iyo6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1583 



readiness to answer questions ' and to open 

 vip the hives and pass frames around to the 

 teachers, so they could watch the bees to 

 their hearts' content. Notwithstanding the 

 aforesaid teachers were all supplied with 

 veils, very few of these protectors will be 

 seen. Dr. Bigelow had explained that the 

 Root bees would not sting — couldn't make 

 'em sthig. In proof of his statement he got 

 on top of a hive, walked on it in an uncere- 

 monious manner, removed his hat and swung 

 his arms, striking at the bees in the air. I 

 began to be a little alarmed for fear the bees 

 in the hive on which he was standing would 

 make a regular onslaught, even if those in 

 the air did not show fight. I accordingly el- 

 bowed my way up to him and suggested that 

 he be a little cautious — that the Root bees 

 would stand a good deal, but I did not think 

 they would take kindly to what he had been 

 doing; for a stampede of those pretty school- 

 mistresses was not to be thought of. ' ' Your 

 bees sting? No, sir, Mr. Root," replied the 

 doctor; "can't make 'em sting," and he 

 kept on with his arm work. 



The air was full of bees, for they were 

 busy at work in the fields; but seeing the 

 crowds scattered around among their hives 

 they were demoralized; and, as I have before 

 explained, when the surroundings to their 

 homes are entirely changed they offer no 

 attack; in fact, it would be difScult to make 

 any kind of bees sting under those circum- 

 stances, although I might hesitate to try the 

 temper of Cyprians. 



Dr. Bigelow will be seen in the large pic- 

 ture with head covered neither by hat nor 

 hair, on top of a hive a little to the right of 

 the center. Just back of him, and a little to 

 his right, will be seen a man with a full 

 beard, and arms folded. This is "neighbor 

 H.," who, years ago, reared thousands of 

 queens for us. 



Dr. Bigelow was not satisfied with this 

 demonstration of the tameness of the Root 

 Ijees. for he said he wanted every teacher to 

 have a frame of bees and to crowd over into 

 the ()])cn space at one side of the hexagon. 

 "Nou. Mr. Root," said he, "give us anoth- 

 er snapshot and we will give you a view the 

 like of which the readers of Gleanings nev- 

 er saw before." 



Fig. 8 gives the result. The doctor will 

 be seen in the middle foreground, third row 

 from the front, with a frame of l)ees bal- 

 anced on his head. A few feet to his left 

 will be seen one of the schoolteachers with a 

 frame of bees on her head. 



Now if the reader will look closely he will 

 not see a bee-veil in the whole lot; and when 

 it is understood that only a very few of 

 those teachers had ever before been in a 

 bee-yard one can have something of an idea 

 of the confidence reposed by the teachers in 

 Dr. Bigelow. 



In this same picture, over to the left, next 

 to the evergreens, and mounted on a high 

 pedestal will be seen a Pearl Agnes hive. It 

 is built in the form of a dwellinghouse, 

 equipped with miniature frames and sec- 

 tions. This the doctor later described, and 



showed how it was used in instructing chil- 

 dren in nature study. 



Another view. Fig. 4, shows some of the 

 teachers sitting on the ground in the shade 

 of the evergreens that form a windbreak 

 around this yard. 



I doubt whether a crowd of ordinary peo- 

 ple could be induced to go into a yard of 

 bees like this; but an intelligent lot of peo- 

 ple like schooleachers love to learn, even at 

 the risk of receiving a sting. 



Now permit me to say in closing that the 

 same sort of demonstration could be made 

 in almost any bee-yard in the United States. 

 While the Root bees are very gentle (no 

 question about that), yet those same bees 

 will sting individuals when they would not 

 think of touching any one in a general 

 crowd, especially after they have become 

 demoralized and' have begun to hunt aim- 

 lessly for their entrances. 



A CASE WORTHY OF ITS CONTENTS. 



Some Needed Improvements in Honey-car- 

 tons. 



BY DR. EDW^ARD F. BIGELOW. 



Two new stores have recently been open- 

 ed in the city where I live — a grocery and a 

 candy-store; or, perhaps, to put it in more 

 accurate detail, I should say that two old 

 stores have been thoroughly refitted, restock- 

 ed, and modernized under the guidance of 

 up-to-date merchants. I often look with ad- 

 miration at the show-windows and interiors 

 of both stores. 



The grocery makes a specialty of canned 

 goods. I often think that it must be a plea- 

 sure to go shopping there. Such conveniences 

 in the shape of bottled and canned foods and 

 dainties should solve the servant-girl prob- 

 lem. If I were a housekeeper I would sure- 

 ly go shopping there. I believe I should 

 bring home every day a basket full of those 

 glittering packages, whose labels gleam in all 

 the colors of the rainbow. As I possess a 

 hearty appetite, most of the fruits and vege- 

 tables would be enjoyable; and even the 

 things of which I am not especially fond 

 would go down well when I recalled the vi- 

 sion of that attractive array on shelf and 

 counter. 



I have lost no boyishness, in that respect at 

 least, to prevent me from sympathizing with 

 the youth who expressed a wish some time 

 to be clerk in a grocery, for then he could 

 have all the nice things he wanted to eat. 

 And I have even stronger sympathy with the 

 Mr. Crothers who, in an article in a recent 

 number of The Atlantic Monthly, speaks on 

 ' ' the ignominy of being grown-up. ' ' 



Doesn't every one of us agree with the boy 

 that a modern grocery is an attractive place? 

 But to return to the two stores that I have 

 especially in mind. If the gi'ocery is attrac- 

 tive, how shall we find words to do justic^e 

 to the attractions of the candy-shop, the long 

 marble counter with glasses and holders and 

 fruit-dishes, the intricacies of the soda-foun- 



