THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



171 



good feed on the bassAVOod (^American Linden) 

 trees. This may account for the great uumber 

 of queen-cells, and the early ripening of them. 



A. Grimm. 

 Jefferson, Jeff. Co., Wis., Dec. 26, 1866. 



For the American Beo Journal. 



Tha Experience of a Novice in Bee- 

 keeping. 



I have always been an enthusiastic admirer 

 of Old Dame Nature's mysterious Avays and 

 Avorkiirgs. 



In August, 1865, just as I had been reluct- 

 antlj' compelled to give up some researches 

 into the depths of Old Mother Earth, (in shape 

 of an oil-well, with the tools stuck fast far down 

 in the soapstoue, shale, &c.,) and was casting 

 about for some new field of research for my 

 leisure hours, a swarm of bees passed over near 

 our place of work. One of the employees re- 

 membering that I had expressed a wish for a 

 swarm of bees, jokingly asked what I would 

 give for them, as they were circling slowly 

 along in mid-air. Thinking it impossible for 

 liim^o get them in their position, I offered him 

 a dollar for them securely boxed. Telling me 

 that I could have them, he started in pursuit, as 

 he had noticed that they were rapidly nearing 

 terra firma. 



He shortly returned with them in an old 

 sala3ratus box, and asked me where I would 

 have my property taken. After a hasty con- 

 sultation, I decided upon what I then thought 

 would be a splendid location for them, viz : an 

 unoccupied third-story room of our manufac- 

 tory. 



My first business was, of course, to begin an 

 acquaintance Avith my new pets, as I had heard 

 thatthey were capable of becoming domesticated 

 to a certain extent, and was soon deeply in- 

 terested in Avatching their departure and return, 

 taking points from their new location, &c. 



In the evening my instructor in the mysteries 

 of bee-keeping, (the person that hived them,) 

 raised the box, and shoAved the busy multitude 

 gathered into a comiwct cluster in the top, (an 

 operation, by the way, which seemed to me 

 almost equal to facing a lion in his den,) and 

 informed me that my sAvarm was not a large 

 one, although the countless numbers seemed to 

 me an immense multitude. 



That evening the books, paper, &c., on ge- 

 ology and petroleum had to be laid aside for 

 eve^iythir.g pertaining to bees and bee-culture. 



Our book-stores contained nothing on the 

 subject, and I had to content myself Avith Avhat 

 I could learn from the agricultural papers. 



The next day I had but little time to devote 

 to the subject, but as they seemed busily en- 

 gaged about something, I supposed them all 

 right. As I must have some way to see them 

 at Avork, I was informed bj'- a friend that all that 

 Avas necessary Avas to put a glass jar inverted 

 over the top of the box with a hole cut 

 through. 



The third day they were still at Avork, as I 

 supposed — that is, they Avere doing something. 



As I Avas going up in the middle of the day to 

 see hoAV they came on, congratulating myself 

 that there must be some pounds of honey by this 

 time, and thinking that I should have to get my 

 glass-jar fixed up, Avhen lo ! — What means this 

 unAVonted stillness ? Do bees, then, as well as 

 other mortals, take a rest after dinner ? Or 

 have they decided to await the cool of evening 

 before resuming labors ? At any rate, where 

 before had been the busy stir and bustle, now 

 all Avas still. On raising the box, Avhat a de- 

 serted appearance; not i bee; not a particle of 

 comb ! TheyAvere all gone, gone! as effectually 

 and surely beyond my reach as the drill and 

 tools at the bottom of my well fast in the 

 rock. 



In my ignorance of their habits I had placed 

 them before a west Avindow with the sash raised, 

 exposing them to the full heat of the afternoon 

 sun; and after Avaiting tAVO dRys, they had 

 probably concluded they could suit themselves 

 better. 



Although they were gone, the interest they 

 had awakened still remained, and I had learned 

 a few facts in regard to bees by experience, not 

 known to every one at least. 



First, (which by the way I shall call fact No. 

 1,) bees arc sometimesat fault in their organ of 

 location, as a Avorkman at a windoAV adjoining 

 them soon — that is, before they left — com- 

 plained grievously of the number of bees that 

 flew in at his window and about the room, ap- 

 parently lost, as there were eighteen windows 

 nearly all alike, but ■still situated as much as 10 

 or ISfeet apart. Is it not so with hives all 

 alike Avhen placed near each other ? 



I soon procured a copy of Langstroth's work 

 on the Honey Bee, and read it Avith an interest 

 and awakened enthusiasm only known to those 

 Avho have been similarly situated. I do not 

 know that I ever perused a Avork that afforded 

 me more satisfaction. At first the facts pre- 

 sented seemed too novel to be real, and I caught 

 myself many times Avondering that I had lived 

 so long in a world full of bees, and had passed 

 them by, knowing or thinking so little of their 

 wondrous Avays and habits; and I would here 

 remark to all those interested in bees, that they 

 will find both Langstroth's and Quinby's works 

 on bees, aside from the instruction they im- 

 part, more interesting and amusing than any 

 work of fiction. 



The first volume of the Bee Journal also, 

 obtained some time after, was a Avhole library 

 of instruction and endless amusement, as they 

 were read and re-read scA'eral times, more 

 especially after I had commenced Italian queen- 

 raising. But more of this anon. 



Of course, I soon had another swarm of bees, 

 although it seemed to me for a Hme as if I 

 shouUrnever think as much of any other as I 

 did of the first. 



I had first made a liive according to Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's directions in his book, although I 

 thought with my friend that it was the homeliest 

 looking thing for a bee-hive, and a patent one, 

 too, that had ever been seen in this vicinity; 

 and was warned by others that the whole thing 

 was impossible. To take a hive of live beea 

 apart and put them back wap sheer madness, 



