1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



609 



been native to our continent. We know from their 

 nature that they would have spi'ead all over the 

 hemisphere, even to California. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



We are very much obliged indeed, friend 

 Cooli, for what you tell us. I know it has 

 been said that the honey-bees came with the 

 white man ; but it seems a little strange 

 that honey-producing flowers should have 

 existed in such great profusion, especially 

 our basswood forests, with no bees to gather 

 the nectar. I suppose, of course, that bum- 

 ble-bees were here ; but they will take but a 

 very small fraction of the honey produced, 

 and wasting its sweets on the air. 1 pre- 

 sume the stingless bees of South America, 

 and other bees found there now, existed 

 here before Columbus came over. And this 

 brings us to a question in regard to the 

 islands of the sea : Were there probably no 

 bees on any of them until they were carried 

 from the Old World? Who can tell usV 



A GLIMPSE OF AN APIARY AWAY 

 DOAVN IN VERMONT. 



THE PLACE WHERE FUIEND LABRABEE ENJOYS 

 HIMSELF WITH HIS BEES. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Knowing your time is limited, 

 I will write briefly. I send a photo of my bee- 

 yard. It contains at present 137 hives. I be- 

 gan keeping bees (as a study and business) 5 

 years ago, and have built up this yard in that 

 time from 8 stocks, the bees paying their own way. 



SUNNYSIDE APIARY. 



I am 25 years old, and, tiring of teaching school, I 

 determined to get out of doors more. In bee-keep- 

 ing I find a fascinating and fairly remunerative 

 pursuit. J. H. Lakrabee. 



Larrabee's Point, Vt., June 18, 1888. 



So, friend L., you gave up teaching, went 

 out of doors, and tried bee-keeping. After 

 having been tied down to a schoolroom, I 

 can readily imagine that you find tlie pur- 

 suit fascinating, and am glad to know that 

 you find it fairly remunerative. We have 

 had the picture made thus diminutive, in 

 order to see how' much of a glimpse could 

 be had from so small a picture. Your 

 hives are arranged, as it would seem, in two 

 apiaries, or is it only a roadway that sepa- 

 rates them — a part on the right hand and a 

 part on the left? The little grove that 

 shades one portion looks cool and shady. 

 There is something wonderfully fascinating 

 about hives of bees under shady trees, espe- 

 cially if weeds, rubbish, etc., are all kept 

 carefully out of the way and out of sight. 



RAMBLE NO. 4. 



TO THE HOMES OF OTHER BEE-KEEPERS DWELLING 

 IN SINGLE-BLESSEDNESS. 



Tip S we made It a point to make close connec- 

 9l\M tions with every meal during our tour, the 

 ^^ welcome call to breakfast found us ready 

 ■*^*' for the occasion. The president was also 

 unusually promi)t to remind one that this 

 exercise must be attended to. After a due and 

 satisfactory indulgence in the substantiais always 

 found in the Parents' larder, we gave the new 

 horse-barn a unanimous examination. We were 

 the more interested in it when we learned it was 

 mainly the work of the P. brothers, and we suspect 

 the bee-man had much to do with it; and if bee- 

 keeping makes or engenders laziness, as some have 

 remarked, the laziness hasn't reached this farm, for 

 it is evident there are but few idle moments here. 



We next adjourned to the bee-yard, and aided 

 the proprietor to form a nucleus for raising exhibi- 

 tion queen-cells. 



The premiums paid at the Saratoga Co. Pair are 

 for the best races of bees— Italians, Holy Land, 

 blacks, etc., in observatory hives; also a nucleus 

 with the greatest number of queen-cells. A brood- 

 comb, full size L., is prepared, a la Alley, and 

 Holy-Land bees are set to work to build the cells; 

 and for exhibition purposes they do their work re- 

 markably well, usually giving a row of large cells 

 the whole length of the comb; and when two or 

 more bee-keepers compete for the prizes with 

 many observatory hives, pyramids of beautiful 

 honey, and beekeepers' supplies, the display is 

 quite brilliant and attractive, and usually results 

 in the sale of more or less honey. 



Mr. Parent's tools are much the same as you 

 will find in any well-regulated apiary. His bees 

 are successfully wintered in a double-walled bee- 

 house, which also answers for an extracting room 

 in the summer. We found Mr. Parent's apiary as 

 orderly and unstickable as perhaps our own and 

 many others we had been through. We tried not to 

 distress him with our criticism, but he evidently 

 considered us an affliction, and proposed to turn us 

 loose upon some of his neighbors. With our geni- 

 al host as guide, we were soon partaking of lus- 

 cious pears and grapes at the residence of a lady 

 bee-keeper in the eastern suburbs of the thi-iving 

 village of Charlton. Miss Hattie Heaton is the 

 proprietor of a beautiful apiary of about 50 colo- 

 nies. The hives were shaded by fruit-laden pear 

 and plum trees, and well-kept grapevines, the 

 fruits of which we had just had a foretaste. Some 

 hives seemed to be embowered in rose-bushes, 

 while an extensive and well-kept flower-garden fill- 

 ed the air with fragrance. Birds were sweetly 

 singing, bees quietly humming, and the musical 

 tones of the fair young proprietor as she explained 

 her methods of management all combined to throw 

 an irresistible charm around the apiary and— the 

 mistress. Miss Heaton's brother, who was then 

 away with a load of fruit, made a specialty of fine 

 fruit, and his customers were willing to pay a good 

 price for his selected products. In his journeys 

 with fruit he also secured customers for Miss H.'s 

 fine comb honey at good prices. Miss H. does near- 

 ly all of the work in her apiary, except lifting and 

 carrying heavy hives. This devolved upon the 

 brother, who seemed to be a very handy man to 

 have around. To gum up Miss H.'s estimate of the 



