1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



609 



quite a number of ten-frame Langstroth, 

 and 60 or 70 eig-ht-frame L. hives. Now 

 let me tell 3'ou the big- hives are booming- 

 with bees and honey. Some of them are 

 two and three stories hig-h. Some have one 

 storj', and combs and two supers being- fill- 

 ed with comb honey ; and, such colonies I 

 This mornings, July 14, I could not help 

 noting- how the bees of these big- colonies 

 poured into the entrances in perfect streams 

 — pouring in and pouring- out. Swarm? 

 They are just keeping- still and sawing- 

 wood. 



I confess to being- somewhat enthusiastic 

 about sweet clover and catnip ; and you 

 may rest assured I shall, at the earliest op- 

 portunity, visit our friend, so that I may be 

 able to confirm all the wonderful things he 

 has told us. 



About his getting 15 cents for his honey — 

 he evidently has capital enough to "corner 

 the market;" but whether he can do it aft- 

 er this season is a question. — Ed. J 



MAC'S BEES. 



BY LOTTA MILI.ER. 



Mac had read somewhere that there was 

 an immense profit in keeping bees; so when 

 Mr. Willow oftered him a 

 five-dollar "swarm," box in- 

 cluded, in return for help 

 rendered during last sum- 

 mer's harvest he enthusiasti- 

 cally accepted it; and visions 

 of unlimited wealth and a ta- 

 ble flowing with milk and 

 honey (Mac's father owns a 

 dairy farm) kept constantly 

 appearing before his mind's eye. That is 

 until lately. I think now he is beginning 

 to think it folly to put such unlimited con- 

 fidence in these small exam- 

 ples of industry, notwith- 

 ing their proverbial reputa- 

 tions for steadiness of char- 

 acter. 



A swarm of bees in May 

 Is worth a load of hay. 



Along in April last, Mac 

 was continually quoting this 

 old couplet to his family and 

 friends. He wanted his bees to swarm ; 

 and he was sure his bees were going to do 

 just as he wanted. But as it got along to- 

 ward the last of June, and the bees, with 

 that unexplainable contrariness sometimes 

 noticed by careful observers of the model 

 insects, still hadn't "swarmed," he be- 

 came a trifle anxious. The weather, the 

 lack of some particular flower for which 

 bees are popularly supposed to have a sweet 

 tooth — if one may use that noun in connec- 

 tion with bees — perhaps one ought to say 

 tongue — every thing and the bees them- 

 selves were blamed in turn by Mac for being 

 the cause of their disregard for his wishes. 



Eacli da.y, each hour, Mac 

 grew to look for the event of 

 swarming; and his sister Do- 

 ra, whohad promised towatch 

 them any time Mac was ab- 

 sent, was duly enjoined to 

 "keep an eye" on their move- 

 ments whenever he went ten 

 rods from the house. 

 In the morning, when he 

 went to the " lower field " or elsewhere on 

 the farm, his parting injunc- 

 tion was, " Now keep an eye 

 on the bees, Dora, whatever 

 you do" ("or don't do," 

 murmured Dora, sometimes, 

 sarcastically). " They will 

 be sure to come out to-day, I 

 feel very certain, as it is so 

 hot." 



Or if it was cloudy, " Now, 

 Dora, don't forget to watch the weather " 

 ( " as if watching the bees wasn't enough," 

 Dora would complain) ; "and if it clears, 

 keep an eye on the bees." 



Or if he went to town with his father, 

 "Now don't forget the bees, Dora; and if 

 they should swarm, get Mr. Willow to come 

 over and hive them." 



And so on. But Dora was usually very 

 good-natured about it. Only when she and 

 Mac had to take turns at staying at home 

 from church to " keep an eye " on them for 

 fear they should lose track of time, and 

 break the Sabbath by swarming, she re- 

 belled. 



" They're far more bother than they're 

 worth," she said to Mac on one of these oc- 

 casions. 



Max bent a reproachful glance upon her. 



" You'll enjoy eating the honey next win- 

 ter," he said. 



"It'll be winter before they swarm," 

 scoffed Dora. 



Whereupon Mac was offended, and would 

 not let her stay at home, though it was her 

 Sunday to do so. 



One day, nearly the last of June, Mac 

 went to town with his father. The morn- 

 ing was cool, but gave every promise of de- 

 veloping into an exceedingly warm day. 

 The mother was in bed with a sick head- 

 ache, and Dora was ironing, and "strain- 

 ing every nerve" to finish before the heat 

 of the day. 



"Now, Dora," said Mac, "do try and 

 remember to keep an eye on the bees. You 

 know what to do if they should swarm? " 



" I should hope so, indeed." 



Dora was warm and tired, and a little 

 cross in consequence. 



" They can just watch themselves," said 

 she to herself. " They'll not swarm, any 

 way." 



But with the usual perverseness of the 

 minor portion of creation not supposed to 

 know any thing about human wishes, Mac 

 had scarcely got out of sight when those 

 bees, to a last one, by the look of the cloud, 

 came out of the hive. Such an "every 

 which way"! If each individual insect 



