1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



283 



THE WIVES. 



Those were good words: "Elected to an 

 important office." 1 believe I'd better re- 

 sign and let another take my place. I con- 

 sulted my wife, and she approved. I am 

 glad, Mr. Editor, you said that. Oh that 

 more of us would advise with the "gude 

 wives"! They will not advise tobacco or 

 drink. We shall rarely go wrong or act un- 

 wisely if we follow the words of the wife. 

 They are tremendously interested in us, and 

 they will not be prejudiced by what might 

 influence us to advise us wrongly. 



A. I. ROOT. 



May I give a word that I had never ex- 

 pected to speak? I early learned to love and 

 respect A. I. Root. I believed in him, and 

 felt that he verily meant to do God service. 

 Years agone he was to come to Michigan. I 

 wrote, urging that he come and visit us. 

 He came. He, wife, and I talked long into 

 the night. It was a good visit. I lighted 

 him to his room, and then went with my 

 wife to my own room, and said: "What do 

 you think of our friend? " for I had learned 

 to have great respect for her intuitions. 

 She answered, "He is a good man, and will 

 do a great deal to sweeten the world." 

 Surely the sequel has vindicated my wife's 

 judgment. 



COLOR AND MARKINGS OF CARNIOLAN BEES. 



"This is the second day of February, is it 

 not, Mrs. Doolittle?" 



"Yes, Mr. Doohttle, it is. Why do you 

 wish to know?" 



' ' Well, you have not forgotten what our 

 fathers used to say about Candlemas day— 

 ' half your wood and half your hay, ' have 

 you?" 



"That is so! Surely I had forgotten that 

 old superstition. And, let me see! This is 

 the day when the old bear comes out; and if 

 the sun shines so he can see his shadow he 

 goes back in his lair again and stays six 

 weeks. Am I right?" 



' ' Yes. And if he does not see his shadow 

 he is going to stay out, for our winter will 

 be over. But if he sees his shadow we shall 

 have six weeks of winter while he is lying in 

 his lair." 



"I hope he need not see his shadow, for 

 then we shall practically have no winter at 

 all, for up to last night we have had nothing 

 like our usual winter weather— no snow, and 

 all mud most of the time, with the mercury 

 at 70 above zero one week ago Sunday." 



' ' But it was 3 below zero this morning, 

 and it now looks as if the sun were going to 

 shine; and if February goes by without plen- 

 ty of rough zero weather it will be the first 

 February of that kind on record in this lo- 

 cality." 



"Yes, I know that we generally have 

 'eight weeks' of winter in February, or it 

 seems that long, from the great rigor of the 

 month. But how did the bees stand our 

 week of summer weather when the mercury 

 was from 50 to 70 above zero most of the 

 time? Did not the bee-cellar get warmed up 

 so the bees became uneasy?" 



"No, not at all. This was the worst test 

 of any thing we have had since thirty years 

 ago, when the cellar was built. That ex- 

 tremely hot week the last of January, com- 

 ing after an extremely mild winter up to 

 that time, made me fear it would raise the 

 temperature in the cellar till the bees would 

 become uneasy; but when Mr. Clark and my- 

 self went in, just after the warm wave had 

 passed, we found the temperature of the 

 cellar at 46J degrees, or IJ degrees colder 

 than it was the fore part of December, three 

 weeks after the bees were set in." 



"That is wonderful. And how were the 

 bees?" 



"Never nicer in the world— great clusters 

 hanging down between the bottoms of the 

 frames and the bottom-board, and all so 

 quiet that not a bee stirred, even when the 

 light was held close up to them. Hark! 

 what was that?" 



"It sounded like a rap at the door. Go 

 and see who is there." 



" Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. My name 

 is L. A. Smith, and I had to get up pretty 

 early this morning to come all the way from 

 Montana to see you." 



Come in, Mr. Smith. Cold outside here 

 in York State. You must have had a cold 

 trip." 



"It was quite warm when I started; but 

 it has grown rapidly cold since I entered 

 your State. I came (an automobile story!) 

 with Marriott in his automobile— that Stan- 

 ley flyer, that one he made a mile in 28§ 

 seconds with, down on the Florida beach the 

 other day, so we did not have time to think 

 of much else save using great caution not to 

 run into the Empire State express train on 

 the New York Central tracks. It left Buf- 

 falo half an hour ahead of us, making 60 

 miles an hour; but as we were making 127^ 

 miles in our auto we passed it this side of 

 Rochester. ' ' 



"Well, well! I noticed that the Stanley 

 flyer had beaten any thing on record that 

 ever traveled on land; but I did not suppose 

 that any bee-keeper would dare ride that 

 fast." 



"Well, I am here all safe and sound, and 

 shall feel well repaid for my trouble in com- 

 ing if you will tell the color of Carniolan 



"The description generally given of them 

 says they are black with steel-gray bands." 



"I have been given to understand that 

 they are black, grayish black, or brownish 



