1906 



GLBANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



719 



comb, covered with bees, of course. I quick- 

 ly took out a second; and just as soon as he 

 could shake the bees off into the tunnel I 

 shook the bees off from my comb, putting 

 the contents of two combs into one com- 

 partment. * 



Before the bees could fly out, the enamel- 

 cloth flap was thrown back, the tunnel placed 

 on the other side, and two more combs 

 shaken the same way, shaking the bees 

 from four combs in each top story. I then 

 replaced the empty combs, spaced them cor- 

 rectly, and put on the cover. By this time 

 Mr. Pritchard had the next hive open and 

 ready. I said I did not know but we could 

 get through a hive in five minutes. This 

 would take two hours for taking the bees 

 from the 24 hives. But that was theory. I 

 did not think practice could come out as 

 rapidly. Well, what do you think? In just 

 one hour and a quarter we had our bees all 

 in the little boxes, and we might have got 

 home long before Ernest expected us, in 

 good shape, had not two of the nucleus hives 

 got loose and fell out in the road. It was 

 really too bad to see the little fellows tum- 

 bled into the dusty road, and really touching 

 the way they tried to rub the dust out of 

 their eyes, wondering why they had been 

 abused in that way. As the mishap occur- 

 red when we were less than a quarter of a 

 mile from the apiary, a boy was sent back 

 with some combs or hatching brood in one 

 little hive. He managed to catch enough of 

 the flying bees, including the dusty fellows, 

 to fill one little hive, so only one hiveful was 

 lost. 



I believe this is about the most rapid work 

 in an apiary I ever did, even if I am 66 years 

 old. 



One reason why we were in a hurry was 

 that Mr. Pritchard had at the basswood 

 apiary, of which he has charge, forty or fif- 

 ty virgin queens just hatched or hatching 

 out, and something had to be done quickly 

 to get a place in which to put these young 

 queens. Now, the automobile was not only 

 a big help in going ten miles and back so 

 quickly, but it was away ahead of a horse in 

 enabling us to run right up into the very 

 center of the apiary; and when the mishap 

 occurred on the road, there was no worry 

 about the horse getting stung. This old au- 

 tomobile that I use myself does not repre- 

 sent much capital, for I do not suppose it 

 would bring $200, and may be not more than 

 $150 in any market. By replacing the parts 

 that have become worn out it is doing ser- 

 vice practically as well as it did when it was 

 brand-new. It is now being put to pretty 

 constant use during the fourth summer. 



GETTING BEES FOR STOCKING NUCLEI. 



Last winter when on the island I fussed 

 quite a little to get the adhering bees for 

 my twin boxes. But they would go back 

 home, and frequently start robbing, until 

 finally I told Mr. Shumard to take the boat 



* There were no combs nor frames in these compart 

 ments. These were put in at the same time we tr ave 

 them virgin queens after they weie placed at the mat- 

 ing-yard. 



and bring me some bees from his apiary, sL 

 mile and a half across the water. As soon 

 as I used those bees brought from a distance 

 my troubles were all ended. When they 

 took a flight they came right back to their 

 hives because there was nowhere else to go; 

 and they did not teach others to rob. That 

 is one reason why we went away some dis- 

 tance to get bees to stock the little hives — 

 A. I. R. 



PROF. H. A. SURFACE, PRESIDENT OF THE 



PENNSYLVANIA STATE BEE-KEEP- 



ERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The President of the Pennsylvania State'^ 

 Bee-keepers' Association is Professor H. A.- 

 Surface, who is also the State Zoologist ot 

 Pennsylvania; Professor of Zoology in the 

 Pennsylvania State College; Ornithologist 

 of the Pennsylvania State Board of Agri- 

 culture, and Corresponding Secretary of the 

 Pennsylvania State Natural- History Associa- 

 tion; Fellow of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, etc. While 

 his original published matter on insects, 

 birds, and other forms of animal life, aver- 

 ages considerably more than one page of 

 printed matter each day, and he travels 

 hundreds of miles per month delivering lec- 

 tures and attending to pubHc duties in the 

 Keystone State, and has a daily mail which 

 for some years has averaged more than fifty 

 letters per day, and devotes some time to 

 investigations and making collections, as 

 well as teaching zoology in the Pennsylvania 

 State College, he finds some time each week 

 to spend among his bees, which he says is 

 his only recreation and pleasure, besides that 

 sacred time of only a few hours per week 

 which he has the opportunity to pass with 

 his charming wife and interesting family, 

 consisting of a boy and two younger daugh- 

 ters. By the way, Mrs. Surface proved 

 herself a musician of rare ability at the re- 

 cent meeting of the Pennsylvania State 

 Bee-keepers' Association by captivating the 

 audience with her delightful instrumental 

 and vocal music. She was one of the best- 

 known schoolteachers in Cleveland, Ohio 

 (nee May Bleasdale). 



Professor Surface's career has been quite 

 varied, as his preparation for his life-work 

 has taken him to different States and edu- 

 cational institutions. He was born on a 

 farm near Waynesville, Warren Co., Ohio, 

 where he worked until he entered the Leba- 

 non Normal School, going next to the Ohio 

 State University, where he received the de- 

 grees of "B. S. " in 1891 and "M. S." in 

 1892. He was then made Assistant in the 

 Department of Geology of the Ohio State 

 University, and also on the Ohio Geological 

 Survey. In preparing the World s Fair ex- 

 hibit and in other duties he traveled over 

 the Buckeye State until the editor of The 

 Ohio State Journal referred to him as 

 "The Stanley of Ohio." He next went to 

 the University of Illinois for special studies 

 in Z jology, and then for two years was Pro- 

 fessor of Natural History in the University 

 of the Pacific, California. He received a 



