open, and such piles of bees I never saw piled into 

 one room. I said, " What shall I doV what ahall I 

 do?" and what would you have done, friend Root ? 



I have read somewhere, that, if at first you don't 

 succeed, try, try again. I said, " Wife, 1 have got 

 to kill all my bees " (57 swarms). But another 

 thought struck me. I had seen bees smoked to 

 death, so I put in kettles and iron dishes, after 

 making fires in them, and piling them full of trash, 

 just as we used to smoke mosquitoes when it was 

 all woods around us, and I was careful to shut 

 the door this time. The house was made tight, in- 

 tended to keep out the moths and millers, and the 

 smoke soon began to tell seriously on the bees, but 

 I let them sweat till not one could fly, and 1 could 

 not stand it longer than 1 could hold my breath. 

 I let in what air I could through the window-screen, 

 occasionally opening the door; and when the 

 smoke cleared away so I could move the sections 

 into the closet, brushing off the dead bees, it was 

 a fearful-looking place. 



I said, " Wife, I have conquered at last." She 

 said, " You look as if you were about conquered 

 too." 



You had better believe I was happy. Now you 

 will ask what about the honey (for there was the 

 best part of a ton). Was it not ruined by the 

 smoke? Of course, I supposed it was. At first, 

 for a week or two it smelled too smoky to be sal- 

 able, but it gradually wore away by giving it all 

 the air I could, till that which was nicely capped 

 had no taste of smoke; but all that was uncapped 

 retained the smoky flavor a long time; but it is all 

 disposed of, except what we need for our family 

 use. 1 have always been particularly fond of see- 

 ing and handling bees; but I pray that I maybe 

 excused from handling any more in a honey-house. 



La Otto, Ind., Dec, 1886. E. S. Hanson. 



Friend H. wants to know what I would 

 have done under the circumstances. Well, 

 I would not have killed my bees, whatever 

 I did. You say you were happy after you 

 got them all killed. Now, the thought of 

 tliose murdered bees would not have let me 

 sleep nights had I been in your place ; how- 

 ever, there is no use wasting words on that 

 part of it, for they are gone now. I have 

 been throiigli just abotit the same experi- 

 ence a good many times, and I will tell you 

 how I manage, i^f course, the tirst thing is 

 to shut the door; and, by the way, the 

 latches to the door of the bee-house ought 

 to be so arranged that they shut easily and 

 securely every time. I have often thought 

 that a spring" to the door, such as we have 

 on our screen-doors, would be a good in- 

 vestment, then have the catch so it will 

 fasten the door, no matter wliere or how 

 the door may be left. Prevention is better 

 than cure, you know. But if the bees do go in 

 because of the door l)eing fastened open. Or 

 something of that sort, shut all the doors 

 and windows securely, so that no more can 

 get in. When the bees collect in a large 

 quantity on one of the windows, raise the 

 window, and with a brush broom, or some- 

 tliing similar, get out as many as possible. 



