IDS 



THE AMEllICAN APlCULTVlilST. 



safely hived, as noon struck. As 

 foi' myself, what with the excessive 

 heat, and extraoidinaiy exertion, 

 I was fit for nothing hut to go to 

 bed at once. But the beekeeper 

 never rests in June. I dreaded 

 what would come next, and imnie- 

 dialely began dividing. But in 

 sjiite of my utmost exertions, five 

 more issued on the eighth and four 

 on the eleventh and so on ; but I 

 had got on queen-liaps, so far as 

 Ihey went; if 1 had had enough to 

 •'go around," and i)ersisted in keep- 

 ing them on, bf)th before swarm- 

 ing. aii<l on the prime swarms, I 

 should proliably have been quit(> 

 safe, as there \mis no alter-swai'ui- 

 ing as yet. 



In my last report, I v<mt proudly 

 said, that 1 h:i(l iiexer lost a colony 

 from any cause \\ li;iU\ ci-. Wlial 

 I wish 1o ask at this writing is, 

 whether a priuK' swanii is :i colony. 

 How does one lose bees, svlien they 

 winter perfectly, and loblnng Ihem 

 is an im|)ossibility ? ^Vc]l. ;ins\ver 

 for yourselves; I shall not say 

 how. l^erhaps tiie fastnesses of 

 Tamarac swamp could tell. " Oh, 

 my pi'0[)hetic sotd !"" 



Those first ten days of .Iiuie 

 seem like a troubled, painful 

 dream. I felt somewhat displeas»Ml 

 last season, at what Mr. lleddon 

 said about women keeping bees. 

 But I tiiought of him with dilfercut 

 thoughts on those hot days. There 

 was no respite, no safety, even in 

 queen-traps and clipped queens, 

 without a contimied, and still con- 

 'jinued cutting of (lueen-cells. And 

 then such multitudes of bees — 

 such heavy swarms. Sometimes 

 they would have the good luck to 

 lose their queen, for which event, 

 may all good Christi.ans pray ; for 

 surely, we do not want any more 

 eggs laid. 



I am glad, al- least, that the awfully 

 cross hybrid colony is not in the 

 apiary, even if INIephisto and I did 

 run half a mile in the directifui of 



Tamarac swainj), at high noon, of 

 the hottest day, a spectacle for 

 gods and men. " Oh, my iiropheiic 

 soul I" 



Such swarms! why, they would 

 stay in nothing smaller than a two 

 or three-story ten-frame L. hive, 

 and even these had to be filled 

 with extracting combs, with the re- 

 maining honey u[)on then), (o en- 

 tice them. They could not see a 

 card of brood. Talk of section 

 cases ! They would stay in no snch 

 if you gave half a dozen ; and they 

 would no more stay in the Heddon 

 hive than in a teacup. Now, what 

 am I to do with all these l)ees? 

 They are all on their thirty stands, 

 souu- double, some ti'el)Ie ; and they 

 have all got to get themselves l)ack 

 into their thirty hi\es, after the 

 season is over, hy some means. 



Meanwhile, do j lil<e beekeei)ing? 

 Often, at the close of the most 

 <1illicult <lays. there conies like a 

 vision of delight, a white nu^ssen- 

 ger from Starrie, who whiles aw.ay 

 the long (ielicions days among the 

 cool I'ctrcals (,r iIh« "hills and val- 

 leys and islands of New Hamp- 

 shire, with dear friends of early 

 years ; and, to-day I would not ex- 

 change places with her. 



Sliebojirjcin Falls, Wisconsin. 



From •'Glenninffa.'' 



A HOUSE FOB THE 

 APIARY. 



Prof. A. .1. Cook. 



Mr. Root : I have been giving 

 much thought of late to the plan 

 for an ideal house for the apiary. 

 You will lemember we talketl of it 

 while you were here. 1 have also 

 conferred with such authorities as 

 Messrs. Hutchinson, Doolittle, 

 Doctor Millei-, Heddon, etc. It 

 bccms to me thai this is a question 



