Dec. 1. 1911 



737 



been considering, and to which I wish to 

 call further attention. 



This Home paper is dictated to-day, Nov. 

 3, just before Mrs. Root and I start out (with 

 the birds) to our southern home for the win- 

 ter. 



BEE CULTURE AND SOME OTHER THINGS IN 



SOUTH AFRICA, REPORTED BY A 



MISSIONARY. 



Dear Brother Root: — As I was returning from 

 town the other day I stayed all night with Mr. Hav- 

 iland, a neighboring farmer. I found he was inter- 

 ested in bees, and he said he was taking an Ameri- 

 can magazine on bee culture, by "A No. 1, Root." 

 As I was an American, perhaps I knew him. It 

 Is not an unusual thing for some one out here to ask 

 me if I ever met such and such a person of his ac- 

 quaintance in America. As America is a pretty 

 big place, I have generally had to confess that I nev- 

 er had that pleasure. But in this case I was glad 

 to say that I did know him very well: that I was 

 born and brought up within a dozen miles of 

 where he holds forth, and I have also been to his 

 hive establishment and talked with him face to 

 face. This is not a solitary instance of my making 

 friends through the honor of your acquaintance. I 

 find that only the A. I. Root bee-supplies are to be 

 bought in this part of South Africa. I found at the 

 two government experiment stations, at Cedara 

 and \Veenen, that Gleanings is taken and read 

 •with interest. In fact, any one who has any thing 

 to do with bees on the modern plan knows of " A. 

 No. 1. Root." I did not know before that is what 

 " A. I." stands for. But perhaps It is not altogether 

 a bad title. 



Years ago, when I first came to Africa, I wonder- 

 ed why more was not done with bees out here. 

 You may remember my telling you how the na- 

 tives at Inhambane do a thriving business with 

 wax, making rude hives of the bark of a tree which 

 they place in the trees for wandering swarms to oc- 

 cupy: and how in some places in the wilderness 

 the only food we could get was honey, which was as 

 clear as water, and of a delicious flavor. Now I see 

 the business is being taken up in a scientific way, 

 and one correspondent of Gleanings from Natal 

 confirms what I have believed all along, that api- 

 culture ought to be " A I " business in this country. 

 The price of honey is twice what you get for it; 

 there are plenty of flowers, and no cold weather 

 nor diseases to contend against: and if feeding is 

 ever necessary the price of sugar produced in the 

 land is cheap. I have long thought of going into 

 it myself, but I have been deterred by various rea- 

 sons, among which are some unfortunate personal 

 experiences. 



The first was the loss of a fine mare. She was 

 hitched with other horses near a hive of bees which 

 the missionary with whom I was staying undertook 

 to rob of its honey. The enraged Insects drove the 

 missionary away, and then lit on the horses. We 

 managed to get the others loose before they suffer- 

 ed much hurt. But mine, being the nearest, re- 

 ceived the most of the swarm. She was in terrible 

 agony, throwing herself on the ground and pound- 

 ing her head, and in about two hours was dead. 



My next experience was with one of my children, 

 a boy about six years old. A hive had been enraged 

 by some schoolchildren, and the boy innocently 

 ran among them. They settled on his head; and 

 no doubt but for the heroic efforts of our governess 

 he would have been killed too. She heard his 

 screams, and ran and covered his head with her 

 apron, receiving many of the stings herself. Then 

 she carried him into the house. He went into a 

 high fever, and for a day or two his condition was 

 serious. 



Another time I was visiting a missionary and the 

 bees got on a rampage, so that no one dared go out- 

 doors. They stung chickens, turkeys, and pigs, and 

 killed some of them. Only lately I saw in the paper 

 an account of a man who went out to take up some 

 honey, and he was found dead beside his hives. 

 The bees had stung him to death. 



Yet ordinarily these bees seem to be gentle and 

 docile enough. I have seen the natives nearly 

 naked taking out honey from an ants' nest. The 

 bees were all around them and over them, and they 

 did not seem to mind it. Swarms often take pos- 



se.ssion of corrugated- iron houses, and establish 

 themselves between the outside iron and the ceil- 

 ing-boards inside, and they are often very hard to 

 get rid of. But I have seen them located over the 

 door in a railway station where people were con- 

 stantly passing In and out, and no one seemed to 

 get stung. 



Now. can you explain these outbursts of rage? I 

 saw In your pamphlet that it was because their food 

 was taken away from them, or something of the 

 kind. But that does not explain every case, as 

 It seems to me. Sometimes they are very quiet 

 when their honey is being taken up. I took up the 

 honey from the parent of the swarm which killed 

 my horse, without any smoker, and I did not get 

 stung more than once or twice. Then I have known 

 the bees to "run a muk" when they had not been 

 disturbed at all. I have known swarms that could 

 not be approached at any time. I encountered 

 such a swarm In the wilderness on our way down 

 from Gaza Land, hundreds of miles away from civ- 

 ilization. It was in an immense baobab-tree. The 

 tree seemed to be hollow, and full of bees. But you 

 could not go within a a hundred yards of the tree. 

 My native carriers said It was because they had 

 much honey in store. They had often taken up 

 wild honey, but not one of them dared go near that 

 tree. 



Nevertheless I am going into the business. I am 

 ordering a Danzenbaker hive and all the up-to date 

 accessories. The mimosa-trees are full of blossoms 

 which last a long time, and are swarming with 

 bees. Then we can plant alfalfa and sweet clover, 

 and there are many wild flowers which the bees 

 seem to like. So, count me as one of your disciples. 



I did not come out here to make honey or money. 

 I came to bring the gospel of love and light to a 

 people who are in great darkness. But the change 

 from the life of a naked savage to that of a clean 

 Christian Is so great that, if there Is not found some 

 means of self-help, the converts are discouraged, 

 and are tempted to fall back or get the means of the 

 more expensive mode of life In a dishonest way. 

 So I am ready to take up any Industry which seems 

 to offer the means of help for the benefit of these 

 people. It appears to me that bee-keeping rightly 

 managed should be one. At any rate, I am going 

 to try it. Will you not pray for ray success? 



Bethany, M. S., March 20. W. C. WiLCOX. 



My good friend, I am inclined to think 

 the iDces in your region are a little more vi- 

 cious than ordinary ones, if what you say is 

 true. At certain times and under certain 

 conditions we know bees are very much 

 worse than at others. Where they are ac- 

 customed to see people and horses passing 

 daily they seem to take it as a matter of 

 course. I have before mentioned that our 

 big heavy work horses go right through our 

 apiary a dozen times a day; and although 

 there are several hinidred colonies on both 

 sides of the narrow driveways, the bees nev- 

 er pay any attention to the team nor to the 

 driver; and I am pretty sure that bees that 

 have not been handled, and that have not 

 seen either ])eople or horses passing in front 

 of the hives, are much more apt to be cross. 

 May God speed you and hold up your hands 

 in your attempt to clothe the naked savage 

 and bring him to the foot of the dear Sav- 

 ior, where he can be taught Christianity 

 and civilization. 



CATCHING 



RATS BY THE 

 HUNDREDS. 



DOZENS AND 



The following, which we clip from the 

 American Poultry Advocate, is something 

 similar to what I saw years ago. As I un- 

 derstand it, you are to provide yourself with 

 a wire trap, big enough to hold a score of 

 rats or more all at one time. My impres- 



