ESTABLISHED -1661 

 : OLDEST BEE-PAPER -AMER 



F*ut>lislie<i Weeldy, at ^l.OO per anntiin. 



Sa/Tjp7e Copy sent on j4pp7ication. 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 2, 1896. 



No. 27. 



Fifteen Years* Experience in Bee-Keepiug. 



HY MRS. SALLIE E. SHERMAN. 



In the fall of 1879, I purchased my first colony of bees of 

 Rev. Willis J. King, who lived nearly a mile from our little 

 home on the opposite side of the creek. They were the com- 

 mon little black bee, as that was the only kind in all this part 

 of the country at that time, and were in a bos-hive, as that 

 was the only kind then in use hereabouts. 



My son (a lad of 13 years) and I went at night with a 

 wheelbarrow after the bees. After securely wrapping them 

 up with a sheet, we started to bring them home. We had to 

 cross a, foot swinging-bridge, but by me holding the hive and 

 he rolling the wheelbarrow, we got them safely over. 



We set the hive close to the dwelling, so that we could see 

 them when they would swarm. I knew nothing about bees 

 except that they stored honey and would sting. The sting of 

 a bee hurt me, I suppose, as badly as almost any one they 

 ever stung, swelling my flesh fearfully. The fearof the sting 

 hindered my learning their habits, etc., as soon as I otherwise 

 would have done. I had never seen or heard of such a thing 

 as a smoker, and didn't know that a book had ever been writ- 

 ten upon the subject of bee-culture. Finally, a friend sent 

 me a copy of " The Bee-Keepers' Magazine," for February, 

 1875, in which I saw the picture of an "American hive." I 

 sent for the directions how to have one made, and got a car- 

 penter to make two for me, for which I paid him $10. 



In the back of the hives was a glass so that I could see 

 the inside of the hive while the bees were at work. The hive 

 was a movable-frame structure with six boxes laid on top ; 

 each box, when full of honey, held 9 pounds, making in all 

 54 pounds of surplus. 



However, previous to having these hives made, I put the 

 first swarm into a box-hive the same as the original. The two 

 box-hives were made with the cross-sticks in the lower part or 

 brood-nest proper. A small opening was left on one side, so 

 that the bees could go up above and store their surplus. On 

 the opposite side from this opening was a kind of door, held 

 in place by two nails. The opening was left by not allowing 

 the plank to reach quite clear across ; thus you see it was 

 something like a box on top, yet all together. This, I still 

 think, is the best box-hive I know of. 



When " robbing-time," as we called it then, came, then 

 came my trouble. I knew that there was honey ready to be 

 taken, but for fear of the stings I would put it off from day to 

 day, and in some cases from week to week, hoping that some- 

 body would come who knew how to " rob" them. It is indeed 

 mortifying now to think of my timidity and ignorance along 

 these lines. 



When my first swarms came — oh, what a dreadful time I 

 dH have ! There, however, was one comfort — there was one 

 gentleman in town who actually knew a queen by sight. I 

 then thought that he was indeed quite a bee-man. After a 

 terrible din, ringing of bells, beating tin pans, etc., they set- 

 tled, and I sent for John Anderson ("my Joe") — the wonder- 

 ful bee-man. He came, and also a near neighbor, who seemed 

 to think he, too, knew quite a lot about bees, as he had in 

 days long ago lined them to trees, and cut them and secured, 

 as he termed it, wild honey. 



The bees had settled high up on a large limb of a live-oak. 

 Imagine, if you can, what a ludicrous scene we all presented, 

 as after the bees we went. A long ladder stood near the body 

 of the tree ; a large diniug-table underneath, upon which 



Sallle E. Shemuin. 



neighbor C. and I stood with up-stretched arms, each of us 

 holding in our hands two quiltiug-frames, to which the four 

 corners of a sheet had been securely tied. .Tohn Anderson — 

 a man with very thick, long, heavy whiskers, without veil, 

 smoker, gloves, or any protection whatever — was in the tree 

 with saw and axe, with a large swarm of irate little black 



