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Gleanings in bee culture 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Nashville, Tenn. 



The very loveliest thing- in all 

 Gleanings is on page 019. July 

 15. No, I'm not going to tell, it'.s 

 so worth your while to look. 



The magnifieent swarm that 

 potirs out so splendidly in the 

 bright noon of May or June is one thing; 

 and the little ornery, pesky (yes, T am 

 choosing my words with the daintiest delib- 

 eration y, measly swarm, no bigger than 

 your fist that slips out at five o'clock some 

 August evening is quite another. The first 

 one is worthy a chapter in Maeterlinck ; the 

 other — well, one chooses one's words — and 

 wishes one needn't ! 



* * * 



Those June rains caused the clover to 

 hold on a little longer than usual, and the 

 bees had made a fair start in the supers 

 again after extracting, when now along 

 comes a flow (?) of honey-dew which is be- 

 ing stored generously in both brood-cham- 

 bers and supers. It is interesting to iiotice 

 liow early the bees start out after it in the 

 morning. It is all very well for winte)ing 

 on, down here, but we don't want any left 

 over in tlie supers. 



* * * 



I am greatly interested in Mr. Arthur C. 

 Miller's article, "The Cost of Honey Pro- 

 duction," page 591, July 15. This is some- 

 thing that undoubtedly most beemen are not 

 sufficiently accurate about. Mr. Miller's 

 article seems to me very thoughtful and con- 

 cise in its presentation of estimates that are 

 practical and definite. As to the accu)-aey 

 of the figures — who speaks first? We are 

 keeping our own accounts very carefully; 

 but, being mere baeklotters, they are no 

 especial value in such a case. Some day 

 we shall be able to pass more intelligent 

 judgment on that annual per-colony ex- 

 penditure of $2.75. At the present writ- 

 ing, it impresses me favorably — that is, 

 when no time is spent except for work ac- 

 tually necessary, which is, of course, what 

 Mr. Miller refers to. He was not attempt- 

 ing to estimate either the time or the value 

 of the time some of us baeklotters spend 

 per colony per year! 



* * * 



THE NASHVILLE MEETING. 



It is certainly a delightful experience to 

 meet people whom we have long known by 

 name and have admired gieatly. On August 

 9 it was the great pi'ivilege of the beekeep- 

 ers about Nashville to meet Mr. E. R. Root, 



Dr. Phillips, and Mr. Frank Pellett— a 

 ])rivilege we api3reciated greatly, for we 

 did thoroly enjoy our distinguished guests. 

 May they come again and often — Tennessee 

 and Tennessee beekeepers will always wel- 

 come them. My personal jjleasure in these 

 new acquaintances was particularly keen, 

 and, in the ease of Mr. Root, it seemed a 

 bit like meeting a member of the family I'd 

 not chanced to be thrown with before. It is 

 nice to come to know the editor, especially 

 when he turns out to be just what the 

 letters from his office (even those he doesn't 

 write himself) would suggest — a pleasant, 

 friendly, courteous gentleman. 



We did have a good time that dav. " if I 

 do saj' it myself as shouldn't." At any 

 rate, the hostess did, even thn the weather 

 did force her to pack her turty or more 

 guests rather closely on the narrow porch 

 all the morning, and even tho the prosy 

 market-wagon did stop in front of her gate 

 and announce itself witli a shrill whistle 

 right in the middle of a speech ("Nothing 

 today," she called. " Gitap ! " the driver 

 exclaimed, when he saw the crowd) ; even 

 tho, when called on unexpectedly for a talk, 

 her embarrassed wits went scattering till 

 not even one poor little wit would come 

 back to help her thru her stammering; even 

 tho the lunch, lazily ordered out from town, 

 didn't come, and didn't and didn't (fortu- 

 nately, it finally did) ; and even tho the 

 nearly serious climax of the comic came the 

 next day, when one section of the porch 

 rail, graced all Wednesday morning by 

 several prominent beekeepers, swayed out 

 into space when she sat on it, and with a 

 sort of last-straw-on-the-camel's-back air 

 gave way utterly, depositing her none too 

 gently in an ignominious and almost un- 

 conscious heap among the vines at the foot 

 of the porch, and then, promptly banging 

 down on top of her, so that the firemen 

 came rushing dramatically across from the 

 other side of the street to lift off the debris 

 and help her into the house in their best 

 rescue manner. But " for a' that," she did 

 enjoy her guests greatly, from the least 

 amateui", whoever he may have been, to the 

 most important gentleman who sat on the 

 porch rail; and she hopes that if ever any 

 one of them comes this way again he will 

 ^call up the telei3hone by the front window 

 and say, " I'm coming out." He may be 

 sure of a hearty welcome, a sandwich, and 

 a cup of tea, or a cracker and a bit of 

 honey, and plenty of "talk about bees. 

 Won't you all come back? 



