I8yl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11 



in the apiary, and I am glad you have spoken of 

 their convenience to ivoiiien. Very often, dur- 

 ing the morning, the grass will be soakiug wet; 

 and if your yards are like oui'S, somehow or 

 other the grass will become long, so as to malce 

 common rubbers an iiisafticient i)rot(x*tion. 

 After I had recommendi'd light rubber lioots we 

 had quite a numhci' of orders for tliem. I would 

 say to our good friends, that we sell a good 

 many things: but boots are among the articles 

 that we do not wish to handle just yet. The 

 kind I mentioned can be obtained at any of the 

 stores.] E. R. 



RAMBLER IN PROVIDENCE. 



ilOFFMAX FRAMKS AXU 15KK-SPA(KS: NO 

 BUKR- COMBS. 



r We performed the duties required of us on the 

 apiarian exhibit: and not seeing much anger 

 inthe faces of the exhibitors, we concluded it 

 was safe for us to stop a few days in Kliodc Is- 

 land. We learned that Mr. t'u^hnuln was tloing 

 a good work at the Experiment Station, and it 

 was through the unremitting labors of Mr. 

 Miller and Prof. Cushman that the premium 

 list was extended and tlie exhibit enlarged: and 

 if the people of Rhode Island remain in ignor- 

 ance upon bee-keeping and the methods of 

 honey-production, it will not be tlu' fault of 

 the bee-keepers. The exhibit from the Experi- 

 ment Station was intended to be instructive: 



ment is mostly in tlu^ morning and evening. 

 The rest of ids time is devoted to banking busi- 

 ness in the city. It is a delightful run out of 

 Providence to Barrington. ^Ve follow down 

 NarragansettBay: and the many beautiful cot- 

 tages along tlie shore and upon the islands re- 

 minded us strongly of our own loxely Lake 

 (icoige. Mere, however, instead of tisliing for 

 pickerel, larger game was sought aftei'. Only 

 swordfish. sluirks, and kindred tish, will satisfy 

 the ambitious fisherman of Rhode Island. 



Stakes protruding from the water all along 

 down the l)ay were point(>d out as the boundary 

 lines between the oysti'r-beds, from which the 

 Rhode Islander derives a large revenue. When 

 we left the lails. and rolled peacefully along in 

 a chaise Ijcliind the jict luirsc of the family, we 

 remai'kcd about tlu' hardness and pearly white- 

 ness of the roads, and were informed that they 

 were made so by the liberal api)lication of 

 oyster-shells: and when informed that there 

 were miles and miles of such roads, and thou- 

 sands of loatls of shells wei-e used for other pur- 

 poses, we began to realize the magnitud(> of the 

 oyster-business. As you may suppose, these 

 beautiful roads are a veritable paradise for the 

 bicyclist, and we found Mr. Miller owned such 

 a pet. and was expert in its use. 



Mr. Miller has a commodious and pleasant 

 home, with a wife and three little ones to wel- 

 come him after the cares and fatigues of the 

 day. In the rear of the house is a large yard 

 and kennel for the pet blood-hound: and be- 



AKTIIUR C. MII.I.EK'S HOME A?fl> HOBBIES. 



and at almost any time of day we found Mr. 

 Cushman patiently answering questions and 

 correcting erroneous ideas. 



Several of the exhibitors acknowledged them- 

 selves to be merely amateurs, and had taken it 

 up for its diverting effect. Mr. Tlios. M. Pierce, 

 of Wickford, lost his health by too close appli- 

 cation to business, and had gained a very good 

 degree of vigor among the bees and flowers. 

 Mr. Pierce and family adopted, the novel plan 

 ■of eating as much honey as they could, and 

 giving away the rest. One youth, with a taste 

 for sweetness, got away with over 40 lbs. It 

 proved a sure way of using up the surplus: but 

 when he changed the order of things and put 

 the usual price on his goods there was a sort of 

 reaction. The recipients of past favors were no 

 better customers than outside parties. 

 ijAt the close of the day's labors we were 

 whisked off' by rail to Barrington, and the resi- 

 dence of Arthur C. Miller, several miles out of 

 Providence. Mr. Miller's time at bee-manage- 



yond, the poultry-house with the pet rooster. 

 A cow has been added recently to give pure 

 lacteal food for the little ones, and to give Mr. 

 Miller necessary recreation in the early morn. 

 A cow is always an oljject-lesson of patience, 

 and there is not a family in the land that does 

 not venerate tln' family cow. The manipulator 

 of the lacteal glands is also taught the virtues 

 of patience, especially when flies abound. 



A few years ago Mr. Miller had a Hue apiary; 

 but sickness necessitated a change of climate, 

 and he spent the winter in California, leaving 

 his bees in the hands of inexperience. A severe 

 loss followed, and the apiary has to be built 

 up again under the master's hand. This will 

 soon be accomplished, if future seasons equal 

 the present. With three full colonies and two 

 nuclei in the spring, an increase to ten has been 

 made, with abundant winter and spring stores, 

 and 38.5 lbs. of surplus, both comb and extract- 

 ed: and, under careful management, the honey 

 is of a gilt-edged order, and commands a good 



