AUGUST 1, 1914 



609 



I IouikI ill the bookstores three good-sizofl 

 books, Langstroth, Quiiiby, and a book by 

 T. B. Miner. 1 selected Langstroth, and sat 

 up pretty much all night at the hotel read- 

 ing it; and I cannot remember that I ever 

 got hold of any thing that gave me such 

 keen pleasure and enjoyment as Lang- 

 stroth's wonderful revelation of the myster- 

 ies of the beehive. Years before, I had read 

 Robinson Ci'usoe with much interest and 

 enthusiasm; but now, I had really found 

 " truth stranger than fiction." Very soon 

 I selected all the agricultural jjapers that 

 had articles on beekeeping; and my good 

 sister, who was clerking in the jewelry store, 

 told my wife that it was really too bad the 

 way I "pumped" every old farmer in regard 

 to what he knew about bees. She said that 

 after they had given me all the information 

 they possibly could they looked so wearied 

 and troubled and evidently wanted to get 

 away, she really felt sorry for them. 



I soon got in touch with Mr. Langstroth, 

 and in that way found out about the Italian 

 bees; and I also learned that a bee-journal 

 had been started and kept going for three 

 years, but it had gone down for lack of 

 patronage. I scraped up acquaintance with 

 Samuel Wagner, the editor (another of 

 God's noblemen), and by my enthusiasm 

 induced him to recommence (at Washington, 

 D. C.) the publication of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



Mr. Langstroth had just one imported 

 Italian queen. In answer to my importunity 

 he agreed to let me have her for $20.00. By 

 this time many of my friends began to be 

 worried because I was neglecting business 

 to fuss with bees. When it was noised 

 abroad that I had actually paid $20.00 for 

 one single bug my friends thought that this 

 cajjped the climax, and that I was certainly 

 going " daft " over the little insects that 

 everybody knew did not amount to any 

 thing. Our express matter at that time came 

 from Cleveland over the stage route I have 

 mentioned. When it was time for the stage 

 to come in one afternoon, that would prob- 

 ably bring my queen, I was on the watch 

 looking away off: o\'er the hills for the first 

 glimpse of the stage coach. It finally came 

 up ; and when I asked the driver for my 

 queen he came up to me leading a puppy 

 -vith a chain. Then the crowd that was 

 waiting began to laugh. I remonstrated, 

 saying that that animal was not a queen-bee 

 by any means; bnt he declared that the 

 playful doggie must be it. 1 went into the 

 hotel office and asked if they had not re- 

 ceived a little package for me. When the 

 landlord said that the dog was all, I was 

 mad. Just as I was going out of the door, 

 however, the landlord said, " Hold on ! there 



is a little box here of something;" and that 

 little box contained my queen-bee. Oh how 

 1 did love those little yellow beauties, as 

 gentle as kittens ! and the long yellow queen 

 was to me then almost the dearest thing on 

 earth. 



Let me explain about that dog " Jip." He 

 was one luy brother-in-law, who was some- 

 where in the South, in the United States 

 army, had sent. Jip was soon such a favor- 

 ite, not only with our family but the whole 

 town, because of his cute tricks, that I got 

 over my prejudice against dogs, and that 

 particular dog in due time. 



By following instructions in Langstroth's 

 book I soon had a movable-comb hive, and 

 the bees were safely transferred, and the 

 $20.00 c|ueen introduced. When somebody 

 told me that Mr. George Thomson, living 

 down by the river, about three miles away, 

 had a dooryard full of Langstroth hives I 

 dropped my jewelry tools in a hurry, rushed 

 to the livery stable for a horse and buggy, 

 and, sure enough, there were a dozen or 

 more Langstroth hives just like those in the 

 book. From that time forward Mr. Thomson 

 and I were close friends, you may be sure. 



About Thanksgiving time he came up to 

 get a look at my $20.00 queen — the first 

 Italian bee ever brought to Northern Ohio. 

 Now, I had taken brood from that colony 

 to put into an observatory hive, and fussed 

 Avith them until there was not very much 

 more than a pint of yellow bees left; and 

 when Mr. Thomson declared the whole 

 colony would freeze up before Christmas 

 in spite of any thing I could do, I was 

 thoroughly alarmed. He told me I had 

 better get one of his strong colonies and 

 introduce my queen, and she would then be 

 reasonably safe. I traded him a watch for 

 three hives of bees; and although that was 

 about fifty years ago, his wife showed me 

 the same watch only a few days ago. 



The next spring, bright and early, I was 

 at work with the bees. I had so many nu- 

 cleus hives started by dividing and sub- 

 dividing that Mrs. Root said she was afraid 

 to pick currants for fear there would be a 

 little swarm of yellow bees on almost every 

 bush. I think it was the first season after 

 that when I secured nearly a barrel of 

 honey (using a home-made extractor) from 

 one hive of bees in one summer. 



To be continued 



THE MOON AND PLANETS; THEIR EFFECT ON 

 THE WEATHER, ETC. 



Pretty much all of my life I have labored 

 more or less to convince people that neither 

 the moon nor the planets have any thing to 

 do with the weather, vegetation, nor insan- 

 ity. When a series of experiments, covering 



