Gleanings in Be« Culture 



planned to remove the board covering the 

 holes in the top of the hive as soon as honey 

 began to come in, and place this 8X1U box 

 over it to be filled with honey. 



This was in the winter of 1907. My broth- 

 er was a freshman in high school. I went 

 to New Brunswick to take a short course in 

 agriculture, and there something happened. 

 We had special illustrated lectures on Satur- 

 day mornings. Two of these were on bees 

 and beekeeping, and were delivered by Dr. D. 

 Elverett Lyon. Previous to this I had known 

 in a general way that bees were sometimes 

 kept in patent hives, and that there were a 

 few people making a living from bees; but I 

 had no idea of the size of the business nor 

 of its vast possibilities. In fact, I had no 

 knowledge at all of modern methods as prac- 

 ticed by our best beekeepers. To say that I 

 was surprised at some of the statements and 

 views during those two lectures would be 

 putting it mildly. There were views of mod- 

 ern dovetailed hives filled with frames, and 

 showing how they could be lifted out and 

 examined while the bees were on them; neat 

 supers to take the place of the old-fashioned 

 top boxes filled with honey in one-pound 

 sections — just the right size for table use; 

 machines that would throw the hone>' from 

 the combs, and leave it to be drawn off as a 

 clear clean fluid free from wax particles; the 

 different breeds of bees, and comparisons 

 showing wherein the Italians were superior 

 to the black bees; and also the buildings, 

 hives, and apiaries containing hundreds of 

 colonies of bees belonging to many success- 

 ful beekeepers. These things were highly 

 interesting, and I began to think of what 

 might be done with my brother's colony, 

 when some more views were shown illustrat- 

 ing bee demonstrations. The things those 

 people did with bees was certainly marvel- 

 ous. I considered that it would simply be 

 suicide to attempt those things. To put it 

 honestly, I fear I did not believe Dr. Lyon's 

 statements concerning those demonstra- 

 tions, even though he is, I believe, a minis- 

 ter of the gospel. 



I came home in the spring, told my broth- 

 er what I had seen and heard, and got him 

 interested to the extent of sending for the 

 A B C book. Father laughed at the idea of 

 spending money for a book on bees; but 

 when it came his ridicule was changed to 

 wonderment that so much could be written 

 about so small a thing as a bee. "Why," 

 he said, in speskingof it toa neighbor, "it's 

 a regular encyclopedia; and to think it's all 

 about bees! Why, if those boys master all 

 the things in that book they won't need to 

 keep bees or farm either; they'll be scien- 

 tists." We are not yet scientists, but that 

 book was gone over and studied, especially 

 by my brother, at every spare moment. So 

 also was Gleanings, for which he soon sub- 

 scribed 



When reading we found some things, in 

 the light of our previous knowledge and ex- 

 perience, quite hard to believe. After mak- 

 ing due allowance for exaggerated state- 

 ments we still found that a surplus of 50 or 



75 pounds of honey per colony was not con- 

 sidered a heavy yield at all; yet no one in 

 our own neighborhood had ever seen such 

 yields from box hives. Where was the 

 fault? Was it the fault of the box hives, 

 the bees, or the beekeeper? We determinecl 

 to find out; if necessary, by experience. By 

 making a start in a small way, there would 

 be little to lose and much to gain in experi- 

 ence and knowledge if not in money; so an 

 order was sent in for an eight-frame l>2-story 

 hive suitable for comb honey. It was order- 

 ed nailed and painted, and was fitted with 

 4>4^X4XXl/^ plain sections with foundation 

 starters. An examination upon its arrival 

 convinced us we did exactly right in order- 

 ing our first hive already nailed together, 

 rather than purchasing in the fiat and nail- 

 ing the parts ourselves. 



This was in the spring of 1908. My broth- 

 er's colony in the box hive was in good con- 

 dition. At his request I bought a half in- 

 terest in that and we went into partnership. 



When the trees began to bloom the bees 

 flew out in constantly increasing numbers, 

 and my brother expected to see a swarm 

 each night on coming from school. We 

 were all given special instructions to leave 

 the swarm until after school for him to hive. 

 Well, one hot day at noon out came the 

 swarm — a big one too. It settled on a tree 

 near the ground, and would have been quite 

 easy to hive, but we left it as instructed. 

 Our orders are now quite different. From 

 that day they have been to hive swarms on 

 the jump; for when he came home from 

 school that night no bees were to be seen. 

 Together we searched every tree, crack, and 

 corner on the farm, but never located that 

 swarm. It "lit out" for good. 



Some days after our swarm left, our uncle 

 had a swarm settle in a tree; and as he did 

 not care to hive it himself, he gave it to us. 

 The new hive was taken to the tree; antl 

 after much difficulty, but no stings, for we 

 were as well protected as the average Egyp- 

 tian mummy, the swarm was safely hived. 

 But, alas! those bees had not been properly 

 reared, and did not recognize the advantages 

 of their new home fitted with all modern 

 conveniences. They absconded without 

 even leaving their next joostoffice address. 

 However they failed to pay for their night's 

 lodging, so my brother and myself felt it to 

 our best interests to locate them. We found 

 them some distance away in another tree. 

 The hiving process was repeated. This time 

 they became permanent lodgers, and stood 

 the trip home to our own yard successful] \. 



My brother's box hive cast a small after 

 swarm that behaved better than the first, 

 and was housed in a box hive. The bees in 

 the box hives were left severely alone except 

 for putting a top box on the parent hive. 

 But we resolved that the work of the bees in 

 the new hive should be watched, the bees 

 themselves studied, and that we should 

 learn to examine or manipulate them :is 

 outlined in the books. 



The new hive was opened the first time 

 with great fear and trembling. We had no 



