840 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



A SAD STOKY OF MANY MISHAPS. 



ILLUSTRATING HOW MUCH TROUBLE A BEGINNER 

 IN BEE CULTURE MAY RUN INTO. 



FPiAR you will find room for this among- " Re- 

 • ports Discouraging." Though there can be 

 j|i. nothing very encouraging about it, yet I am 

 not discouraged. When I think of the old ad- 

 age, "A bad beginning makes a good ending," 

 I think possibly I may find it so in ray case. 



In the spring I had four swarms of black bees in 

 old bo.Y hives. I moved them ten miles, to where 

 I now live. I had the entrance stopped, but the cap 

 came off from one (1 thought the caps were all 

 fastened down); and as the bees had been jolted 

 pretty severely, their rage knew no bounds. They 

 stung me till I was almost frantic. I kept working, 

 however, till I got the cap back and fastened, and 

 had but little trouble from there home. I soon after 

 transferred them into frame hives. I increased, 

 both by dividing and natural swarming, to ten colo- 

 nies, and one swarm absconded. They were all 

 pretty strong colonies too, with nice straight combs. 

 I had to leave home for one week in June. When I 

 came back I found one of my nice colonies robbed 

 and destroyed by thieves. As my family and my- 

 self are one and the same, I concluded to move 

 them to my aunt's, about one mile, where there 

 would be some one to watch them when I was gone. 

 Although the weather was so warm, I thought it 

 better to risk the heat than the thieves. According- 

 ly I stopped the entrance one night, borrowed my 

 aunt's team, and a spring wagon from a neighbor, 

 and started down vei-y early next morning. As I 

 was setting in the second hive, the bed on which I 

 rested it sprung a little, and down came the hive, 

 knocking the top off, and pouring out thousands of 

 bees. I need not say they stung, in less time than it 

 takes to write it. They covered both horses and 

 myself. 1 nearly lost all presence of mind, but had 

 enough left to get the horses loose from the wagon, 

 and plunge headlong into a thick mat of brush. 



After lying in the brush until the bees left me I 

 crawled out, ran to the house, got my veil and over- 

 coat, and came back to rescue the horses, one of 

 which was nearly stung to death. I unharnessed 

 them, and started for auntie's, entirely forgetting 

 that the other hives were stopped up, neither did I 

 think of it till about noon. It is hardly necessary to 

 add, that 1 found the combs all melted down, and 

 about one-third of my bees smothered. For once in 

 my life I was nearly discouraged with bees; but 

 when I came to study about it rationally I could 

 plainly see it all came from cai-elessness; so I took 

 a good lesson from it, and resolved that I would 

 never be so careless any more. I now have three 

 strong swarms, which is one less than I started out 

 with in the spring. I got probably 33 lbs. of honey. 

 You will doubtless laugh when I tell you that auntie 

 says, " There are too many moths in Texas for bees 

 to do any good." She also says lumps of alum 

 placed where ants bother will drive them away. 

 Burnet, Texas, Nov. 14, 1H84. ('; \V. Hardy. 



Friend IL, yours is truly a sad story ; but 

 there are several encouraging morals to be 

 gathered from it. In the lirst place, it is 

 very unwise to locate bees off alone by them- j 

 selves, near no dweUing, or it is unsafe to 

 leave them near a dwelling when the people 

 are away for a week or two, as in your case. 

 No doubt, in many neighborhoods thev ! 



would be undisturbed ; but it is a sad fact, 

 that keeps fastening itself on us, that in a 

 great many neighborhoods in our land of 

 liberty there are remnants still of heathen- 

 ism, and the old savage nature. If the thief 

 who stole your honey could see this, and 

 know the trouble he caused, is it possible he 

 could go over it withoiit feelings of sorrow 

 and penitence ? Another moral is, beware 

 how you fasten bees in their hives, especial- 

 ly in warm weather. This is also a very mi- 

 safe thing to do. Moral No. o is, when you 

 are handling bees, especially loading them 

 into vehicles, do not leave any possible 

 chance for slipping and tumbling. Better 

 take the time to get somebody to come and 

 help you handle them. Jf no one is at hand, 

 and you think you must take some risk, nn- 

 hitch your hor"s( s, and place them at a safe 

 distance. Load up your bees, and get every 

 thing all right as you want it ; then hitch oh 

 your team, and go on. I sincerely hope you 

 will profit by this experience, my yoimg 

 friend ; for although you do not say you are 

 young, I can not help thinking you are, from 

 the way in which you manage. If I were 

 you, I wonld get soriie older person to advise 

 a little. I go for advice to some one else, 

 every little while'. In my recent farming 

 operations I went to Neighbor 11., or some 

 older man than he is, (piile often, and i)lied 

 them with many questions in regard to 

 things they have had more experience with 

 than [. I tlihik most of us wonld get along 

 better in this world if we were more in the 

 habit of asking advice, and talking over our 

 affairs with those we have had reason to 

 feel are competent to guide us, and willing 

 to do so. And so " Auntie "" thinks it was 

 the mollis that caused your bad luck. Well, 

 well ; what more won't the poor moths have 

 to bear on their shoulders ? I wonder what 

 there is that is not good for "-ants.^" 



BEE CULTURE IN WEST VIRGINIA, 

 AND SOME OTHER SUBJECTS. 



ALSO SOME HINTS TO THf)SE GOING INTO BEE 

 CULTURE. 



§C1ENTIFIC bee culture in West Virginia is in 

 its infancy — hardly our of the cradle — and 

 needs very careful nursing from loving par- 

 ents. We speak comparatively; while our 

 sister States north, east, west, and south, are 

 undoubtedly making rapid strides in this important 

 branch of rural economy, our State rests upon her 

 oars, and says, " It is enough; we have fought a 

 good fight; we will keep our box hives"— not yet 

 having learned that bee-keeping under modern 

 management will fully supply the place of their 

 hard-earned sorghum, at the expense of less time 

 and labor. 



We have visited a bee-man In an upper county, 

 who, having set 2 uprights, suspended his bo.x hives 

 by means of wire at an elevation of three feet, to pro- 

 tect them from " insects and varmints," as he ex- 

 pressed it—ii''hiyh protectionist," verily! On at- 

 tempting to elucidate to him something of the nat- 

 ural historj' of the honey-bee, and the perfect 

 workings of the imj)roved " Langstroth," he seemed 

 to think we were poking fun at him, and was sur- 

 prised that we did not fall headlong in love with his 



