GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



in the swamp location 

 has clone well. I have 

 used , Danzenbaker 

 frames for broodr 

 rearing, but am now 

 changing by diegreep 

 to Hoffman, but am 

 going to raise the cen- 

 ter pin in the Danzen- 

 baker and use them 

 for extracting rather 

 than destroy them. 



I have a .converted 

 "Ford" for pleasure 

 or businass. An out- 

 yard of 48 colonies is 

 16 miles away. My 

 home yard contains 29 



colonies. I am building up another out- 

 yard, which at present contains 9 colonies. 

 I run strong colonies for comb honey in 

 4 X 5 X 1% sections, and the weaker ones 

 for extracted. 



At the time the picture was taken I had 



" And the little old Ford rambled right along." 



a load consisting of 32 Danzenbaker bodies, 

 52 bottoms, 48 tops, some tin, some can- 

 vas, 12 supers, and some 40 pieces I/2 x 4 x 

 24-ineh strips of lumber. " And the little 

 old Ford rambled right along." 

 Wading River, N. J. 



THE 



MYTH OF DANIEL McFADYEN WINTERING BEES UP TOWARD 

 THE NORTH POLE IN CANADA 



SUMMARY BY MORLEY PETTIT 



The story comes from about 150 miles 

 from the arctic salt water in James Bay, 

 an extension of Hudson Bay, in a great 

 plain where bloom abounds for about two 

 months. The honey-flow was said to be 

 great while it lasted, getting 200 lbs. per 

 colony. The bees were wintered in a cave 

 buried in snow. 



About ten years previously Daniel Mc- 

 Fadyen was crossed in love, went north 

 into the forest with gun, knife, and dog, 

 fell among Indians, learned their language, 

 married the daughter of the chief, and at 

 time of writing had five children, healthy 

 and i^lump, and as nimble as otters. 



The method of wintei'ing was as follows : 

 The first cold night they uncovered the 

 hives so they would get perfectly cold thru, 

 then kept them in a eool place in the shade 

 with covers on loose so as to keep them dry. 

 As soon as a good fall of snow came, a 

 certain cave was packed with lots of snow, 

 then dry bark and the hives on the bark, 

 with bark above the hives, again covering 

 over with dry snow. The secret of success 

 was to keep them frozen and dry all winter, 

 covering over with hemlock brush to keep 

 out the sun. The bees were said to hiber- 

 nate, eating nothing all winter, but coming 

 out strong and healthy in the spring. 



He and his Indian friends kept about 



250 colonies of bees, and sent the honey 

 down the waterways toward the settled 

 districts, selling to ^Indians on the way 

 down, exchanging for furs which were tak- 

 en down to be sold at the trading-posts. 



During these ten years he had produced 

 about 6000 lbs. of beeswax, which he had 

 stored in a wigwam. D. A. Jones, then 

 editor of the Canadian Bee Journal, started 

 negotiations with him to purchase the wax, 

 which he was willing to bring down to 

 North Bay and sell at about 10 cts. per lb. 

 Of course, the wax never materialized; but 

 a very ingenious story was sent to account 

 for its non-appearance. The story was as 

 follows • 



They had agreed to supply another tribe 

 with bees to start an apiary. Chief Ottomee 

 and thirty of his strong men came for the 

 bees, with ponies. They selected sixty good 

 half-story hives and fixed them up secure 

 with ventilation holes covered with grass. 

 Tliey paid for these in furs and deer-skins. 

 Ottomee and his men started home quite 

 contented with their bees, satisfied with the 

 bargain. They had about seventy-five miles 

 to go, and it would take them about four 

 days to get home. The third day about 

 noon the bees had gnawed the grass covering 

 or netting o\ev the holes and began to come 

 out. They attacked the ]ionies, and there 



