94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FlJBEUAEV. 1921. 



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N E reason 

 that bee- 

 ke e p i n g 

 makes such a 

 charming side- 

 line is that tlie 

 almost unlimited 

 delight which 

 the bees them- 

 selves offer is 



reflected in their natural surroundings and 

 emphasized in the subjects with which they 

 are most closely allied. 



Their own charm is one of a myriad de- 

 tails. The life story of the bee is poetry, 

 romance, wonder, science, mystery combin- 

 ed, a story which must be told before we 

 are done with this subject of beekeeping as 

 a sideline. Then there is the joy of their 

 humming, their flashing wings, their far 

 voyages across oceans of light, the precious 

 treasure they bring home, their complex — 

 one is tempted to s.ay personality (Oh, well, 

 let one say it for once!) — their complex and 

 elusive personality, the ordered wonder of 

 their crowded lives and the mystery that, 

 in spite of the most laborious research of 

 the scientists of many years, still hangs 

 about them. 



Then all the charm of this is caught up, 

 as it were, and woven into a still more ir- 

 resistible whole by the things that are nat- 

 urally around them; the gtowing things of 

 living green, flowers of almost unbelievable 

 beauty and fragrance, birds like bits of 

 earth 's ecstasy that have taken form and 

 wings, to fly singing towards God; and all 

 around, the sun-shot air; beneath, the an- 

 cient earth; and above, the holy and im- 

 measurable sky. This is all in beekeeping. 



Then the things it links itself with! — 

 fruits and clovers, till one glimpses the whole 

 wide field of agriculture; other insects, till 

 one stands amazed at wliat entomology re- 

 veals; trees and wild flowers, pollination, 

 adaptation, botany, science, evolution, till 

 one feels life widening, stretching away 

 into far lands, into dim bygone ages, into 

 strange unguessed things to come. 



Imagine some business man, of a town or 

 the suburbs of a large city, who has recent- 

 ly put a hive of bees into his back yard. The 

 first spring he will scarcely know where his 

 little workers get those earliest loads of pol- 

 len that come in almost before old winter 

 has really gone. But when fruit trees come 

 into bloom, either in his own or his neigh- 

 bor 's .yard, there he will see his bees at 

 work, there he will hear them. Some of the 

 keenest joys of eye and ear and of deep 

 rapturous emotion are those that float down 

 to the beekeeper while he stands under his 

 blossomed apple tree or the pink-petaled 

 peach, the fairy-like plum or the' magic 

 of a cherry tree in spring, and fills his inner 

 being with the mingled sense of sound and 

 beauty and delicate fragrance. If bad 

 weather keep the bees away at this time, 

 not only do the bees and the beekeeper 



Beekeeping as a Side Line 



Grace Allen 



S 



lose, but the ap- 

 ple trees also. 

 This he soon 

 learns; and 

 later, perhaps by 

 bitter experi- 



ence^ he discov- 

 ers that the poi- 

 sonous sprays 

 used by orchard- 

 ists to destroy insect pests sometimes de- 

 stroy insect friends as well. So he will be- 

 come a spreader of the gospel of spraying 

 only before and after blooming instead of 

 while open blossoms extend their invita- 

 tions to their important friends, the bees. 

 When clover time comes, he will learn 

 that unnumbered tons of the finest honey 

 are produced yearly from the dwarf or 

 Dutch white clover, and he will watch to 

 know the signs of its coming. He will de- 

 velop a speaking acquaintance with other 

 clovers, alsike, crimson clover, sweet clover, 

 that once-reputed evil weed. ' ' How can my 

 bees have more of these?" "lie will wonder, 

 and gradually comes the understanding of 

 their value to farmers and the consequently 

 constantly increasing acreage. Later, when 

 he speaks of clovers, he may learn to talk 

 about inoculation and lime. Gradually the 

 whole important subject of soils will begin 

 to interest him. 



In these days all insect life grows more 

 attractive to him. Wasps and hornets and 

 bumblebees take on new interest. How mar- 

 velous the mud or paper nests! He finds the 

 life story of his bees — egg, larva, pupa, cre- 

 ature with wings — running with countless 

 variations thru the lives of many old and 

 new insect acquaintances. Perhaps to his 

 amazement he learns that there are hun- 

 dreds of kinds of bees besides the few he 

 knows. He watches with new interest all 

 flying things until, by reading and observa- 

 tion stimulated by reading, he comes to 

 recognize many by name. He will likely 

 be heard telling the children new bits of 

 information. When they hear the shrill di- 

 minuendo sounding from tall trees in sum- 

 mer, he will tell them of the vibratijig little 

 drums heads of the male cicada. Or when the 

 humble cricket, serenading his lady by rub- 

 bing his wings together, chirps on the hearth 

 in autumn, he will enjoy tolling someone, his 

 lady perhaps, how the criikets' ears are not 

 on their heads, but down on their legs. He 

 will begin to study ants, to prove to his 

 own satisfaction that they are less intelli- 

 gent than his bees, surprising himself likely, 

 by the similarities discovered. Learning the 

 nature of hone^'dew, he will be led to a 

 closer study of aphides. Moths and gay col- 

 orful butterflies will fly into the ever wid- 

 ening circle of his awaking interest and 

 find in him a new friend. Not an impartial 

 one, however. Around his hive at dusk will 

 sometimes flutter a small sly creature borne 

 on reddish-brown wings, which he comes to 

 know as the wax moth; and tho, being a 



