436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



with new pines? Yes, but they were abor- 

 tive, and the experiment was a failure. 

 Thousands and thousands of acres of land 

 that once sold at big- prices, because of 

 these very pines now all gone, are begg^ing 

 an owner who will even pay taxes on them. 

 The land is just as good as it ever was for 

 growing pines; but the conditions brought 

 about by civilization have made the starting 

 of new trees impossible. Laws have been 

 passed, restricting hunters; but the Indian, 

 who is amenable to no law, will build his 

 fire when and where he pleases. 



I had supposed that all the Michigan 

 white pine had been cut out of the State; 

 but it seems my brother- editor, Mr. W. Z. 

 Hutchinson, editor cf the Bee-keepers' Re- 

 view, has found one small tract — not so very 

 very small, either, in a way, but small in 

 comparison with what these tracts once 

 were before so-called civilization had push- 

 ed itself among them. From a photograph- 

 ic point of view the original of this picture 

 is a work of art.* The illumination, the 

 high lights and shadows, the penetration, 

 definition, and atmosphere, are all ideal. 

 W. Z. H. has a true sense of the poetic and 

 artistic; and when he walked some five 

 miles over the ties, carrying a big camera 

 (for the lumber company would not let him 

 ride on a log- train without a permit), and 

 when he bunked with the lumber men in 

 camp, and partook of their rations, and 

 when he spent hours and hours of time 

 hunting for the right spot, and waiting for 

 the light to get just right, he showed the 

 instincts of a true amateur — a type of a lim- 

 ited class of artists who a' e more expert 

 than the avera ge professional. 



I have tried my hand at taking pictures; 

 but I always feel like taking off my hat to 

 my brother editor, who excels me every 

 time; and I do not feel so very bad about it 

 either; for there are very few amateurs in 

 the country who can equal him, and fewer 

 still who can surpass him. 



But let us go back to the subject of our 

 picture. 



Is there any timber in all the world that 

 meets all the conditions required in a hive 

 so well as white pine? The echoing re- 

 sponses from thousands of bee-keepers ans- 

 wer back, "No, no." 



There are other timbers that will stand 

 the weather, but they are so tough as to 

 be hard to work. There are other timbers 

 that are workable, but thej^ will not endure 

 the sun and the rfiin. Go over this world 

 where you will, there is no other wcxid that 

 is so suitable for general purposes as the 

 genuine white pine. There is a so-called 

 white pine in Oregon; but it is tough, brit- 

 tle, and lacks many of the essential quali- 

 ties that have made the white pine of Mich- 

 igan so famous. There is the ri dwood of 

 California, perhaps the very best substitute 

 for white pine in hives; but it has the dis- 

 agreeable fashion of shrinking endwise, 

 being brittle, and unsuitable for brood- 



*I wish our reproducticn of it could be as good. 



frames. It stands .'v dry climate perhaps 

 better than white pine; but in other respects 

 it is not the equal of it. The sugar pine of 

 Central California is another excellent tim- 

 be; but it, too, tough and brittle, falls far 

 short of the ideal conditions. The yellow 

 pines of the South (and we may have to 

 use them some day) are too pitchy, and the 

 timber too heavy, to be really suitable. The 

 whitewood of Kentucky does very well, but 

 it will not stand the weather, and has to be 

 constantly covered with paint or it will 

 soon deteriorate. Bass wood will not weath- 

 er either, and, besides, it is becoming near- 

 ly as scarce as white pine. The inevitable 

 conclusion is, that the best timber in all the 

 world f^r hives is becoming scarcer and 

 scarcer; else why should bee-keepers east, 

 west, south, and north pay bigger prices 

 for hives made of it? 



The most of our white pine comes from 

 Canada, with the duty added. How long 

 this supply of our northern borders will 

 last is hard to say; but the same machinery 

 that cleaned out our own timber has been 

 imported across the line, over into Oregon, 

 and throughout the South. No effort is be- 

 ing made to replace our valuable timbers; 

 and the coming generation may be compel- 

 led t3 use brick, stone, and iron, and per- 

 haps strawboard and other material made 

 from scrub timbers ground up and worked 

 over into a pulp. The sad thing about it 

 is one generation does not have very much 

 regard for the generation that is to come. 

 We look out too much for our present needs, 

 without a thought of what posterity will 

 require. If we could grow pine and bass- 

 wood as we grow hay and straw, enough 

 to take care of a season's supply, then the 

 problem would be simple. 



BEES ASA NUISANCe(?). 



It would seem almost out of place to dis- 

 cuss this question in a work intended for 

 perusal and studj'of those who believe, and 

 rightly, too, that bees are not a nuisance; 

 but, as I shall show, there are reasons why 

 we should calmly discuss this question in 

 ord^r that we may avoid trouble that may 

 arise in the future. Certain difficulties 

 have arisen between the keepers of bees 

 and their neighbors. Perhaps the bees, 

 after a long winter confinement, have taken 

 a flight and soiled the washing hung on 

 the line in a neighbor's yard; perhaps some 

 of his children have been stung; perhaps 

 there have been times when he has been an- 

 noyed while in the peaceable possession of his 

 own property by bees coming on to his own 

 premises, and smelling around, as they 

 will sometimes do during the canning sea- 

 son when fruit is put up, when the aroma 

 of sugar and of the juicy fruits is flowing 

 out through the dewrs and windows of the 

 kitchen. Perhaps the offended neighbor 

 keeps chickens, and members of his feather- 

 ed tribe have trespassed on the grounds of 

 the bee-keeper. The result of all this is 

 that a bad feeling arises. Complaint is 



