1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



95 



driven down between the frames, combs are 

 jerked out, and with a peculiar nervous trem- 

 bling motion, which they have acquired, they 

 will shake the bees almost entirely off. What 

 few may remain are cleaned off the combs 

 with one or two sweeps of a long whisk-broom 

 which the apiarist has tied to his person. The 

 air may be filled with mad stinging bees, but 

 that makes no difference ; the work goes on 

 just the same. The combs, as fast as cleaned, 

 are set down in regular hive-supers placed on 

 a hand-cart. As soon as four supers are filled 

 with combs, one of the boys draws the hand- 

 cart to the extractiug-house where the combs 

 are uncapped and extracted at a speed that 

 defies competition. One of Mr. Coggshall's 

 "lightning operators" and two boys actually 

 took from the hives one afternoon, 1400 lbs. 

 of honey in an hour and a quarter, or at the 

 rate of over 1100 lbs. an hour. This included 

 taking combs out of the hive, brushing bees 

 off, uncapping, extracting, putting the honey 

 into kegs, and replacing the combs. This rec- 

 ord is the more remarkable from the fact that 

 a non-reversible extractor was used, and that 

 the "operator " is of light build, and the boys 

 both under 16. Some of the other records 

 are, 900 lbs. in one hour f yr two men ; and 

 2500 lbs. in a day for one operator and two 

 boys. 



That Mr. Coggshall and his brother have 

 made money with their bees is evidenced from 

 the fact that they live in two very fine modern 

 residences, finished off inside with hard wood, 

 heated by furnaces and equ'ppedwith modern 

 plumbing ; modern barns and modern ma- 

 chinery of every kind are found about their 

 premises. And besides their beautiful large 

 farms which they operate between times, I un- 

 derstand they have some snug suras of money 

 laid up for a rainy day in the way of life in- 

 surance and substantial bank accounts. 



Mr. Cogyshall places the locality fir.st, the 

 man second, hives last. That he thoroughly 

 believes in this is attested by the fact that he 

 has one of the finest locations in the world, 

 right in the heart of the great buckwheat 

 country, so famous for its immense crops, and 

 by the further fact that he himself is an alert, 

 keen business man, ever active, always study- 

 ing the shortest cuts, and ever watchful of the 

 latest methods. His hives —well, the less said 

 about them the better. They are any thing 

 and every thing, but generally ot the eight- 

 frame Langstroth type- — such hives as he has 

 been able to buy up from his less successful 

 neighbors who tried their hand at keeping 

 bees and did not make them pay. He will 

 take these same bees and the same hives in 

 the same location, and make them return to 

 him a big revenue, thus proving that there 

 is something besides locality in getting honey. 

 Mr. Coggshall is, in some ways, the most re- 

 markable bee-keeper in the United States. 

 "While the majority of us would feel that we 

 could not afford to use the hives and methods 

 (the kicking and the stinging) employed by 

 him, yet there is no denying the fact that he 

 produces great results in spite of the stings, 

 and in spite of robbing and the home-made 

 equipments that he makes for himself. 



He hrought nie up also out of a horrible pit, out of 

 the mirv clay, and set my.feet upon a rock, and estab- 

 lished my goings.— Psalm -10:2. 



While I write this 20th day of January, in 

 Medina Co. at least it is very hard getting 

 around anywhere unless one keeps on the stone 

 pavement or on the limestone roads. The 

 weather is very mild for the time of year. In 

 fact, there has not been a frost, or at least 

 none to mention, for more than a week ; and 

 if you get off the walks into the Medina clay, 

 your feet will slip around in every direction &o 

 you can hardly stand up, let alone making 

 any headway, especially if jou attempt to 

 cross a plowed field. You may wear rubbers, 

 it is true, but your rubbers will stick tighter 

 in the miry clay than they will to your feet ; 

 and if you undertake to do any kind of work 

 without a stone pavement to step on, or a 

 plank or board, you will likely get your feet 

 wet, catch cold, and be very much disgusted 

 with outdoor work in the winter time, with 

 nothing to stand on. At such a time you can 

 appreciate, as perhaps never before, a good 

 solid stone walk. Gravel does very well, but 

 it is apt to be more or less yielding. Bricks 

 are better than nothing at all, but they will 

 slip out of place, and get more or less edge- 

 wise unless they have a good foundation un- 

 derneath. There is nothing like solid rock. 

 Sometimes one of the underdrains gets stop- 

 ped up— possibly the cellar drain — and 30U 

 are actually obliged to get into the mud and 

 water, and work after a fashion. Oh how good 

 it seems after you get the thing finished, and can 

 pull your rubbersoutof themud, scrape off the 

 clay— better still wash them off clean — and 

 get the solid rock once more under your feet ! 

 I am inclined to think David also had some 

 experiences that he remembered, when he 

 spoke' in our text about "the miry cl.iy." 



Our pastor has just said le wants me to give 

 a talk of six minutes to-moi row evening at 

 our church. The subject is, what Christianity 

 has done for me. I expect my reply to be the 

 text at the head of this chapter. Well do I 

 remember the miry clay c.f sin out of which 

 the dear Sivior lifted me at the time in my 

 life when I promised to give up all and follow 

 him. I think I was between 30 and 40 years 

 of age. I remember distinctly that, during 

 the early portion of my life, I was a good deal 

 worried because the world did not give me the 

 credit I thought I ought to have. I thought 

 I did not get my just dues, and I was an ardent 

 believer in what was then termed " blowing 

 one's own horn." As I look back I am 

 ashamed to think how persistently I kept 

 tooting mv little horn, in season and out of 

 season. One of the first things that called my 

 attention to the teachings of Christ Jesus was 

 a text that has been a great favorite of mine 

 all through my Christian life: "Blessed are 

 ye when men shall revile you, and persecute 

 you, and say all manner of evil against you 



