51 i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jui,v 1. 



ed vigor to fill up the vacant space left where 

 the full ones were taken out. Thus keep 

 taking out full ones and putting empty ones 

 in their places as long as the honey season 

 lasts. 



This, in short, is the way I work my bees ; 

 and until I entered the queen-rearing business 

 to so great an extent as to have to draw from 

 ever\- colony to supply that business, my 

 average yield of comb honey was not far from 

 eighty pounds per colony, covering a period of 

 over twent\' years. The highest average yield 

 in any year of the twenty was li)6 pounds, 

 and the lowest was 33 pounds. 



I have not written any thing new in the 

 above — simply tried to emphasize that which 

 has been put before the public before, for it 

 often seems that we mortals must be told 

 things over and over again before we can have 

 the right kind of knowledge beaten into us. 

 But after a while some of us do learn, though 

 it be something after the fashion of the man 

 at the revival meeting. The story runs thus : 



A good zealous camp-meeting brother had a 

 habit, when praying, of "beating the air," 

 throwing his arms about in all directions. 

 During a revival meeting the brother succeed- 

 ed in getting one of the toughest characters in 

 town to go forward for pra\'er. Then he knelt 

 beside him and began to pray for him ; and 

 every few seconds, in the energy of his effort, 

 the brother brought his hand down on the 

 man's head and back. The fellow stood it 

 calmly for a while ; but, the blows continu- 

 ing to fall heavily, he got to dodging them, 

 and wabbled out of reach on his knees. The 

 man who was doing the praying had his eyes 

 closed ; but, missing the man, he wabbled 

 after him and contmued to emphasize his 

 periods on the sinner's back. Finally, wind- 

 ing up his rather long petition for grace, he 

 asked : " How do you feel now, brother ? '" 



" Plum knocked out I " was the reply. " Ef 

 you had any thing agin me, wh^- did you coax 

 me up here ter take it out o" me? Why don't 

 you come outside, like a man, an' give me a 

 fair show? You've knocked the devil out o' 

 me — you have ! " 



"Thank the Lord for that ! " exclaimed the 

 praying brother; " that's exactly what I start- 

 ed out to do. The Lord be praised I " 



I noticed one morning a red handkerchief 

 lying on the ground. On examining it I 

 found several stings in it. I found another 

 hive disturbed this time, and two of the out- 

 side frames gone. This was on a moonlight 

 night this was done, so I concluded by the 

 footprints and other observations that two 

 boys who lived about half a mile away were 

 making the disturbance. So I concluded to 

 watch my hives every moonlight night from 

 7 until 10, this being the hours when boys 

 usually visit melon - patches ; and, ha\'ing 

 caught the majority of the boys within a mile 

 of my place at one time or another viewing 

 my melons by the light of the moon, I thought 

 of course I could ver}- easih' take these boys 

 in the act, knowing their habits so well; but 

 they also had cut their e3-e-teeth, and took 

 my actions into account. I watched every 

 night except Sabbath evening, when I went 

 to church, came home, and retired. Next 

 morning the first thing that met my sight was 

 a hive tipped over, two combs gone, the queen 

 dead, and bees scattered around everywhere. 

 I followed the boys' footprints part way home, 

 and then concluded I would go and get a 

 search-warrant and search the house and 

 premises for any comb or hone\\ I swore out 

 a warrant accordingly, and drove up to the 

 house, closely followed by the constable. The 

 first person I met was a boy who, when he 

 saw who his visitors were, became very nerv- 

 ous, and told me he never bothered my bees. 

 This was very good news to me, as I had never 

 told any one that my bees were being disturb- 

 ed. The constable proceeded to search the 

 house, and I remained outside. He was not 

 able to find an}' honey or comb in the house; 

 but I happened to look over the garden fence, 

 and spied a piece of brood-comb which the 

 boj'S had thrown over the fence as they went 

 into the house. This piece of comb had newly 

 laid eggs in it. This was taken to the squire's 

 office, in company with the bo^-s and their 

 father. The boys pleaded guilty, and every 

 thing was arranged lovely. The honey they 

 ate cost about a dollar a pound, which, con- 

 sidering the trouble I had, and the fun the 

 boys had, seemed ver}- satisfactory to all ex- 

 cept their loving parent who paid the bill. 

 Sharpsville, Pa., May 16. Jno. Dallas. 



NAUGHTY BOYS AND THEIR DOLL.^R-A-POUND 

 HONEY. 



I was verv- much interested in regard to 

 those thieves who were disturbing those bees 

 of yours, as I had a somewhat similar experi- 

 ence in the winter of 189(i. In looking over 

 my hives during a warm spell in winter I 

 noticed one that did not seem to have any bees 

 flying. On examining it I found two frames 

 had been taken out of the center of the hive, 

 and all the bees had died. Several days after, 



DUCKS AND bees; NOT A CONGENIAL COM- 

 BINATION. 



I keep from 1-30 to 200 ducks all the time, but 

 have to keep up my flock by buying grown 

 ducks, as I found it impossible to raise young 

 ones on account of being killed b)- bee-stings. 

 The few that I do raise I keep in a brooder- 

 house all the time until they are large. One 

 da}- last week six ducks, about half grown, 

 got out of the house by accident. About half 

 an hour later one of my children brought in 

 one of these ducks paralyzed. My wife at 

 once looked for and picked out of its throat a 

 bee-sting, and now the duck is much better. 

 My experience is that young ducks nearly al- 

 ways die when stung unless the sting is re- 

 moved at once; and when they live it stops 

 their growth for a long time. Are my bees 



