152 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan., 



deserting tlieir several machines to engage in 

 single combat with Swett's "tonnenting bees." 



All this time you should have seen Gallup, 

 walking to and fro demurely in front of the 

 uproarious stand of bees, having all the room he 

 wanted, with about a thousand gallant warriors 

 swarming around his reverend head. He looked 

 very much pleased when the officials and others 

 called to him to " close up those bees." "Come 

 and close them up yourselves," was his calm 

 reply ; but they hadn't the least notion of trying 

 their hands at so ticklish a business, and kept at 

 a respectful distance, dodging their assailants 

 as adroitly as they could. However, when the 

 time came Gallup closed them up, set them in a 

 wagon and we took them to their home stand. 

 It was a colony I had opened many times last 

 summer, and had shown them to Gallup the 

 day before, and when we got through he 

 remarked that he had not seen the first bee 

 that acted as if it wanted to sting : I asked him 

 what he thought was the cause of their cutting 

 up so, as I was not aware before that I had any 

 such bellicose stocks on the premises. He 

 replied he did not know, but suspected there 

 was a little black blood in them. I suspect there 

 may be some of the four banded blood in them, 

 that we have been reading about in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. (By the way, we readers of 

 the Journal much enjoyed the fun, reading how 

 Novice had to pay five dollars for a few undesira- 

 ble black bees, that he might get back his half- 

 bushel of Italians that had gone astray. He 

 must have felt good when he got the hive on his 

 back and was homeward bound, little anticijia- 

 ting that it was destined to be burnt up. ) 



I wish we bee-keepers could have Gallup's 

 photograph as he was promenading around that 

 hive. Everybody thought he was in a fix and 

 would be stung to death ; but I am pleased to 

 say that he, as well as myself, did not receive a 

 single sting. The whole occurrence was over in 

 about ten minutes. Then everybody thought 

 they never had as mucli fun in so short a time 

 in their lives, and the Fair would have been a 

 failure if it had not been for Swett's bees. The 

 next day it rained, and GalkiiJ left for home, leav- 

 ing hosts of friends wb.o hope to meet him again. 



I think if my hive had been set in a lumber 

 wagon, when taken to tlie fair, and well jolted, 

 the bees would have filled themselves with 

 honey ; and have been quiet and peaceable when 

 opened on their arrival. There was not jarring 

 enough for them in the spring wagon. I shall 

 never forget how one poor old lady came to me 

 with both eyes closed up and claims for many 

 other damages which my bees had done to her. 

 I promised to give her a plate of honey and that I 

 would never take bees to a fair again without 

 first pulling out their stings and putting diapers 

 on them. 



This was a very good year for bees. They 

 gathered honey largely from basswood blossoms 

 as well as white clover. Some of my young 

 swarms haven given me one hundred (100) 

 pounds of surplus honey. I will let Gallup 

 speak for himself about my two-story hives. 

 He thought them a great improvement on the 

 old Langstroth hive. 



I must not forget to tell you of the very pleas- 

 ant visit I made on the morning of August 31, 

 to J. M. Marvin & Bros, while on my way to 

 Chicago. I left the six o'clock morning train at 

 Geneva and started for St. Charles, two miles up 

 the Fox river. And, oh, what a pleasant drive. 

 The street contains some of the finest residences, 

 gardens, and grounds to be seen anywhere ; and 

 at that time in the morning, as the sun was 

 coming up in all his beauty, one must enjoy it, 

 especially after trying all night in vain to sleep, 

 though it was in one of those fine sleeping cars. 

 As I drove into the town all was yet still as mid- 

 night but I encountei-ed a man who was making 

 his way to the meat market, of whom I inquired 

 fcr J. M. Marvin. "Is he the bee-man?" was 

 the inquiry in return : I replied, yes. "Then," 

 said he, ' ' there he is, over yonder in the yard, 

 with his coat oft'." 



I soon had him by the hand, told him who I 

 was and where I came from, and that I must 

 make the 8 o'clock train for Chicago, so that we 

 must talk fast, and at it we went. He showed 

 me his brick house covei'ed with hay and straw, 

 wherein he winters some hundred stands of bees 

 very successfully. We tlien went into a room, 

 where he runs his extractor with gearing. He 

 went on uncapping and I throwing out the 

 honey. Give me a crank geared Extractor every 

 time. We were informed here that breakfast 

 was ready, and I will only say that I took a 

 square meal — the first in two days. 



I was somewhat disappointed in the looks of 

 J. M. Marvin, as I expected to see a man of 

 at least sixty yeai"s of age. Reading as I have 

 so many pieces from his pen and admiring them 

 for their good sense and judgment, I sujiposed 

 he must have an old head on his shoulders. 

 But to my surprise, I found him about my own 

 age, of some thirtj^-five summers and unmar- 

 ried. He Oldened a few hives to shoAV me some 

 beautiful Italian queens of his own raising. 



My watch told me it was time I was on my way 

 to the depot, when M. M. Baldridge, Secretary 

 of the National Bee Hive Company, made his 

 a^jpearance. He too is a young man, whom I 

 wanted to see, as he has made his mark among 

 the bee fraternity. With great pleasure to me, 

 he took a seat with me, and we drove to the 

 depot in time for the train. The remembrance 

 of my visit to St. Charles will always attord me 

 great pleasure, and I hope to meet with those 

 gentlemen again when I have more time to spend 

 with them. 



Mr. Marvin intended to start next week to the 

 Mississippi river with 100 stocks of bees, that 

 they might gather their winter stores, as the 

 season has been a very poor one with them at 

 home, the white clover having been i>arched up, 

 and of basswood they have none. I hope to 

 hear through the American Bee Journal how 

 Mr. Marvin succeeded with his bees on the Mis- 

 sissippi river, about 100 miles from home. 



I see we are to have a State Bee-keeper's Con- 

 vention December 15. lam glad to see tliat ; 

 think it is a step in the right direction, and I often 

 feel like stumping Gallup to go with me. 



H. K. SWETT. 

 Waverly, Iowa, Nov. 23, 1870. 



