598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



OUR 1000 HIVES OF BEES AND FOUR YARDS. 



It may surprise some of our readers to 

 know that the publishers of this journal 

 now own and operate 1000 hives of bees. I 

 do not mean to say that all of them are what 

 we call comb-honey colonies. About 600 of 

 them are on four, six, and eight frames, for 

 queen-rearing' — not strong enough to store 

 comb honey. The rest of them are in 

 twelve-frame Langstroth, ten-frame Jumbos, 

 ten-frame Danzenbaker, and two-story eight- 

 frame Dovetailed hives. We have three out- 

 yards, and we expect to make another soon. 

 All four of our yards are on the line of the 

 electric railwajs so that our men, by pay- 

 ing five or ten cents, can reach any yard in- 

 side of about fifteen minutes from the home 

 yard. 



With the work of revising the ABC book, 

 getting out eight extra pages of our journal, 

 and handling my general correspondence, 

 and spending two hours or so a day among 

 the bees, you can imagine that, just at pres- 

 ent at least, "yours trul}^" is having his 

 hands full. But I am gathering a great 

 deal of valuable experience, as well as test- 

 ing some new ideas that have been recently 

 advanced. Our readers will be given the 

 benefit of them in these columns during the 

 next six months. 



in the new revision, so that I hope the A B 

 C for 1903 will be better adapted than ever 

 before to all parts of the United States. 

 Our friends who are thinking of getting a 

 copy will do well to wait till the new edi- 

 tion is out, which, we hope, will be some 

 time in December. 



NEW EDITION OF THE A B C OF BEE CUL- 

 TURE UNDER WAY. 



We are hard at work on a new edition of 

 the A B C of Bee Culture. It seemed after 

 the last edition was out, about a year ago, 

 that we would not run out again for three or 

 four years, for we printed 8000; and even if 

 we did get out we thought we should only 

 have to make a reprint; but so rapid has 

 been the advancement in bee culture, and 

 so many new kinks have come up, that the 

 ABC book is again receiving an overhaul- 

 ing as before. This does not imply that 

 the previous edition was carelessly or hasti- 

 ly compiled, but simply that, within twelve 

 or fifteen months, any publisher of a bee 

 journal will run across a great many valu- 

 able ideas. For example, during this time 

 there has been an extended series of arti- 

 cles on bottling honey, and many new and 

 valuable ideas have been given. Obvious- 

 ly, we could not very well afford to get out 

 a new edition of a book like the ABC and 

 skip this important subject that had never 

 been thoroughly exploited in any work be- 

 fore. Take another example. During the 

 last year and a half we have learned much 

 about methods of rendering wax under 

 pressure. The Root Co. has been making 

 some extended experiments. The result of 

 all this is that much of value has been 

 learned, and will be given to the public, 

 not only through these columns, but through 

 our ABC book. Still again, my extended 

 travels through our western country among 

 the bee-keepers has shown me how much 

 locality has to do with conditions, and how 

 it must necessarily modify all bee-work. I 

 have taken this factor under consideration 



THE EDITOR DEFIED. 



Yes, last night, July 9, he was defied, 

 and for a while he began to fear he was 

 knocked out — not by man, not by b-b-b-e-a- 

 s-t, but by bees. It was just after a heavy 

 thunderstorm. It had been very warm all 

 day, and the bees had been having a gala 

 time on the basswoods. I had driven out to 

 the south yard and lighted my smoker and 

 put on my veil. I was putting supers on 

 such hives as were crowded for room. With 

 my usual caution after such a storm I 

 blew smoke into the entrance of one hive, 

 removed the cover, and was about to pull 

 out a frame from the brood-nest. It was 

 toward dusk or I should, perhaps, have no- 

 ticed that a lot of bees were standing high 

 up on their legs, nervously twisting this 

 way and that, ready for an onslaught. At 

 all events, the onslaught came. It being 

 very warm, as before stated, I had nothing 

 on but one thickness of clothing, and linen 

 trousers at that — a fact those bees were not 

 slow to discover. Unfortunately I had hung 

 the smoker on one side of the hive, and 

 that was the only smoker in the yard. I 

 reached for the weapon. Oh, no! they had 

 possession. I retreated a few paces, and 

 waited for them to calm down. The min- 

 ute I showed myself again, out thej' came 

 like hot shot, up my sleeves, and wherever 

 my thin clothing touched me they were sure 

 to find the spot. I retreated again, and 

 waited for them to "cool off." Again I 

 showed myself, with the same result. 

 "Well, now," said I, "I have never been 

 conquered by a colony yet. If I can get 

 hold of that smoker I will see who is boss. " 

 But the minute I got anywhere near the 

 hive to get my weapon, that moment they 

 would rush out. I finally got behind a big 

 apple-tree which was conveniently near, 

 and with a long screwdriver I reached the 

 point of it into the nozzle of the smoker, and 

 quietl}^ lifted it oft" the hive. Didn't I work 

 up a big smudge? and didn't I give 'em 

 fits? I smoked them at the entrance, I 

 smoked them at the top, I made them fairly 

 howl for mercy, and then / was boss. 



It is a little humiliating that one who is 

 preparing a ten-thousand edition of a five- 

 hundred-page bee-book, and is supposed to 

 direct the destinies of the readers of a bee 

 journal, should be cowed down and con- 

 quered in such an inglorious style by a few 

 bees! ! ! ! It was fortunate for me there was 

 no Rambler around to take in the situation 

 with the camera. 



Say — I was rubbing stings out of my 

 arms all night. I was stung so much I did 

 not really know where I had been hit until 

 an itchy spot would remind me there was, 

 may be, a sting located thereon. 



