THE AMERICAN APTCULTURtST. 



lO? 



should leuru to disci-iminato in this 

 regard. 



It soems to me that ther(! is no 

 action within the reach of hoekoop- 

 ers that woidd do so much to 

 stimulate the honey market as a 

 general, decided movement of the 

 fraternity for the purpose of se- 

 curing the more perfect of conil) 

 honey. 



L(q)cpr, Mich . 



A HOT DAY IN JUNE. 

 BEES. 



Mrs. H. Hills. 



"Oh, ni}' prophetic soul !" When 

 friend Ashcraft asked about the 

 bees, on the day after the^^ were 

 removed from the cellar, I answered 

 him that the prospect was discour- 

 aging. 



" How so? I thought they were 

 wintering finel}'." 



" Ah, yes ; much too finely for 

 one woman to manage at swarming 

 time." 



The fact was, the hives were 

 running over with bees, on that 

 very first week in April, and the 

 prospect of my ever being able to 

 control them in June looked dis- 

 couraging enough. Thirty-one 

 colonies, nearly all heavy, and the 

 little nucleus, on three crosswise 

 L. Irames, as sauc}' as any of them. 

 P^ven a novice like myself coidd 

 foresee trouble ahead. 



It is certainly a fact, that the 

 bees thrive wonderfully with me. 

 1 do so love to I)uild up the colo- 

 nies and the nuclei, and see them 

 increase and multipl}'. I cannot 

 endure to have a single one in the 

 apiar3' that is not thrifty and hap- 

 py, and well-to-do. Plenty of food 

 and warmth, with a good queen, 

 and all will thrive l)eautifull3-. But 



wlmt shall I do witli all the bees? 

 It was just so when I used to keep 

 hens, and raise chic;kens. Fifteen 

 eggs placed under a hen almost 

 invariably meant fifteen chickens. 

 But there was no market for chick- 

 ens, at that time, and liesides, 

 Mo[iliisto declared he would no 

 sooner kill one, than he would kill 

 a man, and he believed it equally 

 wicked. What could I do? They 

 Hew over their palings, and were 

 the terror of the neighbors' gardens, 

 and we could not give them awn}- 

 unless they were dressed. I sus- 

 pect it will lie so with ni}' bees. I 

 certainly would never destroy a 

 colony, neither would I give one 

 away, in the fall, to be starved by 

 unsuccessful beekeepers. 



Well, by May 20th tho bees had 

 gathered enough spring honey to 

 winter on. if I venture to use it for 

 that purpose ; and were ready to 

 swarm. Then came a set-back of 

 two weeks of bad wea,ther. Finally 

 on June 3, the first one got out; 

 two weeks later than last year. 

 The weather continued unfavor- 

 able, and the morning of June Gth 

 did not look at all promising. I 

 kept crowtling on surplus, and as 

 the sun appeared to peep out, was 

 just starting out with a case when 

 neighbor Crocker and his good wife 

 appeared ; come to have a t'^lk 

 about bees. As we stood at the door, 

 out came a swarm. The weather 

 had been so unfavorable, that I had 

 not yet put on the queen-traps, and 

 while hiving this one, another is- 

 sued. Then the sun came out so 

 hot, that it seemed like an oven. 

 Then more swarms came out, till 

 we had five. Strangely enough, 

 they showed no inclination to unite 

 though there were all of the time, 

 as many as, or more than, two in the 

 air. Such a forenoon as it was. 

 Neighbor Crocker assisted as best 

 he could, while Mrs. C. stood on 

 the piazza and gave notice of the 

 swarms. Finally, the}' were all 



