\')0S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1059 



THE TROUBLES OF AN 

 AMATEUR BEE- 

 KEEPER. 



A Fresh Start with Bees. 



BV F. DUNDAS TODD. 



The middle of August found me 

 in Southern Oregon; and before I 

 liad moved into my new home I 

 had bought a "stand" of bees — 

 not a hive, but simply a box made 

 out of 12-inch lumber about 14 

 inches high. I ought to have pho- 

 tographed it as I first saw it stand- 

 ing on a huge drygoods-box and 

 surmounted with a double-tier sec- a 



tion-super that overlapped it ev- 

 erywhere. Bees were flying out 

 and in of all sides of the box, as these had con- 

 veniently cracked from top to bottom. Exam- 

 ination showed a hole an inch in diameter at the 

 top of the hive, and through this the owner ex- 

 pected the bees to enter the super and lay up a 

 store of sweetness for him. Because they would 

 not, and as he was going to move, he would sell 

 for a dollar, and I handed him the money. 



Now, I ought to be able to tell how simply 

 and perfectly I transferred that box hive to my 

 own yard; but instead I must confess I acted like 

 the veriest greenhorn, and made a mess of it that 

 was humiliating. The trouble was, I had no 

 stand, so I wanted the drygoods-box too. So 

 one night I took four fair-sized nails, a hamr.ier, 

 some mosquito-netting, and a wheelbarrow, and 

 started to fetch that box hive. With the netting 

 I wrapped the hive as it stood, covering all the 



THE TODD APIARY, MEDFORD, OREGON, AS IT WAS IN OCTOBER, 1907. 



ORCHARD SCENE IN SOUTHERN OREGON. 



Note the bee-hives under the trees. 



entrances and exits, then proceeded to toenail the 

 hive to the box. Then my boy and I lifted the 

 drygoods-box and hive on to the barrow. Grasp- 

 ing the handles of the latter I started for home; 

 but before I had moved a foot the wheel struck 

 a snag; the nails gave way, and that confounded 

 box hive turned several somersaults over the wheel. 

 The bees may have been startled. I certainly 

 was. A hasty examination with the lantern show- 

 ed the hive on the ground upside down, with 

 thousands of bees running all over it. Prompt 

 action seemed a necessity, so I dumped the dry- 

 goods-box on the ground, grabbed the hive, land- 

 ed it right side up on its old stand, and then 

 skipped to a certainly safe distance. I carried a 

 few troubles away in my fingers, just as souve- 

 nirs of the occasion. 



Next night I acted sensibly. I spread a large 



square of two- 

 fold mosquito- 

 netting on the 

 big box, lifted 

 the hive into the 

 center of it, 

 gathered the 

 slack up round 

 the sides and 

 tied safely with 

 a string. Now 

 I could handle 

 the box of tricks 

 without anxie- 

 ty. The e n - 

 graving shows 

 what it looked 

 like in my own 

 yard. I felt I 

 would have no 

 troubles over 

 this hive until 

 spring, as bees 

 in this valley get 

 no winter pro- 

 tection what- 

 ever. 



However, 

 trouble follow- 

 ed me on the old 

 schedule, but 

 with a new vari- 

 ation — it always 

 does act that 



