18SB 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTUllE. 



()9l 



THE FIRM OF JAiyfil MEEK&BROTHER. 



A Serial Story in Ten Chapter: 



UV UEV. W. 1). KAI.STON. 



CHAPTER ]X. 



ThF. DIl.UJKNT ItKWARUED. 



'HEN old winter liog-an liis icy reiji-n, the 

 ITMTIi bees wore placef] in the cellar. As they 

 were increasing in inimbei'S, it each year 

 became more aiul more of a task to place 

 them there. This fall Tommy constructed 

 a hand-barrow on which he and Jane placed the 

 hives and carried them into the cellar. During that 

 winter, nothinj? occurred worthy of notice. Jane 

 and Tonnny were in school; and their studies, with 

 the sports and excitements of the playground, al- 

 most drove all idea of bee keeping out of their 

 minds for the time. 



Mr. Shaw, the grocer, who had purchased their 

 honey, placed it in a position to l.e seen by all liis 

 customers; and if any inquired about it he was 

 careful to explain that he had purchased it from 

 a little boy and girl who had raised it. Mucli in- 

 quiry was made about how it was secured in such 

 frames, and all so nicely tilled. He could only 

 refer them to Mr. Meek fortius infornuition. Sev- 

 eral persons met Mr. Meek in the town, and asked 

 questions about bee-keeping, and the kind of hives 

 to use; while others came out to his house to ste 

 his hives and fixtures. If the children were at 

 school, Mr. Meek took pleasure in showing them 

 these, and exi)laining their uses; in fact, it usually 

 amounted to (juite a lesson in bee culture. 



Good Mr. Rrown was frequently a caller at Mr. 

 Meck's, for they were warm friends. Frequently 

 he asked the children how they liked keeping bees, 

 or ,how they were succeeding, and heard their 

 report. One day he said to Mr. Meek,"! am al- 

 most sorry 1 gave that hive to the children, for you 

 are wasting so much money on bee-fixtures. 1 

 have kejjt bees for fifteen years, and I assuie j ou it 

 does not pay." 



Mr. Meek began to discourse on the improve- 

 ments which have been made in bee culture, when 

 Mr. Brown shook his head, sasing, " I want to 

 hear none of your new-fangled notions. These 

 so-called impi'ovemcnts are the inventions of 

 goKyes who are after people's monej'. I am truly 

 sorry to see you waste j'our money on such fix- 

 tures." 



One day in the fall, soon after the children had 

 sold their honey, he came in, and, with a queer ex- 

 pression on his face, asked, " Did your children sell 

 Mr. Shaw that pile of honey he has in his store? " 



"Yes," replied Mr. Meek; "and besides, thej^ 

 gave us over seventy jjounds to use here at homo." 



"Well, now," said Mr. Rrown, "that does beat 

 all! Last spring I stuck an empty flsh-kit on one 

 of my hives, and the bees filled it with nice honej'. 

 As I had enough without it, I took it to Mr. Shaw's 

 store. He refused to buy it— would not even look 

 at it, and showed me what a pile of honey he had 

 on hand, and said he got it all from jour children. 

 He said he would never sell any more honey, un- 

 less in little boxes like those in which your chil- 

 dren had it. T looked at some, and fouiul them the 

 nicest combs of honej' I ever saw, and could be 

 handled so nicely without waste. I took my hone.\- 



to another store, and could not sell it there. I 

 then took it to another, where 1 was offered nine 

 cents a pound in trade, which I took, and even they 

 did not buy it very willingly. Now, you know 1 al- 

 ways have opposed you when you wanted to j)re- 

 sent new ideas about bee-keeping; but what I saw 

 in the store, of the result of improvements, makes 

 me think otherwise. If you have time to spare, I 

 do not mind to take a look at some of your fix- 

 tures, and see what you have to say about them." 



As they did so, Mr. Hrown would rub his hahdR, 

 and exclaim, " Wfll, well, well! that (h)es beat all! I 

 never thought bees were such curious creatures, br 

 that they could be worked with in such a way. I 

 wish I had learned about thbm when 1 was young. 

 I guess I shan't begin now. I5ut 1 tell you what I 

 will do. My youngest children have caught this 

 bee-fever from yours, and talk so much about bees 

 that I will give them mine on certain condition.^!, 

 and let them make their best of them. I hope they 

 may succeed as well as yours luive done." 



At length spring came; but the weather was Stt 

 unsettled that the bees in the cellar were not dis- 

 turbed until late. One day, all things indicating 

 pleasant weather, the children carried their hand- 

 barrow to the cellai', and, closing the entrance of a 

 hi\e, placed it on the barrow and carried it out to 

 the yard. After placing it on its summer stand 

 and opening the entrance, they were much sur- 

 prised at seeing not a single bee making its appear- 

 ance. On opening the hive they found not a living 

 bee in it. They were terror-stricken. What if all 

 their colonies were dead? They hastened to bring 

 out another; but as soon as its entrance was open- 

 ed the bees poured forth. It was so with th(! other 

 seven. Mr. Meek examined the dead colony, and 

 said the cause of its death was the loss of the 

 queen and their failure to raise another. They 

 had an abundance of nicely sealed honey. They 

 took these combs and exchanged them for empty 

 combs in light hives. They pi-eparcd two colonies 

 for extracted honey, and six for comb. The extra 

 combs obtained from the colony that died weie 

 di\ided between the two upper stories intended 

 for extracting. To preserve these combs from the 

 moth, they placed on these ujjper stories contain' 

 ing them, in the time of fruit-blossoms. They had 

 sections also ready to put on the hives as soon as 

 the white clover opened. When they put these (Ui 

 they also looked into the upper stories of the 

 extracting-hives, and were grafifled at seeing them 

 full of bees, and were satisfied that work in those 

 upper stories had ah-eady been begun. Tommy, by 

 the advice of his father, prepared two uiqjcr sto- 

 ries, similar to the others; and when those were 

 well fllleil, Mr. Meek heljjed to raise them and 

 place on the empty ones, placing the full ones on 

 top. As the fra«es in these empty ones were pi-o- 

 vided with wide strips of foundation, the bees 

 were not long in drawing these out and completely 

 filling the frames with comb. When the up|ier 

 sets of frames weie completely eaiqied they were 

 taken out, carried into the house, unea|)ped, and 

 extracte<l. Mr. Meek then raised the lU'xt story 

 while the children slipped under it the other story 

 filled with the freshlj' extracted combs. 



The two hives from which they extracted were 

 early strong in bees; and as they did not swarm, 

 the yield from them was ;{ti8 lbs. They made all 

 nee<U'ul preparation, and also kept all as busy as 

 they could. The yield from white clover was not 



