306 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aprii, 15. 



the treatment once or twice. But the second 

 treatment is generally sufficient. 

 St. Charles, 111. 



SHOP-TALKS. 

 Improvement in Stock. 



BY UNCLE LISHA. 



" Good morning, Mr. Simpson." 



" A jolly good morning to you. How are 

 you ? ' ' 



" Pretty well," said I. " What are you up 

 to nowadays? " 



" Why, bless your soul, I am building me a 

 new patent stall for my colt? " 



"Something new, isn't it?" said I. 



" Yes," said my neighbor Simpson, with his 

 round full face all aglow. "You see one of 

 them 'ere agents came along selling rights. 



' ' Begorra ! Is that so ? I wish I could get 

 hold of one of them 'ere kind of hives, and I 

 would keep bees too. What great heads them 

 patent folks have on them — ha ! " 



" It may be so," I remarked ; " but some of 

 us bee-keepers think it is often more in the 

 season or the management or breed of bees 

 than in the hive." 



"I declare!" said Simpson, "there is a 

 good deal to learn about this bee-business, 

 isn't there? " 



"Of course, but I haven't told you much 

 yet. There is Hutchinson, who has been ad- 

 vertising queens reared from a queen worth a 

 hundred dollars." 



"What! a queen bee worth a hundred! a 

 hundred dollars? a hundred dollars for just 

 one leetle bee? Why ! that would make her 

 worth more than her weight in gold," said 

 Simpson, his eyes beginning to stand out in 

 wonder. 



and I bought a right — cost only five dollars, 

 and I can make as many as I want." 



"What sort of a thing is it? " I inquired. 



"Oh! it is a large square concern with a 

 ventilating arrangement and a curious feed- 

 box, and a peculiar floor, and a door for an 

 entrance, with a new-fangled lock to keep out 

 thieves. The agent said horses will do belter 

 in this stall than in any other stall ever made ; 

 and my woman, she says she thinks I will get 

 a premium next fall on my colt if I keep it in 

 this stall." 



" I see," said I. "A great many bee-keep- 

 ers have used patent hives to keep their bees 

 in. I was looking over an old volume of the 

 Anier. Bee Journal the other day, and a man 

 some thirty years ago was telling how he had 

 secured in his patent hive 125 lbs. of the 

 whitest box honey, and a new swarm, as an 

 average from each old colony, in one season." 



"Yes," said I, "more than her weight in 

 diamonds ; but that isn't much. There is 

 Wright, in Western New York, who has a 

 queen he calls Sweetheart that he says he 

 wouldn't sell for two hundred dollars. And 

 there is Mr. Mclntyre, away out in California, 

 has a queen, I don't know what he asks for 

 her ; but if he could be persuaded to sell I pre- 

 sume it would not be less than three or four 

 hundred dollars. I tell you, 'bugs have riz. ' " 



"Mighty man! Did you ever? I never 

 heard the like o' that in all my born days ! 

 Why ! what makes them worth so much?" 



" It is just because their stock is so indus- 

 trious, such good workers." 



" Well done, now ! I supposed all bees were 

 just as industrious as they could be. I have 

 heard mv old dad say many a time, ' as busy 

 as a bee, ' and I didn't suppose one bee could 

 be more busy than another." 



