646 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



cards from those inks showing each variation 

 in color. 



It has before been stated that honey that 

 has been extracted, owing to the violent agi- 

 tation during the process of separation from 

 the comb, is more inclined to granulate than 

 so much drip, "squshed," or strained honey ; 

 but when we remember that a great many ex- 

 tracted honeys will also remain clear and lim- 

 pid for two years or more, we can hardly rely 

 very much on such form of proof.— Ed.] 



RAMBLE 173. 



Mr. Griggs' Experience with Eggs. 



BY RAMBLER. 



" Why, how do you do, Mr. Griggs? • It's a 

 long time since I saw you. I guess you've 

 moved from San Bernardino County." 



"Wall, wall! is that you, Mr. Rambler? 

 It does me good to see you again. Yes, I 

 have moved down here near Pasadena. It 

 must be that you have rambled a mighty lot 

 since I saw you." 



" Oh ! I have taken a few steps north and 

 south ; but where do you live now, Mr. 

 Griggs ? ' ' 



" I live right up here near that schoolhouse. 

 You see that house with a ' gabriel ' roof ? 

 Got as nice a little place as you ever saw, and 

 a nice apiary of forty colonies of bees. Come 

 right along up and I will show you." 



" You have an apiary? Well, I declare! 

 and when I lived in San Bernardino County 

 you were so tarnally afraid of bees — why, I 

 have laughed more than forty times at the 

 way you used to scoot for the brush whenever 

 a bee would get within a rod of you. How 

 did it happen that you took the bee-fever? " 



" You kuow my wife My-nervy is very fond 

 of honey, and she was bound to have bees and 

 honey, whether I wanted them or not ; but 

 seeing that she'd got her mind sot on it I did 

 not seriously object, for My-nervy is an awful 

 good woman ; and when we were married I 

 promised to cherish and protect her ; and I'll 

 do it, if I have to put a cast-iron fence around 

 her, and to deny that my soul is my own. 

 Wall, My-nervy traded that big speckled 

 Plymouth Rock rooster for a little swarm of 

 bees that my neighbor's boy caught — don't 

 remember that big rooster, hey? Why, you 

 used to quote Shakespeare about his early 

 strains, and tell My-nervy that he had such a 

 dulcimer tone to his crow." % 



' ' Why, yes, Mr. Griggs ; if you had said 

 the dulcimer rooster I'd surely have remem- 

 bered it. That was surely a good trade, and 

 that is one reason, I think, why you did not 

 object." 



"Yes, I like a good bargain if I do get stung 

 occasionally ; but I find it just as you told me 

 — the more I'd get stung the better I'd like it, 

 or, rather, the less the effect would be ; can't 

 say, though, as I hanker much after stings 

 yet." 



" I see you stick to the poultry yet. I think 

 you must have all varieties here — Plymouth 



Rocks, Leghorns, Langshans, etc. It's poul- 

 try galore." 



"Hey? galore? No, don't believe I have 

 any of that breed. Are they good layers? 

 But then, I think we have enough varieties 

 now ; but if I think of it I'll speak to My- 

 nervy about it ; let's see — galore." 



"I wouldn't spend much time looking for 

 them, Mr. Griggs — hardly worth your time. 

 And now, Mr. Griggs, I notice that your hens 

 have access to the apiary, and seem to scratch 

 quite a little around the hives. I'd like to 

 know if your bees sting the black poultry more 

 than they do the other colors." 



" Be George ! I never thought of it — never 

 noticed ; s'posed a bee never cared for color 

 if it could get a chance to sting ; but I'll ask 

 My-nervy ; she'll know all about it. My- 

 nervy ! hello there ! I say, hello, My-nervy ! " 



"Yes, yes, I'll be there in a minute. Let 

 me put these chicks in the brooder. 



" Sakes alive! if this isn't the Rambler! 

 I'm so glad to see you ! Hiram and I have 

 wondered and wondered what had become of 

 you, and here you are, all of a sudden ! just 

 like you, for all the world. Walk right into 

 the sitting-room and take a chair. Take the 

 rocking-chair, Mr. Rambler. Now just make 

 yourself at home." 



"Thank you, Mrs. Griggs. I am quite 

 comfortable — real glad to see you ; still in the 

 poultry business, and, strange to say, in the 

 bee business too." 



"Ha, ha ! I knew you'd say so, seeing as 

 how afraid of bees Hiram used to be. But I 

 know Hiram pretty well. He didn't like 

 hens, and he had a horror for ducks and 

 geese ; but now he takes just as much interest 

 in them as I do. We are now selling $7.00 

 worth of eggs a week, with now and then a 

 duck and a goose. All of these items help to 

 pay for the place. I knew Hiram would soon 

 get used to the bees. Then you see he sold 

 $40.00 worth of honey the other day, and that 

 was a great pacificator. Oh ! my Hiram is a 

 good man, if he is a little hard to manage 

 sometimes." 



" Say, My-nervy, Mr. Rambler wants to 

 know if our white hens sting the black bees 

 an — " 



" For the land's sake, Hi — " 



"Wall, now, I guess I did get the things 

 mixed. So much poultry and bees and such 

 things. Say, how is it, Mr. Rambler? " 



" Why, Mrs. Griggs, I just wanted to know 

 if your bees seem to sting black hens more 

 than they do the white or the lighter-shaded 

 hens." 



" No, can't say as they do. It seems to me 

 they take to yellow and to fuzzy chicks more 

 than any thing else. A hen hatched out ten 

 chicks under a hive in the middle of the yard; 

 and when she led her chicks off between and 

 in front of the hives one forenoon, there were 

 just three came through alive, and they acted 

 as though they had the blind staggers. No, I 

 can't say as they like to sting black better 

 than they do yellow ; but we don't like to 

 have the hens lay eggs under the hives, do we, 

 Hiram ? Ha, ha ! Why, Hiram had a drefful 

 time at church on that account." 



