THE SMERICJlPt BE® JQURNat. 



521 



tliat a lively intei'est was taken in the 

 subject. I never was at a gatlici'ini;- of 

 an}- kinil where so many sample copies 

 of bec-periiliocals were asked for by 

 interested parties. 



Mr. Newman had kindly sent some 

 copies of the Amekh'AX Bee Jouknal 

 for distribution, and I had some extra 

 numbers of Ofc«Mi'«(?s to distribute also, 

 and lliey were given to interested par- 

 ties, and I doubt not you will hear 

 from some of them. I had some cop- 

 ies of "Dot Happy Bee-Man" song 

 with me, and at the close of the dis- 

 cussion of the bee-essaj-s, the glee-club 

 sang it, to the evident satisfaction of the 

 hundreds present. 



At the <;lose of the institute, at the 

 solicitation of ourfriend H. D. Cutting, 

 we (that's my better half and I) went 

 home with him, 22 miles by rail, and 

 had ;i good three-days' visit with him 

 and his family. 



Of course I had to take a good peep 

 at his bees. Till the last two or three 

 winters his bees have been wintered 

 out-doors, packed on their summer 

 stands, but he is now a thorough con- 

 vert to the benefits of cellar-wintering. 

 His cellar is under the house, and is 

 used as a family cellar for vegetables, 

 etc., and is 16.\24, and seven feet high. 

 He has m.ade a kind of rack along one 

 side and end, so as to hold three tiers 

 of hives, which are set with their en- 

 trances toward and with a few inches 

 of the wall, each one being easily re- 

 mov.iblc without disturbing any of the 

 others. 



The frames are covered with enamel 

 cloth, and the bottom-board is left on. 

 Some of them were placed in winter 

 quarters October 20, and the last on 

 Nov. 20 : and I am safe in saying there 

 were not two quarts of dead bees on 

 the cellar-bottom, from about 40 colo- 

 nics, and none had been taken up. A 

 small window at one end admits light 

 at all times, sufficient so that no artifi- 

 cial light is needed to see to get things 

 from the cellar, and but little light 

 reaches the bees. He prefers a tem- 

 perature of from 38^ to 40^. If with 

 the temperature of my cellar, 50 -,I were 

 to atlniit light, I should have to carry 

 out inostlj- dead bees in the spring. 



On the evening of the second day 

 of the institute I had the pleasure of 

 going home with, and being enter- 

 tained by, Mr. E. W. Ellis, president of 

 the Adrian .Scientific Society. He lives 

 five miles in the countiy, and, meta- 

 phorically, is full of bugs, beetles, rep- 

 tiles, etc. Being rather timid, and 

 having no special liking for such ani- 

 mals, you can perhaps imagine my 

 feelings on being ushered into a room 

 about twelve feet square, more or less, 

 " zhust zhammed crammed full of 

 dose pets vot vorks all der day, und 

 ncfer schleep nights, more'n ten tous- 



and hiuidret, I bets." But then I soon 

 found the}- were all dead. Mr. VAUs i.s 

 a ver}' enthusiastic entomologist, and 

 he has a large lilirary of scientilic 

 books, and seemed to know all that 

 was in them. Of course, he keeps a 

 few colonies of bees, and tries all sorts 

 of experiments with them. 



We were entertained at Adrian by 

 Mr. Edmiston and family ; an<l of 

 course he keeps bees, or how else conld 

 I possibly have sta3ed over night with 

 him ? His bees are wintered on the 

 summer stands, in chafl", and other 

 hives of that character ; and being a 

 small-fruit grower and nurseryman he 

 does much toward properly educating 

 the people of his loealitj' in regard to 

 bees and their work and production. 



During the last two winters I have 

 attended five of these institutes, held 

 in the three above-named counties, 

 and made special preparation to pre- 

 sent our branch of agricultural or hor- 

 ticultural interest, bee-culture, etc., in 

 the most interesting and attractive form 

 that it was possible for me to do. If 

 any other bee-keepers were jjresent, 

 they have willingly " lent a helping 

 hand." In no case has any effort been 

 made to induce any to engage in bee- 

 keeping as a business, but to give, in 

 as entertaining a way as possible, a brief 

 natural history of bees ; tell where the 

 honej- comes from, and how the bees 

 gather, store, and ripen it ; how ex- 

 tracted hone}- is secured, and if possi- 

 ble illustrate ; tell how and in what 

 way bees are a benefit in fertilizing 

 and cross-fertilizing fruit and other 

 blossoms. 



Also tell about the reported injuries 

 done to fruits, grapes, etc., by bees, 

 and how they have been accused of 

 " eating young ducks," etc., and cor- 

 rect these false impression. It is the 

 bee-keepers' own fault if our business 

 is not properly br<juglit before the pub- 

 lic at agricultural, horticultural, scien- 

 tific, and other gatherings. To be 

 sure, it is not an easy matter for a 

 large majority, jjcrhaps, of bee-keep- 

 ers to prepare entertaining articles on 

 our specialty ; but "there is nothing 

 like getting used to it." If one is not 

 accustomed to it, and does not feel 

 capable of preparing an entire article, 

 just let such a one get, if he has it not 

 already, a work entitled "Bees and 

 Honey," by Thos. G. Newman, and the 

 first fourteen pages will make an inter- 

 esting introduction. It is just such in- 

 formation as is interesting to the gen- 

 eral public, and written in a very inter- 

 esting way. When the next opportunity 

 presents, make a selection from Prof. 

 Cook's Manual of Apiary, the ABC of 

 Bee Culture, either or both, always 

 giving proper credit, of course, and 

 you will be surprised at the amount of 

 interesting and valuable information 



that can be thus furnished to willing 

 listeners. And now that the new edi- 

 tion of Langstroth on the Honey-Bee, 

 just revised by Charles Dadant, is to be 

 had, there seems to be no end to inter- 

 esting matter. New ideas are put 

 forth, and the old ones are put in new 

 dress, so that one is almost " lost in 

 wonder, love and praise." 



Then the diflerent bee-periodicals are 

 constantly teeming with things new 

 and old, so that, if one had nothing 

 else to enjoy or do he might almost 

 revel in the elysium of bee-lore. We 

 bee-keepers should be part and parcel 

 in all agricultural and horticultural 

 gatherings, whether for discussion or 

 fun and frolic, and also of many scien- 

 tific and social gatherings, and should 

 " let our light shine." In order to 

 have the amount of time allotted to us 

 at these gatherings we must be on hand 

 and have a hand in making up pro- 

 grammes, anil see that the right ones 

 are put in to fill the bill. 



Auburndale, Ohio. 



SWARMING. 



An Interesting E\perienee in 

 Hiving; Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY VV. HOOD. 



So far as honey-gathering is concern- 

 ed, the season of 1889 has been, thus 

 far, almost a falure in this vicinity. 

 White clover furnished but little nectar. 

 There is but little basswood timber 

 near us, and what there is failed to give 

 its usual amount of honey. Mint — our 

 last chance — is coming into bloom, but 

 owing to the parched condition of our 

 sandy soil, we cannot hope for much, 



This is my first season with bees and 

 we are not on the best of terms, espec- 

 ially when they strike a soft spot on 

 my armor. I think that they are a 

 little too quick-tempered, and rather 

 previous in their conclusions ; but, thus 

 far, I have consolation in knowing that 

 I have killed more of them than they 

 have of me. I have thirty-eight colo- 

 nies to look after ; sometimes I do it 

 with one eye in a sling, and sometimes 



tW'O. 



Mv troubles commenced on the day 

 that I got my bees, and will perhaps 

 continue until one or all of us have 

 passed into the great beyond. 



They are very stubborn. They won't 

 do anything that I expect them to do. 

 This spring I sat around and wore the 

 paint all oft' the hive-covers, expecting 

 them to swarm ; but they utterly re- 

 fused to do so, until I became the 

 laughing-stock of the village, and even 

 my own family began "firing" squibs 

 at me. My youngest hopeful, one day. 



