16 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



of brood, and you have a nice colony with little 

 trouble. 



Do you wish to know what fun we' are going 

 to have to-morrow? Well, listen. We are going 

 to hoe up the few remaining weeds, and level 

 the ground around the hives ; put some fresh 

 saw dust about the stands ; see how much the 

 new soft white combs have grown over night ; 

 look if the thin lazy little chaps have commenced 

 work in our fine English glass shades (that ain't 

 quite box-honey, is it?). Scold those queens 

 that don't get around and fill all empty cells 

 with eggs ; scatter ashes over the floor, get our 

 better halfs dust pan, brush-broom, tack-ham- 

 mer, sharp knife ; get our pants stuck up with 

 bees- wax on the knees (don't hurt 'em), and get 

 tired out as we are now, and so good -night 

 to all ! Novice. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee-keeping in Central Illinois. 



It has been many years since I commenced 

 keeping bees. I came to this State from old 

 Kentucky in 1835. 1 was then a young man of 

 very limited education and have not learned 

 much since. At that time I turned my atten- 

 tion to bee-keeping, and I succeeded finely for a 

 number of years. I used the common box-hive ; 

 never went to look at them, only when they 

 swarmed or when I wanted honey, but when I 

 now look back to that time I can easily see why 

 I succeeded so well with my careless manage- 

 ment. At that time a greater part of our beauti- 

 ful Illinois prairies were as nature adorned them, 

 abounding in flowers of all kinds; bees then 

 found more material than was possible for them 

 to work up. When I used to ride over the 

 prairies and see thousands of acres, the flowers 

 of which were not enlivened by the hum of a 

 single bee, little did I think of ever seeing a 

 scarcity of honey ; then was the time for honey, 

 and through its over-abundance strong stocks 

 were built up, which rendered them able to ex- 

 pel the moth, and defend their domicile. But, 

 alas ! some fifteen years later all of the beautiful 

 flower gardens had been changed into fields of 

 corn and wheat, and the poor beeman's servant 

 was compelled to hunt its goods from other 

 sources, and the result was, the swarms were 

 reduced in strength through the scarcity of 

 honey. Mr. Moth hatched out in their midst 

 and fully developed himself, and took possession 

 of their scanty stores, and the bees died, when 

 fall came on the farmer went out to get his honey, 

 as he had done for years previous : he found a 

 sacr state of affairs, hive, comb and rooms were 

 all burned, he declaring that he had no more 

 luck with bees, and would quit it altogether. I 

 with the rest suffered more or less from the dis- 

 advantages under which my bees had to labor, 

 and under vjbich I labored in handling them, 

 for then I had nothing more in the way of a 

 hive than a bpx made of rough boards with a 

 few cross-sticks < in it. To-day we have the 

 Laugstroth movable frame hive, which I have 



used many years, and, the longer I use it the 

 better I like it. I think it affords the greatest 

 convenience in handling, examining and pro- 

 tecting your bees against any obstacle which 

 nature may bring in their way. During the 

 past six months this section of the country has 

 been canvassed by five or six agents of patent 

 hives, some almost identical with those in use. 

 These agents all being oily tougued fellows suc- 

 ceeded in selling a great many hives to uninformed 

 men for the small sum of $10. If I should ask 

 them that much for a hive full of bees they 

 would think that an outrageous price. During 

 the last four months these agents have been 

 seeking to create a bee-fever. Everybody 

 wants to keep bees, and wants to have them in 

 some fancy hive, furnished with doors and slid- 

 ing drawers, and in fact everything in the world 

 that would make it appear complicated. 



As I am in the book trade, I thought to my- 

 self now is the time to sell bee-books, so when 

 I saw a man suffering from that terrible fever 

 I recommended either Quinby or Langstroth's 

 excellent work on bee-keeping, but, so far have 

 not succeeded in selling a single one. The 

 other day an old gentleman who kept bees in his 

 yard for many years remarked to me that he 

 had been expecting his bees to swarm for the 

 last month. I asked him if they had built queen 

 cells. He replied, that he didn't know about 

 that, but had noticed all his life that the king 

 bee couldn't stand much heat, and that during 

 the warm days of spring with the old bees 

 would lie out in clusters on the outside of the 

 hives, which was in every case a sure sign of 

 swarming in at longest four days. He said 

 when they swarmed the king and the' old bees 

 left, and the queen and the young bees remained 

 behind. When I heard him go on in this mat- 

 ter, I hesitated what to do under the circum- 

 stances, finally I advised him to read Quinby. 

 He replied he would rather become acquainted 

 with the way and nature of the bee through ex- 

 perience, than through bee books and journals. 

 Well, on the 16th day of May (very early indeed 

 for swarms to issue), he had a chance to learn 

 experience, for sure enough, as he would have 

 it, his king bee came out with a large swarm 

 and settled in the branch of a tree some nine 

 feet from the ground. He placed one of his new 

 patent hives under the tree, got two of his sons 

 who are young men to help him, advising them 

 all the time to keep a sharp lookout for the king, 

 for he never had seen one, he got on a chair, 

 bent the limb down so that the boys could hold 

 it, he then shook the bees off into a large bas- 

 ket and was handing them down to the boys 

 when the chair tipped, he slipped, the basket 

 turned, the bees fell out on the boys and the 

 beekeeper fell down in their midst, and as none 

 of them were provided with a bee-hat and gloves 

 you can imagine what a sweet time they had. I 

 think each received about hundred stings. It 

 has been four dys since it happened and they 

 are still fearfully swollen. I have laughed my- 

 self fat over it, and hope that my readers may 

 enjoy it equally well. 



I also hope that it may serve as a good lesson 

 to two classes of beekeepers, viz., young begin- 



