AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



525 



Mr. H. still has an apiary, and has 

 always been deeply interested in bees. 

 While at college, during his junior year, 

 he chanced to see an absconding swarm 

 cross the campus. He chased them for 

 a mile, across fields of grain and over 

 fences, and finally located them in the 

 hollow trunk of a maple tree. Obtain- 

 ing permission from the owner, he cut 

 the tree, secured the colony, and from 

 that time until he graduated he had a 

 colony of bees in his room window, dur- 

 ing the summer months. 



Mr. Hershiser's first experience with 

 bees was with a colony his father took 



O. L. HERSHISER. 



on shares when he was about 14 years 

 old. This colony was in a box-hive, and 

 his frequent examinations of the bees 

 was done by tipping the hive back, and 

 looking up from beneath. 



other duties were very onerous, and I 

 perforce could give but a small portion 

 of my time to the bees, so I left much of 

 the work and no slight responsibility on 

 him. I always felt sure that he would 

 do his very best. 



Mr. Hershiser is better than an earn- 

 est worker. I believe him a sincere 

 lover of right and truth. I have never 

 heard of his engaging in any enterprise 

 that was not worthy, and have always 

 found him wide-awake and enthusiastic 

 in promoting any good cause. I was 

 glad to vote for him as Vice-President 

 of the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Association at the Chicago meeting, last 

 fall. A. J. Cook. 



Prof. Cook kindly furnishes us the fol- 

 lowing about Mr. Hershiser : 



Mr. O. L. Hershiser was a student at 

 the Michigan Agricultural College where 

 T was professor of zoology, for four 

 years. He was also my assistant in the 

 apiary in his senior year. Mr. Hershiser 

 was enthusiastic in his work, and very 

 faithful in all his duties. During Mr. 

 Hershiser's sojourn at the college, my 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



Beeville. Texas. 



Cause of Bees Swarming, Etc. 



I see on page 406, in the report of 

 the Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 that the cause of swarming is a crowd- 

 ed hive and heat. If they mean to stop 

 with these two causes as the principal 

 ones, I now see plainer and plainer that 

 Northern and Southern bee-keeping is 

 a long way from being the same, as 

 the principal causes of swarming in this 

 country are general prosperity, and the 

 right time of year for it. 



Bees swarm naturally here with a 

 bushel of room and unoccupied space in 

 their hives, and with plenty of empty 

 combs besides. If bees are not gather- 

 ing honey, or have not plenty of stores, 



I you may place their hive out in the boil- 

 ing sun, and they may cluster on the 

 outside of the hive, and cover it all over, 

 and have no thought of swarming ; and 

 I find that my colonies in hives that 

 are in the shade, swarm just as quick, 

 and sometimes before those in the sun. 

 So I have it down, that the main causes 

 here are general prosperity, and the 

 right time of year for such things; as 



' later in the season, when more honey 



