54 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



range; and, besides, after the bee.** left the hive 

 they would go in whichever direction they pre- 

 ferred, any way. I found, however, that where 

 they issued from the opposite side of the hive 

 from their pasture - field, they usually rose 

 somewhat higher before they reached the road. 

 Still, this was only a partial remedy, and I de- 

 termined to observe further. I was not long in 

 discovering that few if any of my bees went to 

 their highway attacks " with malice afore- 

 thought." Instead, they were making the tra- 

 ditional (though not the traditionally straight) 

 bee-line for their forage-ground, when, just as 

 they would attempt to cross the road, along 

 would come some useless thing bigger than 

 themselves, and block the passage. I have no- 

 ticed that it doesn't matter particularly wheth- 

 er a person runs against a club or the club falls 

 against the person, if the velocity is the same. 

 That is probably the way a bee looks at it, and 

 bees don't like to be insulted. They sit down 

 hard on that at once, and sting. I don't blame 

 them. I have wanted to do the same when I 

 have miscounted the stairs to the first landing 

 in the dark. I have even sat down hard on 

 such occasions, though I went no further than 

 that, till a light came or I had recounted the 

 stairs. But really it isn't a funny matter to the 

 bees, and the neighbors won't admit the joke. 

 So far I had solved the why of the problem. It 

 now remained to seek the wherefore. 



There are two safe ways for railroads to meet 

 road-crossings — to wait or be waited for at the 

 crossing, or to switch off on some other line 

 and not cross at all. I saw no way to make the 

 bees wait, so 1 decided to switch them off. As 

 a first step I built a trellis just inside the garden 

 fence, and covered it as soon as possible with 

 some rapid-growing vines. The trellis was per- 

 haps eight feet high, and consisted of a few 

 posts to which common fence-boards were nail- 

 ed. This part of the work was done as early in 

 the spring as possible, and the seeds sown as 

 soon as the condition of the soil and climate 

 warranted. Just back of this I commenced 

 work on a more permanent sort of trellis, and 

 set out a row of grapevines. It was late for 

 them, but most of them are thriving, though I 

 don't expect them to take a very active part in 

 my plan for some years. But the vines along 

 the outer trellis grew rapidly, and soon coveri'd 

 the framework with a mass of foliage and 

 bloom. 



This contrivance, I have no doubt, interfered 

 with the bees to some extent at first, and jjossi- 

 bly submitted to a few sevens stings; but it 

 made no complaint, as the neighbors had, and 

 gradually these animated bullets learned to 

 rise somewhat before they shot, and clear liie 

 trellis. It was about tlie most, peculiar method 

 I ever heard of for raising bees, but the results 

 were most gratifying. After they are once up 

 in the air they seldom drop much till they ap- 

 proach their stopping-place— certainly not in 



the short interval between the trellis and th** 

 road . 



" It is a pleasure to drive past your bee-hives- 

 now," said one old fellow last summer. "It is 

 interesting to look up and see that steady 

 stream of bees going zip, zip. and no danger 

 from them. I used to think they went out of 

 their way to sting, but they don't now." 



Perhaps they did then; but as they have beei> 

 turned from that course I feel that I have solv- 

 ed a problem that formerly gave me no little- 

 vexation. That is what those vines do. Now 

 about the grapevines starting inside. The 

 quick-growing vines I mentioned are a sort of 

 makeshift that have to be renewed each year. 

 The grapevines, after they obtain their growth, 

 will make a permanent bee-break, and protect 

 my plague-stricken neighbors from further in- 

 .1'iry. 



fWe formerly used a high board fence to raise- 

 the flight of bees, but we now use instead, with 

 much more satisfaction, a row (or, rather, a hol- 

 low square) of evergreens, 18 to 20 feet high, 

 and branches closely intertwining. The board 

 fence was good, but the trees are far better. 

 What is perhaps cheaper and better for most 

 bee-keepers is the rapid -growing vine referred 

 to by our correspondent. The most rapid-grow- 

 ing vines that we know of — those whose foliage 

 is very close — is wild cucumber and woodbine. 

 These two are good, as we happen to know from 

 actual tests. Probably they can be obtained of 

 your nearest nurseryman. The first one is Ihft 

 most rapid growing.— Ed.] 



BOOK REVIEW. 



THE LAST. 



Of the remaining bee-books now in our pos- 

 session, the following may be mentioned as hav- 

 ing done much to instruct men in regard to- 

 apicultural matters: 



A book written by "The Times Bee-master" 

 is the first one that has received attention. It 

 consists of a series of letters written, presutna- 

 bly, to the London Times, and here put in book 

 form. The writer (unknown) was "up to the 

 7'//;(('x " in at least one sense, and perhaps in ail 

 senses. The letters are of a very miscellaneous 

 character, and are a beautiful combination of 

 practical good sense and a true literary spirit. 

 This book was printed in 18(i4. in London. 



"The li.'e keeper's Manual " was written by 

 T. B. Miner, and printed in New York in 1S.")(). 

 It forms a sort of connecting link between the 

 old and new era in bee-keeping. The author 

 says we know nothing about the sex of worker- 

 bees. His work abounds in many dogmatic 

 statements and consequent errots, which some 

 careful hand has corrected on the margin. The 

 author is very severe on Hubei', and condeninft 

 him for asserting things which we now know to- 

 be true— notably, ihe visible marks of fecunda- 



