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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



she has, by invitation, given us an account of 

 her rambles. — A. I. R.] 



Away down south, not far from the Mississ- 

 ippi River, there is a small village divided by 

 a pretty little bayou into two parts. On one 

 side of this bayou is the dark)' settlement. 

 The church is the first thing which greets our 

 eyes, and around this, in picturesque confu- 

 sion, the little whitewashed cabins of the col- 

 ored people are clustered. A few steps fur- 

 ther on is the Almeda Gardner A. M. A. 

 school for colored girls. On the opposite side 

 of this bayou is the one store and postoffice, 

 the new hotel, and three or four houses be- 

 longing to the white people. It would be use- 

 less to bring a bicycle with the intention of 

 riding, nor even a carriage, to the town, for 

 the roads are not as yet in condition to admit 

 of that mode of traveling. Every one, young 

 and old, rides horseback, and it is great fun 

 for a party, mounted on steeds of all condi- 

 tions and sorts, to start off in the cool of the 

 day for a horseback ride. Riding down south 

 is much different from the riding up north, 

 and far more pleasant. 



One afternoon, about five o'clock, a small 

 party of us started, the girls dressed in the 

 manner of the countr)% hair braided down 

 the back, and hats off, for we did not care to 

 sow a crop of hats and hairpins in the Moor- 

 head bayous and forests. We rode north be- 

 side the railroad track until we came to the 

 long pile bridge. Here we crossed the afore- 

 said bayou, and found ourselves in the woods. 

 Soon our clear sailing apparently ended, 

 for we came to a growth of cane growing 

 much higher than our heads ; but the horses, 

 nothing daunted, turned into it and we found 

 a narrow path just wide enough for us to ride 

 through, single file. Within it was cool and 

 shady, for the cane grew so thick that no glim- 

 mer of sunlight came through. The head 

 horse started on a gallop, following the wind- 

 ing path in and out, and, of course, all the 

 other horses caught the inspiration. Even my 

 little pony, Dexter, at the end of the proces- 

 sion, was unwilling to be left behind ; for as 

 soon as he saw the tail of the last horse van- 

 ishing among the canebrake he pricked up his 

 little ears, and off he started after the rest. 

 Often, branches from the larger trees would 

 hang over our path, and it became very excit- 

 ing to see who would get through with least 

 number of eyes scratched out. 



All good things come to an end, so did our 

 path through the cane; for we came out of it 

 into the open woods ; and, finding the trail 

 muddy and wet from recent rains, we turned 

 our horses aside and let them make paths for 

 themselves through the thick underbrush and 

 tall trees. Again we had to be careful, for I 

 found that, while I was admiring the beauty 

 of the scenery on the right side, the pony 

 would walk too close to a tree on the left, and, 

 as a natural result, the tree and I would find 

 ourselves in too close contact for (my) person- 

 al comfort. Once, as Dexter was bravely push- 

 ing his way through, a small sapling flew back 

 and knocked one of my feet out of the stirrup, 

 and gave the other a sharp rap which did not 

 feel very comfortable for a minute. Fallen 



trees often lay across our path, but it did not 

 seem to occur to the horses to go around them. 

 They would calmly pick up their feet and step 

 over; or if the log looked a little large, Dex- 

 ter, without stopping to give warning, would 

 jump it. 



On the day in question our party went as 

 far as we could without encountering too great 

 obstacles, then turned our horses' heads to- 

 ward home again. We all looked forward to 

 our return ride through the cane, and it was 

 even more fun than the first time. The coun- 

 try seemed so wild and unbroken that it was a 

 pleasure to ride through it, for new scenes and 

 new obstacles were constantly appearing be- 

 fore us. Rattlesnakes are said to be quite 

 common in these parts, but we have not en- 

 countered any as yet. 



We arrived home about half-past six, bring- 

 ing with us as a trophy of our ride nothing 

 but violets and a big appetite apiece. 



ARE WE GOING AGAINST NATURE IN WORK- 

 ING FOR COMB HONEY ? 



Question. — Is it not against the very nature 

 of the bees to have so many traps by the way 

 of separators, T tins, queen-excluders, etc., in 

 the production of comb honey ? and do not 

 these things lessen our yield materially, and 

 place the bees to a great disadvantage above 

 what they were with the large open 15-pound 

 boxes our fathers used to have their honey 

 stored in ? 



Answer. — When I first began bee-keeping 

 comb honey was not put up as at the present 

 day, as a part of the boxes used were made to 

 hold 15 pounds, as our questioner hints at, 

 while the smallest boxes then in use in this 

 locality held fully six pounds. Some of these 

 had glass sides while others had only a small 

 piece of glass over an auger-hole, so that the 

 owner of the bees could see through this glass 

 to tell when the combs weie completed, or 

 when the honey was ready to take off ; for, 

 when these combs were sealed next the glass, 

 the whole of those in the box were quite apt 

 to be so, as a general rule. In these boxes we 

 frequently found both brood and pollen, espe- 

 cially when any box was filled from white 

 clover, even with a hive as large as 2000 cubic 

 inches, and many wondered why the queen 

 would go above to lay, when there was appar- 

 ently plenty of room for her below. The rea- 

 son for this, as I look at it, is that new comb 

 is being built above, which is generally of the 

 drone size of cells, where the bees have their 

 own way in building it, as was the case then, 

 which, with the desire of the queen to be 

 where the bees are the most active, causes her 

 to go into the surplus arrangement to lay. 

 Some seem to think that this trouble with 

 brood and pollen in the surplus arrangement 

 of the hive is something that comes by our 



