1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



"both bees and queen when put together will 

 immediately meet in harmony. In other words, 

 we will hypnotize instead of smoke bees." 



" Ha, ha, ha ! Why, Rambler, ha, ha ! why 

 — ha, ha ! what a cranky idea ! Why, Ram- 

 bler, you have more cranks and wheels in 

 your head than a thrashing-machine. Say — 

 ha, ha ! I'd like to have you try some of your 

 passes upon my bees. Say, Gabfast, don't you 

 think that is the most outlandish idea you 

 ever heard of ? " 



" No, I don't," said Gabfast. " I believe the 

 Rambler is right in his deductions. In these 

 days of great discoveries, the thing that seems 

 a chimera to-day becomes a working fact to- 

 morrow ; and then Rambler has good authori- 

 ty to back him." 



" Well, I'd like you to quote your authority. 

 I believe I have read all the works upon bee- 

 keeping that are worth reading, and have nev- 

 er found where hypnotism was ever mention- 

 ed for the management of bees." 



" Well, I will quote from one of the oldest 

 bee-books extant," said Mr. Gabfast. " 'The 

 sucking child shall play on the hole of the 

 asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand 

 on the cocatrice's den.' Now, the bee is not 

 mentioned ; but it is implied that the venom 

 of the bee will not be used ; hypnotism and 

 suggestion will rule in that day. Oh ! yes, 

 Mr. Boss, the Rambler is right. You didn't 

 know he was a hj'pnotist, did you? " 



" Well, no," said the boss; "but I might 

 have known it ; seems he did not ride with 

 you for nothing last night. He seems to con- 

 trol you." 



"Now, my dear boss," said I, "in order to 

 prevent our conversation taking a personal 



turn I will launch another idea at you. The 

 proposition is this : l^he automobile will revo- 

 l II I ionize the bee-keeping industry.'''' 



The boss and Gabfast were both silent for a 

 few minutes. I didn't know but the idea had 

 overwhelmed them ; but utterance was soon 

 given them, and they both expressed them- 

 selves as favorable to the automobile for the 

 moving of bees or in any other work around 

 the apiary where horses now are used ; but as 

 to revolutionizing the industry, the boss 

 thought that was another wheel in my head. 

 " But give us a few more of your ideas upon 

 the matter," said the boss. 



" As you have said, gentlemen, the automo- 

 bile will supersede the horse in the moving of 

 things to and from the apiary, and every thing 

 in and around the apiary ; in fact, it will en- 

 able us to get around among the hives if we 

 need to. The first requsite will be to locate 

 the apiaries near to good roads ; and now that 

 the automobile has arrived, the good roads will 

 soon follow. We can now save time over the 

 horse on our bicycles, and the automobile will 

 enable us to save time with our loads of fix- 

 tures. We can even fix to move bees rapidly 

 to out-locations when desirable, also to move 

 honey to market. And you know that many 

 bee-keepers have time and genius to make 

 their own hives and fixtures. Jack up the au- 

 tomobile so that the wheels will not touch the 

 ground ; now attach an adjustable pulley to 

 one of the wheels, and the power can be used 

 to run a circular saw or any other light ma- 

 chine. When not used for sawing, the pulley 

 is quickly taken off, and the automobile will 

 be ready to use for its original purpose. In 

 colder portions of the country where the auto- 





