394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Under the apple-tree. Backlot apiaiy of E. S. Brinton, West Chester, Pa. 



and the habits of the bee. To the mere on- 

 looker, bees are nothing but a crawling 

 mass of insects without method or reason. 

 Maeterlink gives each bee a duty and a 

 place in the kingdom, with such vivid words 

 that the most casual reader can comprehend 

 it. 



Now as to getting the bees. The cheap- 

 est and easiest way is to get some plain 

 dark bees in an old box hive and do the 

 improving yourself. I bought my colony 

 from a neighbor, paid three dollars for it, 

 and heli:)ed carry it home and set it down in 

 the midst of my flower-garden. That was 

 in March. In the meantime I ordered from 

 a supply house two hives and two supers in 

 the flat. Putting these together was as fas- 

 cinating as a picture puzzle. I split some 

 pieces with poor nailing and made mistakes 

 with others, and finally painted too many 

 surfaces of the hive; but I did it myself, 

 and was wiser for the doing. In fruit- 

 blossom time the bees were transferred to 

 the new hive. That was a wonderful day, 

 for I had my first glimpse of the inside of 

 a hive, and learned to recognize the queen 

 on sight. I knew nothing of the operation, 

 but was assisted by a brother who had had 

 a year or more of experience. The bees were 

 as quiet as flies. We discarded all veils and 

 gloves so as to work unhampered, and two 

 small children played about and enjoyed the 

 dripping honey. 



That year was one of the record-breakers 

 for a white-clover harvest; and so, even 

 with all my interruptions, the bees gave me 

 two supers of honey and I was tremendous- 

 ly proud of them. Then evei-ything seemed 

 to go wrong. Those bees, hithei-to so peace- 



ful and quiet, and absorbed in their own 

 affairs, became possessed of tempers like 

 that of Satan himself. After the honey 

 harvest I attempted to introduce Italian 

 queens. All the books said this was the 

 ideal time. Instead of flying off to the fields 

 in the morning these bees just loitered 

 around at home waiting for something to 

 happen — there seemed to be literally mil- 

 lions of them, and finding that restless black 

 queen was worse than finding a needle in 

 any haystack. Also I had such confidence 

 in my control of them that the matter of 

 self-protection was overlooked entirely. I 

 was dressed to be comfortable for the sum- 

 mer season — short skirts, low shoes, elbow 

 sleeves. Oh, yes ! I wore a thin net veil and 

 some kind of short light-weight gloves, so 

 my fingers would not be clumsy. That was 

 according to the books, only some advised 

 cutting off the finger tips. Talk about los- 

 ing my nerve! Before that job was done I 

 wished I had never seen a bee. I was will- 

 ing to forego eating honey forever, if some 

 one would kindly remove the creatures from 

 my back lawn ! 



Well, winter came at last. On the first 

 cold day I picked up the hives and carried 

 them off to a corner sheltered by apple- 

 trees, so that their flight-line would not be 

 dii^eetly over the lawn. Before another 

 swarming season I successfully intrpdaced 

 Italian queens. There were far fewer bees 

 to search over, and those were improved in 

 temper. Never will I advise a simple-mind- 

 ed beginner in beekeeping to requeen a 

 colony of hybrid bees in late summer. Do 

 it in the spring, when you can work with 

 ease and confidence. It Avere better to lose 



