132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Feb. 



filled sections will be finished out with new honey, 

 and be recapped nice and white. You will be sur- 

 prised to see in how short a time you will have nice 

 new honey tor the market. Now, Some will say 

 that that old honej- in there will be inferior, and 

 will be notiee<l by my customers; but such has not 

 bfeen my experience. If there are any uncapped 

 Cells that have granulated, the bees will work it 

 Over, taking out the granules. 1 have from 1500 to 

 2000 of these unfinished sections, left over from the 

 previous year, which I consider very valuable. 

 Bluffton, Ohio. Fr.\nk A. Eaton. 



OI*I]SriONATED BEE-KEEPERS. 



Miss nellie i,inswik holds up a looking- 

 glass FOR us. 



X= AST May I was called suddenly east: and 

 ^j though I had expected to return soon, the 

 '^^ summer passed and November had been ush- 

 ■*™ ered in before I walked once more the then 

 Quiet aisles of our apiary. One whose sum" 

 mer work for fourteen years has been chiefly among 

 the blessed bees, can not drop all connection with 

 them, and at the same time drop all thought con- 

 cerning them. Flowers bloomed and faded the long 

 summer through, but evei' with a breath of their 

 fragrance came a thought of the bees. The berry- 

 bushes among the lovely rock-strewn hills and val- 

 leys of New Hampshire grew white with bloom, but 

 they brought no thought of the luscious fruit to fol- 

 low as I watched the bees that hovered over them. 

 Later, 'mid the Green Mountains of Vermont I stop- 

 ped to lay my ear against the rough bark of the 

 basswood, if so be I might hear murmurous music 

 from the nodding blossoms high above me; and, 

 later still, in New York, the lovely plumes of the 

 goldenrod sent my thoughts flying back to my own 

 distant apiary, with a wonder if there the bees 

 might not be gathering amber-hued honey. 



But It was in New Hampshire I met my first broth- 

 er bee-keeper. He walked in one evening with bus- 

 iness written upon every line of his face, and" fixed 

 his keen eyes upon me. " Your cousin here says 

 you're a bee-keeper, and what you don't know about 

 bees ain't worth knowing. 8o I'd just like to have 

 you step over to my place, and look at my bees, and 

 tell me why they don't work." 



I took the compliment with a grain of salt, doubt- 

 ing much if m3- cousin could distinguish between a 

 honey-bee and a hornet, but gladly promised to go 

 over and see the bees. Better far for my reputation 

 had I never gone near them I 



The next morning I opened the neighbor's gate, 

 and went up the little rose-bordered path to the 

 house; then turning, with a bee-Keeper's instinct, I 

 passed around to the rear, and found myself stand- 

 ing under wide-spreading maple-ti-ees in whose 

 cool shade stood the bee-hives. They were the first 

 1 had seen since leaving home; and with unspeaka- 

 ble delight 1 sat down on the soft grass by the side 

 of a hive to watch the busy workers. The morning 

 air was heavy with the fragrance of white clover, 

 and the more exquisite fragrance of the wild grape 

 that trailed its long branches over the stone walls 

 in every direction. In and out in a ceaseless stream 

 went the small toilers of the hive, now brushing my 

 hair as they passed, now dropping, tired and heavy 

 laden, for a moment's rest on di-ess or hands. A 

 voice at my side broke the quiet. 



" So you've found them'i' And now I'll be obliged 

 if you'll tell me why they don't work." 



"Work I But, indeed, they flrfi working," said I, 

 wnth decision. 



A sarcastic smile curled his lips. "Yes," he re- 

 turned, glancing from hive to hive, " I'll admit that 

 they're going in and out pretty lively; but what 1 

 want to know is, why don't 1 get box honey? It's 

 time; for there's Meador, who lives down at the 

 Corners, has taken oil* I don't know how many 

 pounds." 



" HDw long have your bo.xes been on?" Tasked. 



■' Haven't been on at all," he replied; and then, 

 seeing my look of surprise, he continued, "you're 

 mistaken if you think I know nothing about bees. 

 I've kept them for some years; and, though I've got 

 precious little honej', I've found out, among other 

 things, that there ain't a mite of use in putting on 

 bo.xes tilt they begin to lay out. And where do j'ou 

 see a hive here where they're laying out thick and 

 heavy as they ought? " 



I checked a laugh before it had passed my lips, 

 and paused to consider. " How many hives did you 

 have i.i the spring?" 1 asked. 



"Two; and good strong ones they were." 



" And now you have six." 



"Yes; and that's not counting the one I gave 

 away for the hiving"— -with a retrospective glance 

 at a far-outreaching branch many feet above our 

 heads. And it was then but the middle of June! 

 The trouble and the only remedy were alike appar- 

 ent; but there was small chance of my being able 

 to nuikc this opinionated man see things as I saw 

 them. He was a "bee-keeper," albeit on a small 

 scale, and he had made what he deemed some re- 

 markable discoveries. And do we not all know 

 that, as a rule, beekeepers are blessed with a sub- 

 lime confidence in themselves? I freely admit, that 

 I have myself two or three pet theories of my" own; 

 and, though open to conviction, 1 confess that 1 

 should like to see the bee-keeper who can convince 

 me that I am in error concerning them' 



To my disappointment and vexation, the hives 

 proved to be box hives, with all their secrets close 

 locked within them. One hive in particular moved 

 me with mingled pity and indignation. It was one 

 of the old stands, and the bees were going languidly 

 in and out, with none of the stir and enthusiasm of 

 the other hives. Perhaps the young queen had 

 been lost, and the doomed colony, conscious of its 

 hopeless condition, was drifting slowly to annihila- 

 tion. Think not that I made no cttort in their be- 

 half. The short lecture I delivered then and there 

 on the necessity of movable frames, and the conse- 

 quent advantage in having colonies in a condition 

 for examination and intelligent treatment, if not a 

 very brilliant eftort, was certainly an earnest one. 

 But my auditor listened with knit brow and an ex- 

 pression of disapproval. He did not want to go into 

 the business, and he didn't want to be bothered 

 with any new-fangled contrivances. All he asked 

 for was .lust honey enough 1or his own use, and no 

 one seemed able to tell him how to get it without 

 more fuss than it was worth. I ventured to suggest 

 that he sell his bees, and buy his honey of Meador; 

 but I don't think the suggestion pleased him. He 

 willingly let me put boxes, six-pound glass boxes, 

 over two of the strongest colonies; and when I dis- 

 covered in the little workshop a pan of light dry 

 comb, taken from a late swarm brimstoned in the 

 fall, and asked permission to put in some starters, 



