1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



927 



to Ovid, on the train. Here I at once struck a 

 promising trail. I found in one of the stores 

 some nice honey put up by a progressive bee- 

 keeper. "A workman is known by his chips." 

 I was not long in locating him, and a pleasant 

 wheelride of five or six miles brought me to 

 the apiary of Mr. H C. Dinger, a bright young 

 bee-keeper with whom I spent a few hours 

 very pleasaijtly. Mr. B. has about 25 colonies 

 in fine condition. He reports a moderate 

 crop of comb honey of 1200 pounds, of excel- 

 lent quality — greatest yield from one colony, 

 155 pounds in 160 sections. He uses no sep- 

 arators, clips his queens, carries on general 

 farming in connection with bee-keeping. He 

 takes just pride in reporting a yield of 49 

 bushels of wheat to the acre (average) on 1% 

 acres, undoubtedly the result of the same 

 painstaking care that gives him success with 

 the bees. He has a new honey-house and 

 workshop, which, like his apiary, is a model 

 of neatness and good order. 



Of course, I scolded Mr. B., as I had other 

 bee-keepers I had met, for being behind the 

 times in not using separators. But I began to 

 think it would not be beneath my dignity to 

 listen respectfully to the arguments of these 

 non-separator bee keepers, and about the same 

 talk was gone over as at Dr. Smith's. I after- 

 ward pui chased this lot of honey and shipped 

 it to Ohio, and 1 have not been ashamed of it. 



"If you had your bees down near that 

 swamp we came past back here a little way, 

 the)' would be doing good work," I said. 



" But it is only half a mile from here to the 

 edge of that same swamp," said Mr. B. 



" Then I am sure they must be doing nicely, 

 and they do certainly appear to be." 



He shook his head, and replied, " I think 

 not." 



"But I saw a great amount of goldenrod 

 and a great variety of other bloom, and I 

 thought at the time there was a bonanza for 

 somebody's bees." 



"They may seem to be working well," he 

 replied, " bnt I have never seen much honey 

 from goldenrod or any other fall bloom — not 

 enough to give any surplus." 



" Well, Mr. Binger, that has been about my 

 own experience, I will admit. But I should 

 like to look into some of your hives, if you do 

 not object." 



"Certainly not ;" and in due time, with 

 smoker in hand, he had a hive open for my 

 inspection. 



I was, after all, a little disappointed, for I 

 had expected to see some few signs of honey- 

 gathering — enough to whiten the combs a 

 little, but there were not. Several others 

 •were opened, all showing about the same con- 

 dition. Mr. B.'s crop was mostly from alsike 

 clover, with a little basswood and white clo- 

 ver. 



As the time came for me to mount my wheel 

 again we walked down to the front gate to- 

 gether, and my newly found friend offered 

 many little persuasions to stay over night, as 

 he said there were a great many qi:estions 

 that he wanted to ask that he could not think 

 of then, and he wanted to talk more about 

 bees. I reached my hotel at Owosso just at 



evening, highly pleased with the day's adven- 

 tures. 



The next day was Saturday. It was a red- 

 letter day in Owosso. Pawnee Bill's show 

 was the great occasion. It had been talked of 

 and anticipated for some days. It was very 

 quiet in the morning; but as the day advanced, 

 noise and confusion increased ; and before 

 noon pandemonium seemed to be let loose 

 everywhere. The boys came in from the sur- 

 rounding country. Many of them "got full," 

 and talked loud and silly, and quite a number 

 had to have the help of some good friend to 

 keep on their feet, cutting a most imdignified 

 and di.'^graceful figure in public. It seems to 

 me that these occasions are unprofitable to 

 the community, and that their tendency is not 

 to advance refinement, morals, or civilization. 



1 again boarded the train after dinner, to 

 resume my journey southward. Landing was 

 the next place on my program, the former 

 home of Prof. Cook. On arriving there I 

 wheeled up into town to spend a few hours 

 until the next train that would take me to 

 Eaton Rapids. I rode around and through 

 the grounds of the beautiful capitol of Michi- 

 gan, down along the principal street, wonder- 

 ing what adventure awaited n.e next. I found 

 about the same class of honey on sale here as 

 at other places I had visited in Michigan. 



While talking with a grocer, and making 

 some inquiries about the local bee-keepers, he 

 said, "There is a Mr. Larrabee, something of 

 a bee-man, across the street." 



" John H. Larrabee ? " 



" Yes, I believe so. You will find him just 

 where you see that bicycle-sign." 



I was not long in introducing myself to the 

 very man I had wished to meet, and whom I 

 had known for years. 



" Well, how about the bees ? " I asked. 



" Oh! I don't know much about bees lately. 

 I have about gone out of the business." 



" Mr. Larrabee, do you find the bicycle busi- 

 ness more profitable than bees ? " 



" I find it more reliable," he replied, " than 

 keeping bees. Sometimes bees pa)', and 

 sometimes they don't." 



"Do you know Wood, the man who went 

 to California to raise queens on the isolated 

 island of Catalina? " 



"Well, now, I will take my wheel and go 

 with you to the depot, and on our way I will 

 give you an introduction to A. D. D. Wood." 



We found Mr. Wood very busy, not raising 

 queens nor handling hot bees, but at work in 

 a smith-shop before a hot fire, where he could 

 not slop, even to talk bees. I had only the 

 pleasure of taking Mr. Wood by the hand, 

 and, with an apology for intruding upon his 

 his time, wheeled on to the depot in time to 

 get the train. 



Eaton Rapids is a very pretty wide-awake 

 town. I have seen no such signs of hustling 

 anywhere else, even in the larger towns and 

 cities, as I saw here. The sidewalks, although 

 wide and roomy, were inconveniently crowded 

 with people from the country during the eve- 

 ning, although there was no extra occasion 

 for it, except that it was Saturday night. 



Mineral springs have plaj-ed an important 



