1886 



GLEANINGS IN B2E CULO'UilE. 



53l 



THE FIRM OF JANE MEEK & BROTHER. 



A Serial Story in Ten Chapters. 



UV KEV. W. I). KALSTON. 



CHAPTEU VII. 



THE BUSY SEASON. 



tT length the cig-hth day from tin' one on 

 which the first swarm issued arrived; but it 

 was a dark, rainy daj', and of course no 

 swarm was e.\pected that day. In tlie eve- 

 ninj? the children called their father and 

 mother out to listen to the queens piping-. When 

 Mr. Meek had listened for a few moments he said, 

 " You may expect a swarm to-morrow, if it is a fair 

 day," and he waS not mistaken. This swarm sur- 

 prised the children l)y clustering' on the very spot 

 on which the first swarm had clustered. Their fath- 

 er explained that such was often the case; that, in 

 large apiaries, frequently swarm after swarm 

 would cluster on the same limb; that pi-obably 

 there was a scent left that attracted the next 

 swarm. 



The children were not so wild with excitement 

 as on the former occasion. They put on their bee- 

 hats and hived it themselves; their father looked 

 on and gave some directions. The bees were 

 marching into the new hive nicely, and the chil- 

 dren were watching them intently, hoping to see the 

 queen, when Tommy suddenly^began to dance on 

 one foot, as though greatly pleased. He did not 

 clap his hands, crying, " Good, good ! " V)ut grasped 

 his pants behind the right knee with both hands, 

 and cried, " Crackee ! crackee!" His father asked 

 what was wrong, wlien he cried out, as though in 

 great pain, " I am stung, I am stung! oh dear 1 oh 

 dear! " 



Jane's arm was soon around his neck, and com- 

 forting words were whispered in his ear. She said, 

 "Poor little Tommy! how I pity you ! but you know 

 we are bee-keepers, and will both have to take 

 some stings. We must just bear them as well as 

 we can." 



It seemed a bee had crawled up his pants on the 

 inside, and inserted its sting under Jhis knee, in a 

 tender spot. His knee swelled considerably, making 

 him quite lame; but his lameness lasted only that 

 afternoon. His father told him how to prevent 

 such an accident occurring again. If he had on 

 boots he could tuck his pants inside; or if he wore 

 shoes he could tuck them inside his socks, or else 

 tie a string around the lower ends of the legs. 



The bees in the nail keg exhibited no disposition 

 to cast a third swarm. The question with the chil- 

 dren now was, what to do with the nail-keg hive. 

 The old black weather-beaten nail-keg looked so 

 badly alongside of the two nicely painted hives 

 that they wished to get it out of the way. They 

 read over what the book and papers said about 

 transferring, and often talked it over with papa, 

 but it was to all a thing they dreaded to attempt. 

 Here a most fortunate thing occurred. Kev. Mr. 

 Kobb, an old friend and classmate of their father, 

 came to pay him a visit. Mr. Kobb had kept bees 

 for 3'ears, and was expert at transferring, and read- 

 ily agreed to undertake the job. As they desired 

 increase, he said they could di\ide the colony and 

 feed both up'so they would winter. He first order- 

 ed from the supply-dealer a^doUar queen and a doz- 

 en cheap feeders. A couple ofj emptyj nail-kegs 



were then procured; and just after dinner Mr. Kobb 

 removed the old hive, setting another nail-keg in 

 its place, to retain the bees returning from the 

 fields. After smoking the old hive he inverted it, 

 and, placing the other empty nail-keg on top, clos- 

 ed all crevices by winding a sheet around where 

 the two came together. He next drummed for 

 some time on the lower keg with a stick. Ho then 

 removed the upper keg, where nearly all the bees 

 were found clustered in the top of it. He next cut 

 away the hoops from the old hive and took it to 

 pieces, taking out comb after comb which he fitted 

 as well as he could into empty frames from the 

 new hives, fastening them in with slender willow 

 rods, tied above and below the frames. These 

 frames ofcoml)he hung in two empty hives. He 

 was careful to fasten in all the brood he found, 

 and also all the comb, except a few fragments. He 

 then placed one of these hives upon the old stand, 

 and the other upon a new one. The bees that had 

 been driven out of the hive into a nail-keg, and 

 kept covered up, were now brought, and a part 

 emptied in front of the hive placed on the old 

 stand; but the -greater part were emptied in front 

 of the hive on the new stand, and made to enter it 

 as though they had just swarmed. 



Mr. Robb explained to the children, that many 

 bees would probably return to the old stand, and 

 therefore he gave more to the one on the new 

 stand. After contracting the entrances to exclude 

 robbei's, they were left until the new queen arrived, 

 Mr. Robb then opened both hives and looked close- 

 ly over the combs. In the one on the old stand he 

 found queen-cells started, while he saw none in the 

 one on the new stand, but found the queen upon 

 one of its combs. He i)laced the new queen in the 

 queenless hive, leaving her caged for thirty-six 

 hours, and then, cutting out all (pieen-cells, releas- 

 ed lier, and she was accepted by the bees. Before 

 he finished his visit he assured the children that 

 his work had been a perfect success, and that thej' 

 had a start of two good colonies; but that, when- 

 ever there was a dearth of honey, they must feed 

 them sugar syrup, and he showed how the new 

 feeders could be set inside the hive, alongside of 

 the combs, which did not more than half fill the 

 brood-chamber. 



Frequent examinations convinced Mr. Meek that 

 the first swarm would fill the case of sections plac- 

 ed upon it, and that the second swarm would about 

 fill its brood-chamber, and that the two colonies 

 made by Mr. Robb would need considerable feed- 

 ing to prepare them for winter. After a time Mr. 

 Meek told the children to prepai-e a second case of 

 sections as they had the first. The case on the first 

 swarm was raised up, and this empty case put in 

 its place, and it was then placed on the top of the 

 emptj' one. As the sections had not closed tops, 

 the bees could work up through the empty one. 

 To place this case on the hive required the entire 

 family. Mr. Meek raised the whole case, and held 

 it while Tommy slipped in the empty one. Jane, 

 smoker in hand, kept the bees in subjection, while 

 mamma gazed in admiration at the daring ac- 

 chievement. Here arose a ditticulty. The cap was 

 too small to cover two cases and reach its resting- 

 place. Mr. Meek took a fence-board, and cut and 

 nailed up a rim that filled up the vacancy nicelj-. 

 As soon as the outside sections were scaled, the 

 ui)per tier of sections was removed, but the sec- 

 ond was left until the frost came. 



