1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



941 



plenty of clustering room and especially plenty 

 of ventilation. The cover was placed over all; 

 and, being well above the edges of the hive, tend- 

 ed to cool off the bees during the night, which I 

 felt would be a good thing, as the bees would 

 probably be less inclined to hang out as they had 

 been doing. 



Bee-day in my yard was generally Sunday, and 

 it was no unusual thing for two dozen of my 

 neighbors and their children to be grouped round 

 the hives watching with keen interest the various 

 manipulations. The farewell scene, however, 

 occurred on a Saturday forenoon, and so my gal- 

 lery was limited to a circle of ladies; but they 

 were treated to an unrehearsed performance that 

 was more than funny. My boy, as usual, occu- 

 pied the role of general assistant, and in such hot 

 weather his raiment was as scanty as the laws of 

 Illinois allowed. Notwithstanding frequent past 

 experiences he always forgot to tie the bottom of 

 his trousers; and since he woie no underwear, 

 any stray bee that wandered above the region of 

 his shoes had a splendid opportunity for quick 

 business. Again and again I would admonish 

 him, reiterating the rule about bees always crawl- 

 ing upward. 



On this occasion we were very busy, and I was 

 astounded to see him limp gingerly to the back 

 porch, where he dropped on to the top step, lean- 

 ed his back against the wall, and stuck his feet 

 over the top railing. The position looked both 

 uncomfortable and peculiar, so all the grown 

 folks gathered round him to learn the cause of 

 his trouble. We found him carefully holding up 

 the slack of his trousers just above the knee, and 

 after repeated questioning he sadly informed us 

 that at least three bees were roaming at large in 

 the domain of his nether garments; that he was 



afraid they would sting, and he wished they 

 would, just to get the anxiety off his mind. But 

 why this attitude.-" Bees crawled up, surely we 

 knew that; and since they had ventured as far in 

 one direction as he wanted, he was reversing 

 himself so that they could start the return jour- 

 ney; but if his feelings were any indication they 

 were now pursuing a downward career, that was 

 the same as upward to him. I proposed to kill 

 each one with a swift slap above the cloth; but, 

 no! he was sure the dying wretches would sting, 

 and it was his leg, not mine. The good matrons 

 gave their best advice, but this was no ordinary 

 infantile ailment, so we awaited developments and 

 all joined in a hearty chorus as three separate and 

 well-defined exclamations passed his lips, each in- 

 dicating a lessening of his anticipatory pains, but 

 decided augmentation of his physical sufferings. 

 In due course he fastened all slack material round 

 his ankles, and returned to his labors. But e\en 

 now you can not convince him that bees alxvays 

 crawl upward. 



My son and I were up at four next morning. 

 We found hundreds of bees hanging outside; but 

 the smoker drove many in. In front of each en- 

 trance we fastened wire netting with strips of 

 wood. We figured we could do all that was to 

 be done at this stage in about 15 minutes; but 

 one thing after another lengthened out the time 

 to over an hour and a half. The wagon was 

 pulled close to the hives; but as many bees were 

 flying I told the driver to take his horse about a 

 block away. Once loaded, my boy and I pulled 

 the wagon about fifty feet at a time and proceed- 

 ed to kill as many of the flying bees as we could, 

 as we feared an attack on the horse might precip- 

 itate a runaway. 



Just before starting I sprinkled all the hives 



HIGH BANK OF THE CHICAGO DRAINAGE CANAL, SHOWING VEGETATION, MUCH OF WHICH IS 



white: SWEET CLOVER. 



