189S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



253 



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the help Mr. C. expectfd for the suninier began to 

 telegraph that they had "backed out.^' The reason 

 tho.se bees could not .sting the boys on the hands was 

 because they could not get hold of any thing to hold 

 themselves down By shaving or singeing all the 

 hair from the backs of our hands, we fi.x it .so they 

 only slip up when they try to sting. 



West Groton, N. > ./March (i. H.'^rry S. Howe. 



Several limes I had a sort of feeling that 

 the bees were " hared up" for my particular 

 benefit; but I was afterward told l)y neighbors 

 and local bee-keepers that Mr. Coggshall was 

 in the habit of working the bees in this way, 

 whether it was during the robbing season or 

 during the honey-flow. His motto seemed to 

 be, the greatest amotmt of honey with the 

 least expenditure of labor, the matter of stings 

 being of only secondary consideration. 



Speaking of stings 

 reminds me of bee- 

 suits. The accom- 

 panying illustration 

 shows Mr. David 

 Cogg,shall, a brother 

 of W. L., rigged out 

 in his bee-proof sting- 

 proof suit. The ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers 

 seem to think that 

 gloves are unnecessa- 

 ry ; but let me say 

 that, if they worked 

 on the Coggshall 

 plan, they would find 

 gloves almost indis- 

 pensable. Notwith- 

 standing, one of the 

 men worlsed the bees 

 barehanded; but, my! 

 oh my ! I would not 

 have done it for all the bees in the 

 yard. 



Mr. David Coggshall (of whose 

 face the reader will get a dim out- 

 line behind the veil), like his 

 brother, is not only a prosper- 

 ous farmer, living in a fine coun- 

 try residence ( about a quarter of 

 a mile from his brother's), but also 

 also arr extensive bee-keeper. He 

 operates some GOO or 700 colonies 

 in perhaps six or seven apiaries. 

 I did not have time to look over 

 any of his yards ; and in any 

 event, I assurrred that he worked 

 his bees much as did his brother 

 — on the lightning - kick - snap- 

 bang-get-there plan. His sting- 

 proof bee-suit is certainly suggest- 

 ive of that assumptiorr. 



Mr. Coggshall has had different 

 men and boys work for him in his 

 apiaries ; but he considers Mr. 

 Howe, the young man to whom I 

 have referred several times, as be- 

 ing his fastest lightning operator. 

 Harry, at the time of my visit to 

 the Coggshalls', was in the bicycle 

 business at Ithaca, N. Y. He 

 taught school in winter, repaired - 

 and made bicycles, and ran one 

 or two apiaries of his owrr in the vicinity of 

 Cornell University. I have before said that 



he was a bicycle enthusiast, and, of course, 

 he and I found companiorrship mutually 

 agreeable. When we were tired of talking 

 about bees we would talk about " bikes." 



At the time I arrived in Ithaca, I had taken 

 a forty -mile ride from Romulus, N. Y., over 

 the hills to Ithaca, better known as the home 

 of Cornell University. I had trundled over 

 the hills until my legs were tired — yes, weak- 

 kneed, knock kneed, and every other kind of 

 tired. Arriving at Ithaca I sought the nearest 

 depot, and was there informed that I would 

 have to go to the other depot, upon the hill. I 

 followed in the directiorr pointed out, suppos- 

 ing that, of course, I could reach it in a short 

 time. I started to ride up the hill ; but pass- 

 ers-by began to call out, " Hey, there ! going 

 to climb that hill? Better get off 'n' walk — 

 you'll live longer, stranger ; " and — I did! 



I kept on going up, up, up, until it seemed 

 as if I could rrot even push my wheel, even on 

 foot. I hurried so as to catch the train that 

 was to come soon at the other station ; but af- 

 ter half an hour's hard toil I arrived in sight 

 of the station, nrore dead than alive, just as 

 the train was pulling out. I then fell to won- 

 dering why York State had so many mean 

 hills, and whether any nrortal had ever climb- 

 ed that hill on a bicycle, for it is indeed a se- 

 ries of hills, one on top of the other. To my 

 great astonishment I learned that there was at 

 least one who had done it, and that was my 

 friend Harry Howe, who had performed the. 

 feat, not once, but several times, on a bicycle 

 of his own make. 



The accompanying illustration shows Harry, 

 and the wheel that made that remarkable 

 climb. My camera tried to catch him on the 



HARRY S. HOWE, OK ITHACA, N. Y. 



wing ; but it was only a streak on the film. 

 The only shot I can present to you is the one 



