l,s'.>4 



GLEANINGS IN HKE CULTURK. 



II 



MANUM IN THE APIARY. 



HOW HK KAI8KS t^UEKNS. 



'•(Joo(l-nu)riiin<?, Mr Daggett. I liojw you rest- 

 ed well i<i<l niglil."" 



"Yes, .Mr. iMiuimii, I rested vei'y well indeed. 

 I assiwi' you iluit the pure air one finds among 

 these green mountains is very invigorating as 

 well as soothing to the nerves. Why, I have 

 been here only two days, and I already feel 

 much iiupi'oved in vigor." 



(Mr. E. R. Daggett, herein mentioned, is a 

 retired hee-lteoper from New York Stale.) 



" Well, Mr. Daggett, I have come in to invite 

 you to accompany me to one of my out-apiaries. 

 This is the lirst day since your arrival that the 

 weather has been suitable for one of your age 

 to venture fur from the house; but this is a 

 beautiful warm June morning, and I think a 

 si.x-mile drive may sharpen your appetite." 



" Yes, Mr. Daggett, you will Hud it a beauti- 

 ful drive, for Mr. Mat.um tells me he is going to 

 the Meach yard to-day; and for fear you may 

 feel the want of something to eat before you 

 return, I have put up a lunch for both of you. 

 When Mr. M. goes to his out-apiaries I never 

 know at what hour to e.Kpect him back; hence 

 I have learned to prepare a lunch for him, for 

 lie never would think of it. Why, Mr. Daggett, 

 I have known that man to leave home imme- 

 diately after breakfast, and not return until 

 dark— these long days— and work all day on a 

 light breakfast. I think it very imprudent in 

 him; hence my watchfulness in providing a 

 lunch," says Mrs. Manum. 



ON THE WAV TO MKACH's. 



" Mauum, what body of water is it I see at 

 the foot of that mountain at our right?" 



'•That is Uristol Pond, and a very peculiar 

 pond too. It is one mile long by half a mile 

 wide: and. as the saying is, it has no bottom. 

 It is really a mud pond, with only a few inches 

 of water over the mud, yet there are a good 

 many fish in it. This pond is fed wholly by 

 springs issuing from the base of the mountain. 

 There, you see that large white house on the 

 hill yonder? That is where the Hon. H. B. 

 Williams lives, and where I have an apiary." 



"What in the world is going on here, Manum 

 —lime works?" 



"No, this is the kaolinworks, where a large 

 business is done. This kaolin Is nothing more 

 than white clay washed in water, and conduct- 

 ed in those long spouts you see laid in all direc- 

 tions. These spouts conduct the clay-water 

 into large; vats where; it remains several days, 

 the clay settling to the bottom, and then the 

 water is run out of the vats, and the clay wheel- 

 ed to these long dry-sheds and deposited on 

 shelves to dry. When thoi'oughly dry it is put 

 into barr(>ls and shii)ped to market." 



" For what purpose is it used?" 



" Well, I can hardly tell you. It is said that 

 much of it is used for sizing paper (wall-paper 



especially), also for stulling or filling prints, 

 cotton cloth, elc. It is also beliiived by many 

 that a large anu)unt of it finds its way into 

 cotifcclioners' shops, also paints; in fact. It is 

 doubtless used for adulterating many things." 



" Do they gel this clay near by? ' 



"Yes; that range of hills Justin front of us 

 is supposed to be nearly all composed of this 

 clay. The best clay, however, is found from ')(> 

 to 100 feet below the surface. 



" Well, here we are at Meach's. My ! the be(;s 

 are lively to-day." 



"Well, I should think as much, Manum. 

 What are they working on now?" 



"Clover principally, thougli the raspberry 

 bloom is not quite over yet; and I noticed, as 

 we were coming, that quite a few bees were on 

 the raspberries by the roadside." 



" Have your bees done much on clover yet?" 



"No. This is tlu; first promising day of the 

 season, and I feel very much encouraged. Here 

 is a veil for you. You'd belter wear it, as a per- 

 son standing around looking on is much more 

 apt to be stung than is the operator., There, 

 now, I will first look for and remove queen-cells 

 from those colonies from which I removed the 

 queen the 17th inst., which was 8 days ago. Let 

 me see. This is one of my choice breeding col- 

 onies, and I must handle the combs very care- 

 fully, so as not to jar and injure the queen-cells. 

 My! just look at those nice cells on this comb — 

 1(3 on this one comb, 8 of which will answer to 

 save. Let me see — why, the record says this 

 colony had cells ready to cap when the queen 

 was removed. Whew! here is a young queen 

 gnawing out, and I will let her run into one of 

 my pocket-cages and introduce her into a colo- 

 ny in the home yard. There, you see, Mr. Dag- 

 gett, I have 18 fine queen cells fi'om this colony, 

 which Twill now put into my nursery-cage* 

 which I keep in an upper story placed over No. 

 12." 



"Oh, my I Manum, is that the way you hatch 

 queens? Why, when I kept bees we did not 

 have all these new-fangled conveniences." 



"There, Mr. D., just see these nice queens 

 that have just hatched— 12 In that nursery- 

 frame, and here are 8 in this one; that makes 

 20 1 have to introduce here to-day; and now 

 that I have finished looking over those 20 colo- 

 nies from which the queens were removed the 

 17th, I will remove and cage the last 16 yearling 

 queens there are in this yard, f will get my 

 box of mailing-cages and ask you to carry it for 

 me. Where in the world is this queen? I must 

 have overlooked her. Oh! here she is on the 

 side of the hive. There, I guess 7 bees caged 

 with her as companions are enough this warm 

 weather. I will now make an entry of this in 

 my queen-book, and also on this record-board 

 kept in the hive, so that, if I should lo-^e my 

 book. I shall have something to refer to." 



" I see, Manum, that you have cages here ad- 

 dressed to parties in New York. Iowa, Texas, 



