1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



929 



several instances showing how locality af- 

 fects teachings and practices current among 

 bee-keepers. For example, in some places 

 there is no advantage in heating a honey- 

 knife in hot water. In other places it great- 

 ly facilitates the work. 



Again, it is shown that lava soap will re- 

 move the propolis found in one locality but 

 not that from another. But I had not seen 

 any references in the bee-papers that seemed 

 to indicate that propolis was a substance of 

 uniform source. All the text-books, so far 

 as I know, teach the exact opposite. 



J. B. MASON, THE BEE-KEEPER AND SUPPLY- 

 DEALER AT MECHANIC FALLS, MAINE. 



There is generally some one person in a 

 locality who has the distinction of being the 

 leading bee-man. To him lesser lights go 

 for instruction and supplies. The man who 

 holds this distinction for the southwestern 

 part of Maine— indeed, I might say for the 

 whole State, and perhaps a great part of 

 New England— is J. B. Mason, of Mechanic 

 Falls. For many years he has made bee- 

 keeping his exclusive business, and lately he 

 has added to it the keeping of supplies. 



Many suppose that the State of Maine, 

 located as it is in the extreme northeastern 

 part of the country, is too cold for bees; in- 

 deed, it was bitterly cold when I called there 

 last winter, soon after the holidays. As I 

 rode through that snowy country I wondered 

 if it were possible for bees to live through 

 such intense cold. But one can not be with 

 friend Mason long before he is convinced 

 that bee-keeping in that bleak country- 

 bleak only in winters— does thrive. 



Mr. Mason is pleasantly situated on the 

 Grand Trunk Railway at Mechanic Falls, in 

 the southwestern part of the State. On ar- 

 riving at the station, not having announced 

 the exact date of my visit, I made up my 

 mind to hunt up a liveryman to take me over 

 to Mr. Mason's place; but the driver who 

 was taking me up town to the hotel told me 

 he had just seen Mason, for everybody seem- 

 ed to know him, and he thought I would 

 find him in one of the stores, and I did. 



I took several photos dui'ing my brief vis- 

 it; but as they had a "froze-up look " about 

 them I asked our friend to have others tak- 

 en in the summer, and these are the ones 

 here shown. 



His combined shop and store is on the 

 edge of the town, as shown in one of the il- 

 lustrations. He has just loaded up a wagon 

 full of supplies, and is about to deliver 

 them at the depot. He himself will be seen 

 standing in the porch in the front of the 

 building. On the same road, and about two 

 miles out of town, he has a very comforta- 

 ble residence situated on a rise of ground 

 near a beautiful ravine. The residence is 

 shown, with the barn in the rear. 



Mr. Mason, besides doing considerable 

 business in the way of selling supplies, 

 makes a specialty of selling bees. In the 

 view of the bee-yard he is shown as shaking 

 a lot of bees through a tunnel into a wire- 



cloth package. He tells me that these pack- 

 ages of bees are taken from a full colony 

 that has a laying queen, and placed in the 

 cellar for about six hours. During this time 

 they become conscious of their utter queen- 

 lessness; and, being broodless and combless 

 as well as queenless, they are in a condition 

 to accept any queen that may be dropped 

 in among them from a mailing-cage, for 

 this is exactly what Mr. Mason does. He 

 has shipped out many packages of bees hav- 

 ing a queen that has been dropped in among 

 them without the formality of an introduc- 

 tion, and he says it is very rare indeed to 

 get a report where the queen has been kill- 

 ed. As she is liable to die any way in some 

 cases, it could not be proven definitely that 

 the bees were responsible for her demise in 

 the rare cases reported. 



Mr. Mason is a man of pleasant appear- 

 ance, and, notwithstanding he has been so 

 long engaged on the general subject of bees, 

 he can talk as enthusiastically about them 

 as he could when he first began to love 

 them. His wife and family seem to under- 

 stand thoroughly all the details of his busi- 

 ness, and enter heartily into all his plans. 



DOES PROHIBITION IN MAINE PROHIBIT ? 



There, I came near forgetting a veiy im- 

 portant fact that I gleaned. As I rode 

 across the border I had forgotten all about 

 the fact that Maine was a prohibition State. 

 At the stations I looked in vain for saloons 

 with their familiar signs and the characteris- 

 tic crowd of loafers, as I am in the habit of do- 

 ing when going through country new to me. 

 I began to wonder. Then it flashed through 

 me that saloons were outlawed in Maine, as 

 they ought to be everywhere. On arriving 

 at Portland late at night I went to one of 

 the leading hotels. I looked all over the 

 place, but there was no indication whatever 

 of a bar. Then I went out on the street, 

 and there seemed to be an entire absence of 

 the rough element that one sees where there 

 are two or three saloons in a block. There 

 were restaurants, of course, but there were 

 no screens and no crowds hanging around as 

 there is around some of our Ohio speak- 

 easies. 



I have heard many a time that "prohibi- 

 tion does not prohibit in Maine;" of how li- 

 quor is dealt out on the sly; but I did not 

 see any evidence of such dealings, although 

 I am free to admit that there are probably 

 places where "the stuff" is kept, and where 

 the law is violated. The fact is, no law is 

 so absolutely iron-clad and so rigidly enforc- 

 ed that the provisions of it can not be 

 violated to some slight extent. But if all 

 laws were as well enforced as the prohibition 

 law of Maine I should feel that the millen- 

 nium was nigh. I tell you it was a real 

 pleasure to go through the towns and cities 

 of that State. Alack the day when it should 

 ever follow the example of its sister State 

 of Vermont! I hardly think it ever will; for 

 I understand the good people of that com- 

 monwealth are thoroughly sick of their bad 

 bargain. 



