1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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OW, my friend," 

 !^ald Dr. Hay- 

 den, as they 

 stepped from 

 the cabin door, 

 " a* we proceed 

 you are at lib- 

 erty to ask any 

 questions about 

 this little val- 

 ley that the surroundings may suggest." 



" Well, doctor, you know the old adage, 

 ' Give a Yankee the conversational pump-han- 

 dle, and he will pump you dry;' and if my 

 seeking for knowledge depends upon my ques- 

 tioning ability, then I will commence by ask- 

 ing you, what is the length and breadth of this 

 valley?" 



"A very proper question," said the doctor, 

 " and a very natural one from a bee keeper who 

 is looking for a profitable location. This valley 

 is two miles in length, with an average width 

 of half a mile." 



"And you have an apiary here, and propose 

 to largely increase. Now, don't you find one 

 square mile too little space for profitable bee 

 culture, or do the bees find pasturage on the 

 mountains beyond ? " 



"There is no flora on the summits beyond. 

 This one square mile contains flora enough for 

 a very large apiary." 



" Why, doctor, if you can succeed with so 

 many bees in such small area you are indeed 

 progressive. The best locations I ever knew 

 were considered crowded had they twenty to 

 the square mile, and even then only one season 

 in five would produce a full honey crop." 



"That is so, Fred, where the producer de- 

 pends wholly upon natural pasturage; but 

 living as I am in this valley, with the unlim- 

 ited privilege to do as I please with my sur- 

 roundings, 1 have planted only such vegetation 

 as will produce honey in the greatest abun- 

 dance, and the results are astonishing. Now, 

 instead of figuring how many colonies a square 

 mile will sustain profitably I figure from the 

 other end of the problem, and am trying to find 

 out how many square feet will sustain a 

 colony." 



" I can readily understand," said Fred, " that 

 a constant succession of honey flora, nearly all 

 the year round, would give an immense amount 



of honey: but as far as I have learned, there 

 are always some offsets. The soil and condi- 

 tions are not right for honey secretion some- 

 times, and then the atmospheric conditions 

 sometimes fail; so, between the conditions 

 above and below, our hopes are often blasted." 



"Those things can hardly happen in this 

 valley," replied the doctor, "and do happen 

 only in localities where the producer depends 

 upon only one or two sources of supply, through 

 limited periods and under fluctuating climatic 

 conditions." 



"But, doctor, although you live in a valley 

 in these remote mountains you are surely sub- 

 ject to changes." 



" Yes, we are subject to changes, but we have 

 the means to counteract them to a certain ex- 

 tent, as I will show you as we make the rounds 

 of the valley." 



This conversation was interrupted by the 

 appearance of Sam, with a couple of donkeys 

 saddled for the trip. 



" Why, doctor, I had about as lief walk, as to 

 ride one of these little ellows. I could almost 

 carry this one on my back. By the way, is this 

 all of the horse kind you have in the valley?" 



".Oh, no! we have a young team, but it takes 

 some time to grow a team here; the passage 

 through which we enter the valley will barely 

 let in those donkeys; and if we want horses we 

 must bring them in as colts and let them grow. 

 Just the same with our few Jerseys. They 

 came in as calves; and if they go out it is by 

 the quarter." 



"And the rattlesnake chamber?" queried 

 Fred. 



" We have an easy way to manage that," 

 replied the doctor, "and will show you some 

 time. Now, the first stage in our journey will 

 be to follow up these terraces. Hey, Sam!" 

 shouted the doctor, "take down a little lunch 

 about noon to the apiary." 



" Ki, yi, doctor! I'll be dar under de yoak, 

 dis side de yapery. Don't ketch me gettin' my 

 woolly head near dem bees, suah." 



Up the first terrace Fred stopped his donkey, 

 and said, " What a profusion of little flowers 

 are spangled over this mosslike vine that is 

 clinging to these rocks! and how busy the bees 

 are upon them!" 



" Yes, that Is one of our valuable honey- 

 plants. Out in the great world you find that 



