884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.= 



we got ready foi' business we came to a stand- 

 still for the lack of tire — no .matches in the 

 crowd. A small boy just then emerged from 

 the tail' grass, and was offered a nickel to run 

 to the house, almost a quarter of a mile away, 

 to get some. A nickel would not be accepted. 

 He was a generous boy, and ran for nothing; 

 but when we afterward found a large piece of 

 new comb with honey in it, it was given to the 

 urchin: and from the way he ate it while sit- 

 ting on the rail fence it was far better than 



THK ITRCHIN, AND THE HONEY THAT WAS UET- 

 TEK THAN GOLD. 



silver or gold. The bees were just booming; 

 hives were being filled, and preparations were 

 being made to swarm; and the examination 

 was jnade just in time to prevent bad results. 

 This examination was our first experience with 

 the Hoffman frame, and we were surprised to 

 see the ease with which they wrre handled. 

 The Rambler has handled the Heddon hive for 

 the past three years, and !iad many times 

 thought that a deeper frame would be more 

 suitable; but after manipulating these frames, 

 we mentally asked the question why, and could 

 get no satisfactory answer. While the Hoffman 

 frame has its merits, and allows the handling 

 of hives to a certain degree, it does not attain 

 to the point secured in the Heddon hive. We 

 hope to have more to say about these hives in 

 the future. While manipulating the bees our 

 Clark smoker-spring gave out; and Ernest (or 

 the Rambler) said, '• Oh for a Bingham!" We 

 guess it was Ernest who said so; but we took 

 the smoker in hand. and. with both hands, sent 

 the smoke where wanted. 



Evei'y colony was examined; and after our 

 arduous laboi's we retired to the shade of a tree 

 where the ladies had spread a bountiful I'epast 

 from that mystei'ious basket. We all did justice 

 to it while the baby kicked and crowed content- 

 edly on a corner of our blanket. 



It was at a late hour that night when we 

 sought our respective couches. 



Bro. Root has a complete stock of lumber, 

 and, being determined to keep the lead on sec- 

 tions, 40 carloads of basswood were rolling in 

 from the north. Some of Mi'. Root's workmen 

 have been with him for 25 years. Some have 

 one or more lingers off', and all we conversed 

 with seem to be very genial people. We said 

 good-by, and left the busy reality behind, while 

 the vision of it is still with the Ramiu.ei!. 



[E. R. R. does not now drive the same horses 

 that used to make such strides over the road. 

 One of "em, you remember, got stung and broke 

 the thill, and pushed the sharp end into his 



side, piercing his heart. That ended our i-ecord- 

 breaking with horse No. 1. We could not be 

 content, and so we had to have another high- 

 flyer. After this one had run away with us, 

 and cut up several other undesirable capers^ 

 well, we— .so/(7 her! and from that time were 

 cured of the horse hobby. Th(>n we got on to 

 the bicycle hobby, and you know the rest. 



When Ramblf'i" came, the two big horses were 

 out teaming, so we secured a livery. (Mrs. 

 Root has since ordered E. R. never to get that 

 ■■ slow i)oke " again, and we never did.) That 

 is why we did not make our old record. 



On arriving at the Shane yai'd we were very 

 much" flustrated '" to think we had not thought 

 of matches. After saying so much about gen- 

 eral preparation, and looMng (Oiead, to have a 

 distinguished bee-keeper find us at an out-yard 

 without a mdtcli to light a smokei-, was morti- 

 fying indeed. We thought we had told the boys 

 to take down a whole box. and leave them there 

 for use; but the box could not be found. The 

 next time we went down to the yard, the first 

 thing we put into the wagon was matches— a 

 " hul " box. 



As if to add to oui' further embarrassment, 

 when we got further along and smoker lighted, 

 the staple to the smoker-spring pulled out, as 

 Rambler says; and it so happened, too, that we 

 were on to the crossest hive in the whole apia- 

 ry. That Bingham smoker? Well, yes, it is 

 better for some emergencies, and one is when a 

 Clark smoker-spring pulls out. This is the sec- 

 ond time in our experience that this happened; 

 but we are now at work on a spring that won't 

 behave so badly. Rambler did not see our lat- 

 est improved smokers; and since he has been 

 here. It has been still further improved, so that 

 the blast is almost as dense and killing as that 

 from a Bingham or Quinby.] E. R. R. 



PUNIC BEES. 



A WOKD ABOUT THAT AUTOMATIC SWAKMEI! 



Friend Root: — You must know that we fel- 

 lows who have the Punic bees have occasion to 

 laugh, and as often, too, as those people who 

 never have seen these bees give their opinion of 

 them. You gave in Gleanings of October 15 

 what you considered pretty strong testimony 

 for the new race of bees. The strong testimony 

 was given by parties who have the Punic bees; 

 but as these' parties have this new race of bees 

 for sale, their statements were of little account, 

 as. in order to offset their statements, you gave 

 what iiou. considered the other side of th(^ ques- 

 tion. The other side was sl,o\\ n in an extract 

 taken from the liritixli Bee Jtjxriiol. nud this 

 notwithstanding the fact that the editor of that 

 journal states that he knows nothing about 

 these bees and has not even seen one. Now. 

 friend Root, do you consider that a fair way to 

 give both sides of a question? I have seen 

 these bees, and have tested their qualities in all 

 respects but that of wintering. Having had 

 several months' experience with the Punics, 

 and found them as good as was claimed, what 

 am I expected to say of them ? Do my friends 

 exi)ect me to give any thing but truthful state- 

 ments concerning their qualities? 



You say you could see no difference between 

 the Punic and black bees. This is no evidence 

 that the bees you bought are not Punics. 



A man came into my apiary a few weeks ago, 

 and. of course, was shown the Punic bees. 



" Why." said he." they look like black bees." 



" Do they?" said I. " let's see." 



I went and got a black bee, or what you and 

 others call bjack bees, and compared it with 

 the Punic. He readily saw that the Punic bee 



