M\K('H 1.'.. 1915 



239 



HALF A CENTURY A BEEKEEPER 



BY ETHEL LEAEN 



My grandfather, J. J. Slierk. who is now 

 in his eightieth year, has kept bees since he 

 was eighteen. His sister gave him his first 

 colony, which was in a box liive; but that 

 winter he lost it. The next summer his 

 father gave him another if he would give 

 him the honey. This was in an old-fash- 

 ioned straw hive which he made himself. 

 He used these for a number of yeai-^ until 

 he heard of the " Ott " hive; but he did not 

 liave succe.-s with tliat. He then tried the 

 " Jones " hive, which he liked somewhat 

 better, but that -nnntcr he lost all he had — 

 fifty colonies. 



He then bought another colony, for 

 which he paid .$9.00. A friend of his 

 advised him to try the Langstroth hive. 

 This he liked, and is still using. 



He has 61 colonies now, and does all the 

 work for them himself. He extracts his 

 own boney with an automatic exti-actor, 

 which is much better than straining it 

 through a cloth, which he did when he first 

 started. He has had better success these 

 last few years than he ever had, but last 

 year there was little honey in this section. 



Vineland, Out. 



THE PREVENTION OF SWARMING 



A Sequel to the Law of Swanming FormnLiialted 



BY WILLIAM BEUCUS 



There was a time when the tipping of 

 tables and the writing of the planchette 

 board were regarded as due to tlie actions 

 of spirits. It satisfied the craving for the 

 marvelous and the startling. But investiga- 

 tors proved that these phenomena are due 

 to involunatry muscular contraction. Nev- 

 ertheless there are still to be found those 

 wlio insist that spirits are the cause. 



So it is with swarming. The desire for 

 the occult has caused many of us to look 

 with disfavor upon any explanation which 

 shows I hat swarming is due to simple causes. 



We do not like to think of Ihc har<I uiipo- 

 etic work by which swarming may be pre- 

 vented, and hope to discovei' some simple 

 sleight-of-hand method by which swarming 

 shall be easily and quickly eonti'olled. To 

 show that the tipping of the tables, writing 

 of planchette boards, and kindred phenom- 

 ena, as well as the SAvarming of bees, are 

 due to tlie action of well-known causes is a 

 cruel disappointment. Nevertheless the thirst 

 for truth compels us to reject llie ])oelic and 

 accept the prosaic. 



Some time ago an intelligoiit boi'keeper 



