1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1515 



and the wiudmiirs sole business was to pump 

 the water out of the cistern into a huge tank 

 for the locomotives. When I asked if it 

 were not possible to get water from a well 

 the agent of the railroad company tokl me 

 they had gone down into the ground as far 

 as they could afford, but found no sign of 

 water,* so they were obliged to haul it all 

 the way from Hot Springs, a distance of 

 thirty or forty miles. I was told that, on 

 this Burlington route, was Spcartish Falls, 

 Speartish ('anyou. and some of the finest 

 scenery to be found anywhere in the Black 

 Hills. Imagine my disappointment, there- 

 fore, to find, when we reached Englewood. 

 to change cars, that the locomotive on the 

 new train was crippled. They tinkei'ed and 

 fussed with it until dark, then wired Dead- 

 wood for a l)etter engine. This resulted in 

 making the whole trip through the magnifi- 

 cent scenery after dark. Although it was 

 quite a hot day when I left Hot Spi'iugs, in 

 going less than a hundred miles we got up 

 on the mountains so that it was so cold we 

 were exceedingly glad to find a little car 

 with a stove in it, almost redhot. Going up 

 the mountains had something to do with it, 

 but perhaps the sudden change in the weath- 

 er had more to do with it. The conductor 

 remarked that I was the only man in the 

 crowd who had the good sense to bring along 

 an overcoat. 



There are some funny names to towns in 

 the Black Hills, as you will note. Spearfish 

 gets its name from the great abundance of 

 beautiful speckled trout in Speartish River 

 and mountain streams that ai'e tributary to 

 it. In fact, it is not uncommon to get as 

 many fish as one wants to carry home, in 

 just two or three hours — that is, when one is 

 an expert with the spears used to catch this 

 particular trout. 



I was particularly attracted to this town 

 by the following at the end of a letter I found 

 in our files: 



We started in the spring with 108 colonies of bees; 

 increased to 178, and a good lot of honey besides. 

 Some colonies have tilled the third super, and we have 

 put on the fourth. This is the best we have had in 

 seven years of bee-keeping. 



Dec. 26, 1904. Mrs. N. L. Anderson. 



Of course, the above is not so very extra- 

 ordinary; but coming from a new locality, 

 where bees had but recently gotten a foot- 

 hold, I made a note of it. 



I reached Speartish late Saturday night. 

 Learning at the hotel that the Andersons 

 lived in the outskirts of the town I thought I 

 would make a call, even if it tvas Sunday 

 morning, and go to church with them. They 

 had a Congregational church, but it was 

 closed for repairs. There was also a Method- 

 ist church, but the pastor was away on his 

 vacation. However, we had an excellent 

 Sunday-school, and attended services at the 

 Episcopal church in the evening. I remem- 

 ber the good lady who taught our Suuday- 



* Who knows but that wonderful Wind Cave extends 

 clear over to and away down under the resiion round 

 about EdKemont? Of course, no water could be found 

 in the retrion of such caves unless the well were sunk 

 down a tremendous depth to get below the cavern. 



school class. She was the pastor's wife, if I 

 am correct. She said in her remarks that 

 only one person in a hundred reaches the 

 age of 80 years, and our teacher was pretty 

 close to that, I judged; and yet her talk ta 

 that large Bible-class made a very excellent 

 sermon, even if it iras a short one! I do not 

 know whether she is in the habit of occupy- 

 ing the pulpit during her husband's absence, 

 but I think she might fill it very acceptaljly. 

 Perhaps the invigorating air of the Black 

 Hills had something to do with the fact that 

 she had preserved her faculties so well to 

 such a good old age. 



Now, friends, perhaps some of you might 

 think that myself and new friends were not 

 remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy; 

 but I was a stranger in a strange land, and 

 there were a hundred things new to me that 

 I felt curious about. God's gifts were scat- 

 tered about on every hand; and I am inclin- 

 ed to think it was just as acceptable to God 

 to have us notice and speak of his wondrous, 

 gifts as to spend the time in some other way. 



I found mo7'c beautiful apples, without 

 spot or blemish, right in Mr. Anderson's 

 dooryard. I found a lot of neatly painted 

 bee-hives from the Home of the Ho'ney-bees, 

 even if it did cost a big lot for freight to that, 

 far-away locality. It is a little peculiar that 

 bee-keeping alT thi'ough the Black Hills 

 seems to be largely in the hands of the wo- 

 men. 



Our good friend Mr. Anderson has a har- 

 ness-shop, and does quite a business; but his. 

 wife has been succeeding so well in bee cul- 

 ture that I believe he contemplates closing; 

 up his shop and giving his whole attention tu 

 bees. I think they have now something like 

 130 colonies, and have started a very pretty 

 apiary a mile or so out of town. Comb hon~ 

 ey mostly is produced. They tier up the su- 

 pers one above another. Quite a little hon- 

 ey had been taken off and sold, and yet I saw 

 as many as four supers on some of the hives. 

 The honey comes mostly from alfalfa, which 

 grows, with the aid of irrigation, in wonder- 

 ful luxuriance. In a pretty dooryard close 

 to the house I saw two hives that were 

 brought in from the woods. One of them 

 had an entrance for the bees, as large as 

 your hand, or larger — so large, in fact, that 

 the bees in coming home with a load alight- 

 ed directly on the combs. Fiiend Andersou 

 said they seemed to do as well as any colony 

 in his yard — no trouble from robbers. The 

 combs were pretty well covered, however, 

 with a cluster of bees, and it would take a very 

 bold robber to sail in and take his chances 

 of being hauled down by the whole "congre- 

 gation." Now, would it not really be a sav- 

 ing to have some such large entrance, es- 

 pecially during the honey-flow, so the heavy- 

 laden bees could sail right in and alight on 

 the combs, without any preliminary tum- 

 bling down in the grass, taking wing' again^ 

 and crawling into the ordinary entrance, and 

 then from the bottom-board up on to the 

 combs? Dr. Miller, what do you think about 

 it? 



Some of the prettiest gardens I ever saw 



