30 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



February, 



dry measure, above which was a cham- 

 ber intended to hold two twelve- 

 pound boxes for surplus honey. Sev- 

 en one-inch holes for each surplus box 

 admitted the bees from brood cham- 

 ber. A glass in one end of box (cov- 

 ered by a slide) enabled the bee- 

 keeper to judge of the sta^e of com- 

 pleteness of the surplus. One pecu- 

 liarity of these hives was that they 

 were hung by cleats nailed on each 

 side and the front of hive was three 

 or four inches longer than the back, 

 and the bottom-board was hung to 

 the hive by four wires, which allowed 

 the bees to pass out anywhere at bot- 

 tom of hive, and was closed by sim- 

 ply shoving the bottom forward, and 

 turning button in rear. I have taken 

 hundreds of pounds of surplus honey 

 from just such hives. ■* 



But did you ever hear of an enthusi- 

 astic young bee-keeper who did not 

 want to construct something new in 

 the way of a bee hive that would em- 

 brace his own ideals of what a hive 

 ought to be? If you have, dear read- 

 er, all I have to say is "That is a 

 sign. He never would do for a hero 

 of mine." This, remember, was be- 

 fore thedays of large plants for the 

 manufacture of bee-keepers' supplies. 

 Before the invention of the movable 

 frame hive, three years before Capt. 

 Baldenstein called the attention of 

 Dr. Dzierzon to the Italian bee, and 

 eight years before that pioneer in 

 scientific bee culture had seen the 

 beautiful bee so much admired on this 

 western continent. So many different 

 shapes and sizes of hives were made 

 some with large glass in front, but 

 covered by door, but retaining the sur- 

 plus feature spoken of above. 



Every bee-keeper in those days 

 made his own hives, and quite often 

 hives were made while the swarms 

 awaited on the limb of a tree. Bees 

 wintered in those days on their sum- 

 mer stands here in western Pennsyl- 

 vania without protection. Though 

 the winds blew and the snow fell as 

 at present, the vast acreage of for- 

 ests seemed to take away the bite of 

 the wind that later years produce. 

 The usual price of honey in the forties 

 and early fifties was about I2i/^ cents 

 per pound. Much of the land, but 

 lately cleared, was rich in vegetable 

 mould and potash from the burned 

 timber, and the white clover was rich 

 in nectar. Youngsville, Pa., Dec. 19. 



HARDSCRABBLE INTERVIEW. 



Ah-h-h. Eh? Well, here's happy 

 days. Now I feel better. 



Talkin' of De Luxes, either you or 

 Ernest don't know 'em when you see 

 'em. You said they've just put out a 

 new edition of A, B, C — fortunit 'tamt 

 claimed to be the X Y Z — and are 

 now goin' to De Luxe it. Durn fine 

 deluxin' it'll be arter the types be 

 all worn down. Only Mr. DeLuxy's 

 I ever hearn on were the first born of 

 the press. 



Them '*Going-to-Bees" in the Jan- 

 uary American Bee-Keeper sound 

 powerful true. Queer what a crop of 

 'em is steady sproutine. 



Stahlman's apiary is liken to a crazy 

 stoned old graveyard. 



Joe Pen's troubles of "Unprepar- 

 edness" 'minds me of the Japs, 'cauise 

 they're so opposite. 



I'm blamed sorry for Hewitt, with 

 J. E. J. after him. He'll sure find it 

 "Too much Johnson." 



Say, you caught me right good with 

 your camera, but there's one thing 

 you can't do, sonny, smart as ye be; 

 ye can't "put your finger on me," 

 b'gosh . Hawh! Hawh! 



Don't like that laugh, eh? 'Taint 

 nateral? Reckon you all don't know 

 a ghostly laugh yet. 



The filling in your Bee-keeping 

 World now and again goes to show 

 how much sawdust composes our 

 dolls' innards. No reflection on the 

 compilers, but on the rag baby. 



Harry, I'm 'shamed of yer. Nut- 

 megapis Dorsata, forsooth! Connecti- 

 cut blood in your tubes, sure. 



In the American Bee Journal for 

 January 5 I see here, that the editor 

 asks regarding tales of the press, » 

 "Why Do They Lie So?" Bless his f 

 dear innocent little soul, they wuz 

 born that way, they wuz, most on 'em. 



Same paper has Hasty talking about 

 "sawing off swarms." Funny swarms, 

 them; but serious, a bloomin' crime 

 against the trees. 



Going? Well, so long. 



1 



A Johannesburg correspondent, in 

 the Bee-Keepers' Record, states that 

 conditions favorable to bee-keeping 

 exist in the Rustenburg and Pretoria 

 districts of South Africa The nectar 

 supply comes chiefly from the gum 

 trees that have been planted in for- 

 mer years. 



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