October, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



641 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



nnicli merriment when mentioned in the 

 family, but which, by the way, was rather 

 serious at the time of staging for the aet, 

 is possibly worth recording for the benefit 

 of others who do things in a hurry some- 

 times and then have to repent at leisure, as 

 is the case very often with me. 



Our Jersey cow has been tethered in a 

 meadow just south of the apple orchard, 

 and, while grass there is luxuriant, her taste 

 for apples has led to much trouble, as she 

 will persist in breaking from her moorings 

 and gorging herself with apples at every 

 opportunity. One day last week T happened 

 to glance over to the orchard, and noticed 

 that she had broken loose and gone into the 

 orchard again. She was still attached to a 

 20-foot chain fastened to her halter, and on 

 the end of the chain there was a 9-foot jiost 

 which she could drag along, after training, 

 with as much ease as tho it was a match 

 instead of a heavy post. I was busy, the 

 day was hot, and I was out of patience with 

 the cow and her actions; so I promptly 

 started in double-quick time to remove her 

 from the orchard and at the same time ad- 

 minister some corporal punishment. I do 

 not know whether the bovine species in 

 general understand telepathy or not; but 

 one thing sure, that particular member of 

 the tribe understood what was in my mind, 

 for long before I got to her she started to 

 run towards a melon patch some 200 feet 

 away and some 88 colonies of bees adjacent 

 to the melon patch. I started to get ahead 

 of her, but she outran me. My first con- 

 cern was about the melons; but when she 

 made a straight drive thru them, slashing 

 melons as she went with the dragging post 

 and making no signs of a halt as she got 

 near the bees, I soon forgot about the mel- 

 ons. She made a straight run down between 

 two rows of bees with 25 colonies in each 

 row, and then halted at the end before a 

 board fence. With 20 feet of chain and a 

 big post at the far end, I mentally began to 

 compute what was going to happen when 

 she made a right-angled turn between the 

 hives in either row. But she suddenly de- 

 cided to turn right about face and go back, 

 seeing no opening at the end of the road 

 she was traveling. She made the return 

 trip safely to the end of the row, and then 

 suddenly turned off sharply as she got out 

 from between the rows. The flying post 

 caught squarely the last hive in the north 

 row, sending the super about five feet in 

 the air and turning the brood-chamber up- 

 side down. The post stalled against an ob- 

 struction and held the cow — -but only tem- 

 porarily. 



In an instant the air was filled with bees 

 trying to find the cause of the wreck of 

 their home. Incidentally I might say they 

 found the "cause" in a hurry, as cow and 



her owner can testify. She has been fight- 

 ing flies all summer, but this brand seemed 

 to surprise her, for she gave one snort and 

 with a heave loosened the stalled post and 

 started to go again. We are all familiar 

 with the famed cow of nursery rhyme that 

 jumped over the moon; and, while the moon 

 was not in evidence just then, I am fully 

 convinced that under the circumstances she 

 would have tried to jump over it if given 

 an opportunity. She promptly negotiated a 

 row of packing cases, going right over them, 

 and then cleared at a bound or two the peak 

 of the roof over the bee-cellar. The post 

 stalled on the opposite side of the cave, and 

 as soon as possible I unloosed the snap from 

 her halter, when with tail over her back 

 she made off as fast as possible from the 

 scene of her frolic. 



This happened at tlie time of a honey 

 dearth, and I was afraid of a bad roV)bing 

 spree if I did not get the hive fixed up soon ; 

 so without hat or veil, and covered with 

 perspiration I righted the hive and put the 

 super back on. Needless to say I got a 

 fearful stinging, my head in particular be- 

 ing filled with their daggers. The morals 

 to be taken from this story are obvious. 

 Some which might be mentioned are these: 

 If cows or other animals are tethered 

 near the bees, see that thy cannot get 

 loose. If they do get loose and you have 

 notions of reproving them in a forcible 

 way, be sure you have hold of the cow 

 before you let her know your intentions. 

 As to the stinging, I had a headache for an 

 hour or two. Aside from that there were 

 no particular symptoms noticed as directly 

 caused by the stings, altlio I suspect the 

 good wife might say that I was a bit crank- 

 ier than usual for the next few hours. 



Markham, Out. J. L. Byer. 



In North Carolina.— ^^'^'^■X P^oduc- 



tion IS lar be- 

 low normal this year thruout North Caro- 

 lina. Some apiaries in the northeastern sec- 

 tion of the State near the Dismal Swamp 

 report fair yields, one apiary producing an 

 average of 44 pounds of comb honey per 

 hive, making over two tons of comb honey 

 from this apiary. Others in the same sec- 

 tion report yields that compare very favor- 

 ably with this good record for a very in- 

 different honey year. 



The flow of honey in the central and up- 

 per Piedmont sections of the State was very 

 light. Only those who practiced really good 

 beekeeping methods obtained anything 

 like a creditable surplus crop. Crimson 

 clover increased the yield in many locali- 

 ties. In fact there are reports from locali- 

 ties where clovers were available for the 

 bees that showed 100 pounds or more per 

 colony, that is for individual colonies. The 



