426 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



anotliei- book it should be good measure, 

 full of pictures, and I would lay ray plans 

 for a new edition, with additions just as 

 fast as the book began to get the least bi t 

 stale or out of date. 



OUR p. BENSON LETTER. 



HIVIN JENNY'S SWARM. 



fS^ HE summer Jo Stutl bilt his 2 story hen house, 

 I)" 1 hot day Jenny Hutehisen see a swarm of 

 s bees a cummin lickity brindle. rite strate for 

 thair house. It so happend that day that she 

 was all alone and not a sole at home but her. 

 Jenny's 1 a them g-irls whitch aint afeerd a. nothin 

 if she doant git flustered, and the 1st thot whitch 

 cum into her hed, as she shet her teeth 2g-ether, 

 was " Them air bees is mine." The bees was a slow- 

 in up sum, and a k-nda sailin roun & roun like, and 

 Jenny diddent no much about bees but she heerd 

 Carry Davis say that if you made a big noise so the 

 bees cooddent hear the king, thade settel. So she 

 just put both hands onto her waist, settled herself 

 back a little, shut her ize Vi open, opened her mouth 

 to its fool curapass, and let out sitch a yell yuda 

 thot it was 25 locomotives «& a wild Sue injun. That 

 started out the Wilsons whitch jined farms with the 

 Hutchasens. That was before Jack was married, 

 and he was a running the farm that yeer on ac- 

 count of his father had fell and unjointed his thie 

 bone. So when Jack heer Jenny a screechin and a 

 screemin like the injuns was a scalpin of her, he 

 made for his gun, thinkin they must be burglers to 

 Hutchasens. Mary cum a tarin acrost the paster 

 with a tin pale & a tirky egg into it, whitch she hed 

 bin huntin tirky nests. Sid see Jack git his gun, so 

 she called the dogs & followed, and Em she got the 

 ax & cum pirty neer outrunnin them all. The 4 got 

 there pirty much together, Mary's pale pirty well 

 painted over the inside with the yallow of the tirky 



A. WHOOPIN AND 



egg aod they found Jenny a hootin away as loud as 

 ever, standin right into the middle of the yard, her 

 ize kinda sot like. " Whair is he V " sez Jack. Sez 

 Mary " Whair's the lire ?" se;^ she. Jenny wuzzent 

 a goin to take no chances, and if noise was a goin to 

 make them bees settel she woodent risk stoiipin. 

 Besides she was encurridged by seein sum of the 

 bees begio to lite oato ^ Jinj. So she never let up a 



minnit onto the hoopin & hoUerin but jest jirked 

 her hed towards where the bees was. Then thay 

 noad what was the matter. Mary diddent waist enny 

 time a considerin, but turned her tin pale upsidown 

 and took a stone & went to poundin for deer life, 

 the tirky egg a streemin down her dress. Em sez 

 to Jenny, sez she "Shut yure big mouth and get 

 sum pans and things. Thattle bring em down quick- 

 ernshootin." "Will it?" sez Jenny, and then she 

 tore into the house like mad and grahbed up the tin 

 pale, the tongs, the dish pan, and a pan of sower 

 milk a standin onto the table, which she delibertly 

 upset the milk onto the middle of the floor, whitch 

 she mite jistaswell throad it out door, but then 

 Jenny was flustered. P. Benson, A. B. S. 



{To be konkloodcd.) 



T. P. ANDREWS' APIARY. 



MORE ABOUT IT. 



T T is seventeen years since 1 became interested 

 /aP in bee culture, through the publications of H. 

 ^t A. King, whose hive, the American, I adopted 

 -*■ and used for a few years. When I had increas- 

 ed up to about 80 colonies 1 transferred all my 

 combs into the standard L. frame, and have used it 

 since, exclusively. My main honey-crop has been 

 gathered from tickseed (coreopsis), though usual- 

 ly called Spanish needle. I have never had any sur- 

 plus from clover or basswood here, the absence of 

 which has caused our annual honey-crop to average 

 only moderate, as compared with more favored lo- 

 calities. Our bees have shown but little disposition 

 to swarm, even when run for comb honey. 



During the honey-yield this fall I had my bees, 300 

 colonies, all at home. I had 130 hives out about 

 four miles; but about the middle of August, just 

 before the coreopsis bloomed, the drought had be- 

 come much more severe at my out apiary than at 

 home, where we had had some local showers. I ac- 

 cordingly moved the bees home; notwithstanding, 

 there were 300 or 400 more colonies owned within 

 about 2 miles of my apiary. With 600 or 700 colonies 

 in this locality I hoped to be able to throw some 

 light on the question of overstocking, but I am not 

 sure that I have reached any definite results. My 

 honey-crop, mostly extracted, does not exceed 20 

 lbs. to the colony, fall count. That looks like over- 

 stocking. But, on the other hand, at some points a 

 few miles away, bees have done no better than 

 here; while at other places near the timber, where 

 they had a run of honey-dew during June and July, 

 bees have secured a larger crop. 



Tn regard to the picture which appeared in 

 Gleanings, page 14, perhaps I should explain 

 that the apiary is arranged in squares of 10 hives 

 each, with broad alleys running each way. The al- 

 leys run east and west. The view was taken from 

 the south, and does not show very well in the pic- 

 ture. The smaller building on the left is my honey- 

 house, where the extracting is done, and the sur- 

 plus combs are stored when removed from the 

 hives. The larger building is t\ie shop where I man- 

 ufacture and store my hives. The absence of large 

 trees is due to the fact that, when I bought this 10- 

 acre field, adjoining town, three years ago, there 

 was not a tree on it. I have put up the buildings, 

 but have to wait for the tvees to grow. 



J'arina, lU, T. P. Andrews. 



