1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



making trips. You won't believe it. but I once 

 rode to our out-yard, seven miles distant, then 

 to an adjoining town, and back to Medina 

 again, making the whole distance of twenty 

 miles in one hour and forty minutes. I do not 

 count in this the time occupied in two stops of 

 15 or 20 minutes each. I could not do that 

 every time; but in the instance given I was 

 trying to see how smart I eould be. At the time 

 I did this, I was feeling in excellent spirits and 

 health, and the roads were in prime condition. 

 My average rate on fair roads is about nine 

 miles an hour. You remember I once made 

 forty-live miles in live hours among those York 

 State hills. When the roads are very bad I 

 have made as many as three miles an hour, and 

 walked four-fifths of the time at that. Some 

 time, if I don't forget it, I will tell you more 

 about bicycles and out-apiaries. 



GETTING USED TO A THING. 



WHY TIIEHE ARE SO MANY DIFFEHENCES OP 



OPINION AMONG BKE-KEEI'EHS. 



BY EKNEST R. ROUT. 



While Mr. John H. Larrabee. of Vermont, 

 Avas visiting us a few days ago, we talked over 

 a good man>» things, old and new; and more 

 than once we fell to wondering why it is that 

 bee-keepers disagree so much as to the imple- 

 ments they would use. 



Brown could not be induced to make even a 

 trial of closed-end frames: and Jones has no 

 sympathy with the man who will use loose 

 swinging frames. Neither one can understand 

 how the other can tolerate such awkward 

 things. While these thoughts were passing be- 

 tween us mutually. " genial John" made this 

 pertinent remark: " I tell you, Ernest, there is 

 a good deal in getting used to a thing." 



"That's it exactly," I replied. "How many 

 times I have thought that these differences of 

 experience, and differences of opinion in our 

 fraternity are explainable by just this fact: 

 * Thei-e is a good deal in getting used to a 

 thing.' " 



I further told him that I thought a good 

 many would not use fixed distances simply be- 

 cause they would not have patience to learn 

 how to use them. Smith will iry a few and ex- 

 claim: "'There, that is just what' I thought 

 about them. I am not very often deceived in 

 my impressions. I have had long experience in 

 the apiary, and I know exactly what the bees 

 like and what they do not like." 



Thei'(^ aie a good many such bee-keepers, and 

 good ones, too, who, if they had a Mttle more 

 patience in trying some of these new-fangled 

 notions, might save themselves a great deal of 

 extra work. I have no doubt there are some 

 who will give a little trial to the Hoffman 

 frames, and then make a remark similar to the 

 one just given. Why, the fact is, Mr. Hoffman 

 manages (;00 colonies on his frames, practically 

 alone: and he says himself that he could not 

 handle half that number were they on ordinary 

 hanging frames. What I saw in his apiary,! 

 think, abundantly bears out his statements. If 

 what Mr. Hoffman says is true, can these bee- 

 keepers afford not to give fixed distances a fair 

 trial'? 



The other day I was talking with a bee-keep- 

 er who said, ■' Now. there are those bee-escapes 

 you fellows are making such a big fuss about. 

 I tested them a little bit last summer, and it is 

 just as I expected. I could not make them 

 work." 



'■ Why," said I. " you do not know how to use 

 them. It is all in getting use to a thing, you 



know. Why! Manum takes off a whole crop of 

 comb honey with them in a couple of hours' 

 time, and that, too, fi'om a whole apiary of 100 

 colonies; Boardman, over here at East Town- 

 send, O., has used them tor years, and he is one 

 of those bee-keepers who will not use a thing 

 unless it is of real substantial service in the 

 apiary. Reese and Dibbern are both honest 

 men, and I think they are honest and fair in 

 their statements. Do you set up your opinion 

 against them when you have given the escapes 

 only just a little trial on two or three hives'? 

 It is all in getting used to a thing, you know." 



About six months ago I ran across a man 

 who was using the Clark smoker. He had tried 

 the Bingham, and, " ugh, ugh!" he would not, 

 use one; but the Clark suited him perfectly. 



"Look here, my friend," said I, " I like to 

 hear you praise the Clark smoker; but there 

 are thousands and thousands who use a Bing- 

 ham who would not use a Clark. Personally 

 (and I have used the Bingham quite a little 

 too) I think it is an excellent smoker, and there 

 are times and places when I should much rather 

 have it than the Clai-k; and perhaps 1 may be 

 pardoned if I say there; are times when I prefer 

 the Clai'k. You do not know how to use the 

 Bingham. It is all in getting used to a thing." 



A year or so ago. in an apiary where I was 

 visiting, I observed a Stanley honey-extractoi*. 

 " Hello, there!" said I. " How does it work ?" 



" Do not like it at all," said he. "It takes a 

 barn to house it, and it does not reverse worth a 

 cent. The baskets fly around and bang togeth- 

 er, and the chains get all tangled up." 



" Why, my friend," I replied, " I have been in 

 apiaries where they were very enthusiastic over 

 it. It worked just splendid. You have not 

 leai'ned the knack of i-eversing the baskets. I 

 have had very little experience with the thing, 

 but k't me see if I can not show you how those 

 other fellows do." 1 grasped the handle, and 

 performed the operation quite to my own satis- 

 faction. 



" But you did not have any combs in," said 

 he. 



" Well, put some in." But he did not have 

 any handy. Saidl: " It is all in getting used 

 to a thing. If you reverse the baskets as easily 

 as I. yon ought not to have very much trouble." 



Last summer, and a year ago last summer, I 

 tried several times tlie shake-out function of 

 the Heddon hive. It worked beautifully, so far 

 as getting the bees all over the ground and up 

 my trousers legs was concerned, and the queen 

 could not be found. So far I can not make it 

 work. If my good friend Mi-. Heddon were 

 here he would, to use Mi-. Larrabee's expression, 

 say that it is all in getting used to a thing; and 

 he would proceed to go through a tremulous 

 motion that would leave you and mein nodoubt 

 whatever as to its succcssfu! working. Some 

 day I hope to have the privilege of seeing Mr. 

 Heddon perform that very operation — in a 

 word, let him teach me how to get used to the 

 thing. 



It is all in getting used to a thing. " Look 

 here, young Root,"' some of you will say, " that 

 is not so." 



Just wait a minute until I qualify. We can 

 not get used to a thing unless that thing has 

 real merit. If good, competent bee-keepers ac- 

 quire a certain knack, whereby they can short- 

 en one or more days of labor in the apiary, then 

 we can. We can not explain away all these 

 differences by locality. To be more fair, and to 

 be nearer the truth, we should say we have not 

 yet acquired the knack. Perhaps I can not say, 

 in every case, that it is all in getting used to a 

 thing; but I will say there is a great deal in 

 getting used to it. — Read atthe Oltiu State C'oh- 

 ventwn,. 



