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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



right over our heads. When the 

 bees were jarred off the Umb, friend 

 C let q,ll hold go and took to his 

 heels in double-quick time. So the 

 whole swarm was poured right on 

 top of my head, and became quite 

 angry at such rough treatment. 

 They, however, soon settled at the 

 same place again, so friend A sawed 

 off the limb and finally got them 

 down, not without getting a good 

 many stings, as they were the com- 

 mon native bee, and thoroughly 

 aroused by this time. We still did not 

 succeed in getting them in the hive. 

 The next time they settled on an old 

 stump, and some weeds growing near 

 it. This third trial succeeded, after 

 which friend A called for the 

 camphor and thoroughly washed his 

 hands in it, and also used it copiously 

 about his face and neck. I verily 

 believe that forty bees had stung 

 him but he never grunted. C said 

 that if the whole swarm had stung 

 him he would never have grunted. 

 In about two weeks, the second 

 swarm issued and was duly hived 

 with a little less trouble than the first, 

 not, however, without the assistance 

 of several neighbors. Tlie latter 

 part of July, 1880, 1 found that there 

 was honey in all the hives to be 

 taken. So I finally mustered courage 

 sufficient to rob them. With a 

 roll of rags burning, I went to the 

 hives and robbed them in a very 

 bungling way ; killed a great many 

 bees, and in return received a great 

 many stings, which were truly very 

 painful as I did not know anything 

 about scraping out the stings and 

 thus relieving the pain. Since that 

 first taking of honey, I have never 



been out of that God-given, sweet, 

 pure honey. 



Before swarming time in 1881, I 

 had sent to New York and bought 

 five ready made new American 

 hives. Had also bought the Bee- 

 keepers' Text Book from which I 

 learned that the Italian bees far sur- 

 passed the common native bee, and 

 as I was determined to make bee- 

 keeping a success, I thought of 

 course that I must get some Italians. 

 In the meantime, I had got hold of 

 a copy of " Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture," by A. I. Root of Medina, 

 Ohio, so I sent to him and got one 

 frame of Italians, together with a 

 queen. These were the first Italians 

 I ever saw. I again had to send for 

 friend A to come and hunt out the 

 black queen for me, and, instead of 

 selecting one of the American hives 

 that had the oldest combs in them, 

 I took one of the new hives. All 

 the comb being young and tender, 

 it broke down, and drowned not only 

 the fine queen, but nearly all the 

 bees. Thus my experience was 

 dearly bought. Nothing daunted, I 

 sent and got another queen, and still 

 others. I found them so far supe- 

 rior to the native bee that I was de- 

 termined and still am determined 

 never to be satisfied until every bee 

 in my yard is pure Italian. 



You cannot imagine how delighted 

 I was when I first succeeded in in- 

 troducing an Italian queen. When 

 the young Italians came out for their 

 first flight, how beautiful they did 

 look. I sent and got another lot of 

 fine ready-made hives, since which 

 time I have got them in the flat, 

 sometimes sending for as many as 



