1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



267 



guarantee its purity; would you not be willing 

 to handle it ? " 



"That might be a different proposition," 

 said he; "but there is so much adulteration 

 practiced, and it is so easily done, that there 

 would still be suspicion ; but I am sine I 

 should be willing to try to sell honey from 

 such an association." 



This is a fair sample of the way grocers all 

 through this country talk and feel about Cali- 

 fornia honey; and it seems to me that the only 

 remedy is for bee-keepers to 

 sell through an organization. 



The grocer kindly stepped 

 into the street, and pointed to 

 the building where I would be 

 apt to find the doctor, and I 

 hastened in that direction, and 

 was so fortunate as to find him 

 in his office. I met a medi- 

 um-sized spare man, about 70 

 years of age ; hair, beard, and 

 mustache plentifully sprinkled 

 with white, and with a little 

 black smoking-cap on his head. 

 I introduced myself under my 

 normal name, and proceeded to 

 business. 



The doctor has been inter- 

 ested in bees for several years, 

 and sort o' stumbled into the 

 business in an accidental way. 

 The more he handled them the 

 greater became his enthusiasm, 

 and he gradually increased his number of 

 colonies up to 100, and he also worked into 

 a fine business in selling supplies. 



In order to enlarge his business, and to avail 

 himself of cheap water power to run his ma- 

 chinery, he moved to the town of Lincoln, a 

 few miles from Salem. 



His business started in well, and he sold a 

 large number of hives and other supplies, and 

 every thing seemed fair for an enlarging and 

 prosperous business, when, like many anothtr 

 man, in a moment when least expected, disas- 

 ter overtook him, and his plant was burned. 

 Disasters hardly ever come singly, and soon 

 after the fire a flood swept away a large 

 amount of choice lumber in which his ni( ney 

 was invested. At the end of these tad affairs 

 he was almost impoverished, and with only a 

 few colonies of bees left. He returned to the 

 city, and has again taken up the practice of 

 medicine ; but through and above all of these 

 discouragements the bee fever does not leave 

 him. With his son, who is also interested in 

 the bees, they are building up again, and now 

 have about 40 colonies. 



"Ah ! yes," said Dr. Chase, with great depth 

 of feeling, "the blessed bees, blessed bees, 

 they have come to my aid and enabled myself 

 and family to live when all else seemed a 

 failure — blessed bets." Indeed, doubly bless- 

 ed in his case. 



" If you care to see some of my bees," said 

 the doctor, " I have 20 colonies near us." 



I signified my entire willingness to see the 

 apiary, and the doctor led the way to a rear 

 room. His office was upstairs, and from this 

 rear room we could look out upon the roof of 



a rear wing to the building. In both rear 

 windows were hives of bees, and several hives 

 on the roof beyond. He called this his Web- 

 foot apiary, after the webfoot State of Oregon, 

 you know. At about this time I had become 

 quite enthused over the doctor's bee-keeping, 

 for this was the first housetop city apiary that 

 I had ever seen. I pulled from my pocket a 

 tourist camera, and said, " If you have no ob- 

 jections, doctor, I should like to take a photo 

 of your apiaty." 



AN APIARY ON THE HOUSETOP. 



" Certainly," said he ; and then, turning to 

 me as though a new idea had struck him, he 

 said, " Your name is — is — M— n; thunder and 

 lightning ! then you are the Rambler ! " 



"The same, at your service," said I, and 

 proceeded to take the photo which I herewith 

 present to your readers. 



Some years ago the doctor served in the U. 

 S. army as surgeon, and in his professional 

 life he made a study of antiseptics. This habit 

 he carried with him into the business of bee- 

 keeping, and as a result he told me that he 

 had discovered a remed)' for foul brood. 



"Why, doctor," said I, "if that is a fact 

 you have made a great discovery, and a grate- 

 ful fraternity of bee keepers will arise and 

 bless you. But," said I, with something of a 

 tone of doubt, ' ' are you sure that you had a 

 real case of foul brood ? ' ' 



The doctor smiled as though it was pre- 

 sumption on my part to have the least doubt, 

 and said, "I know too' well the baleful effects 

 of the disease; but I know I can cure it every 

 time, no matter how virulent the case." 



The doctor made no secret of the treatment, 

 and it will be given in the next Ramble. 



W. F. B., O/tio.—lt is a little late in the 

 season now (March 24) to move bees, espe- 

 cially in \our locality. The moving should 

 have been done late in the fall or very early 

 in the spring I think it would be advisable 

 for you to leave your bees where they are for 

 the present. If you desire to move them only 

 a short distance, move them gradually — that 

 is, only a few inches a day. 



