THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



487 



thing yet accomplished by pencil. It 

 w;is in the eyes that I tailed to suc- 

 ceed. They are full of divine tender- 

 ness, that only a magic touch can give. 

 Eaphael was inspired when he caught 

 that look from heaven. I had risen, 

 by intense attraction of mind, into 

 the perception of the true ideal I 

 sought to gain, and the power to Rx it 

 all on canvas was flowing down into 

 my liand, when the jar of discord 

 produced by that vulgar fellow scat- 

 tered everything into confusion and 

 darkness." 



" And so the Madonna remains un- 

 finished V"' 



" Yes, and I am driven from work. 

 Here is another day added to my list 

 of almost useless days." 



The friend mused for a little while, 

 and then said, somewhat senten- 

 tiously — 



" You must take a lesson from the 

 bees, Henry.'" 



" I will hear a lesson from your lips, 

 ■but, as for the bees." 



And he shrugged his shoulders with 

 an air that said — " I can learn but lit- 

 tle from tlieni." 



•• Let us walk into the garden," 

 said the friend rising. 



And they went out among the leafy 

 shrubs and blossoming plants, where 

 bullerllies fold their lazy wings, and 

 the busy bees made all the air musical 

 with tlieir tiny hum. 



" A'ow for the lesson," said the 

 young artist smiling. " A lesson from 

 the bees. Here is a sprightly little 

 fellow, just diving into the red cup 

 ■of a honeysuckle. What lesson does 

 he teach V" 



" One that all of us may lay to 

 heart. There is honey in the cup, 

 and it is bis business to gather honey. 

 Just beside the crimson blossom, and 

 even touching it, bangs an ugly worm, 

 spinning out the thread of his wind- 

 ing-sheet ; but the bee does not pass 

 the flower, because of its offensive 

 presence, nor will he hasten from it 

 imtil he has extracted the honey-dew. 

 Novf his work is accomplished ; and 

 now he has passed to the clover blos- 

 som, which his weight bends over 

 against the deadly night-shade. But 

 the poisoned weed is no annoyance to 

 him. So intensely pursues he his 

 ■search for honey, that he is uncon- 

 scious of its presence. Now he buries 

 himself in the blushing rose leaves, 

 ' heeding not and caring not,' though 

 a hundred sharp thorns bristle on the 

 stem that supports the lovely flower. 

 And now, full ladened with the sweet 

 treasure he souglit, he is off on swift 

 ■wing for the hive. Shall we observe 

 the motion of another bee V Or is tlie 

 lesson clear?" 



The counteTiance of Wentworth 

 looked tlioughtful, even serious. A 

 little while he stood musing, as though 

 liis perceptions were not lucid. Then 

 turning to his wise and gentle reprov- 

 ing friend, he grasped his hand, say- 

 ing, with a manner greatly subdued : 



" The lesson is clear. I will go 

 toack and flnisli my Madonna, though 

 a dozen vulgar fellows haunt the 

 studio. I will have no eyes or ears 

 for them. My own high purpose to 

 ■excel, shall make me blind and deaf 

 to anytliing that would hinder my on- 



ward progress. Thanks for the les- 

 son of the bees. I will never forget 

 it. Like them, I will gather the 

 honey of life from every rich flower 

 in my way. J^et the freeds grow high 

 if they will, 1 shall not regard their 

 presence." 



Fnr the American Bee Journal. 



Sundry Items from New York. 



J. E. MOORE. 



I have been reading the articles in 

 the Weekly Bee Journal on the 

 " honey prospects," and as I see none 

 from this part of the State, send a few 

 items from Genesee county. The 

 season, so far, has been peculiar, and 

 although the a])iarist has been hoping 

 for better things all along, if the 

 weather continues as it has been 

 much longer white clover honey will 

 be hard to find in this part of the 

 State. 



As the season was two weeks later 

 than usual, and the fields gave promise 

 of abundant clover bloom, I thought 

 the weather-would be more favorable 

 than had it blossomed earlier, and so 

 made preparations for a large yield ; 

 but, although the bloom has been 

 most abundant, very little honey has 

 been gathered. The rotation has 

 been three days high winds then 

 storms, followed by one or two days 

 fair weather. We had rain on tiie 

 night of the 17th, followed by warm 

 showers on the morning of the ISth, 

 up to 9 a. m. By 10 o'clock it seemed 

 as though I never saw the bees bring 

 in honey so fast, and I went out of 

 the bee house several times, queen 

 cage in hand, thinking the bees were 

 swarming. This continued until 

 noon of the 19th, when the wind com- 

 menced rising, and still continues, so 

 that my e.vpectations that the 

 " boom ""had come at last seem likely 

 to be blasted. 



These high winds are invariably 

 cold. At 9:45 this morning the 

 temperature in the sun was 88-', 

 while in the shade it was only 67-. 

 To sum up, the clover bloom has been 

 most abundant, but the atmospheric 

 conditions have been altogether 

 against the secretion of honey by the 

 fiowers. I do not agree with Mons. 

 Layens' theory, mentioned by Mr. 

 Todd, as the cause of no honey in 

 clover. The linden is not in bloom 

 yet, and I notice the buds are not so 

 abundant as last year. 



When I boxed the hives, we had 67 

 colonies of Cyprians and I.iof Italians. 

 Have had I'-'J Cyprian and 1 Italian 

 swarm. I never worked among bees 

 that'handled easier than the Cyi)rians 

 do in hiving swarms. On some a('- 

 counts 1 like tbeni better, and on 

 some not as well as the Italians; but 

 sliall be better able to judge as to 

 their merits at the close ol' the sea- 

 son. I think they hold their own 

 Ijetter in the spring, and are more ac- 

 tive than the Italians. Tlieir sense 

 of smell is wonderfully acute, so that 

 if there is the least chance given they 

 are very neighborly, and if one has 

 combs filled witli bee-bread and honey, 

 set them in an empty hive and leave 



the cover off long enough to turn 

 around three times, then cover up 

 and they will take care of it. Wliy, I 

 have h;ul them cut conil)S down to 

 the partition walls about }:i dislance 

 down from top bar. Hark ! what's 



all this buzzing mean ? Well I have 



hived a second swarm of Cyprians. I 

 have put Ijack all second swarms, as I 

 think their presence will be needed in 

 the boxes ; Imt this was such a nice 

 large one I thought I would hive it, 

 and as tlie queen was with them (all 

 old queens are clipped) I shook them 

 into the hiving bag. 



When bees swarm from the hive 

 where the queen is clipped, if you 

 want the bees to return to the hive 

 without clustering, cage the queen 

 as soon as possible and put her in the 

 hive ; or, if you prefer clustering, tie 

 the cage o"u a bush suspended on a 

 pole, following the bees to a tree or 

 bush. 



Byron, N. Y., July 20, 1882. 



rur the American Bee JoumaL 



Bee-Keepiiig in JIassachusetts. 



F. U. BOWDITCH. 



Of my thirteen colonies twelve be- 

 gan April in fair condition. The 

 spring here, as everywhere else, was 

 very backward. I commenced feed- 

 ing on April S, and by care I was able 

 to get and keeyi my colonies strong 

 during our cold and discouraging 

 May. Consequently when fruit bloom 

 began my bees literally fell upon it ; 

 and we had about two weeks good 

 honey flow and tlie eleven colonies I 

 ran for extracting, filled their two 

 story hives and began on a third 

 story. Oil tlie 2d of July I extracted 

 from the second stories alone 300 lbs. 

 of line honey, leaving the first and 

 third stories' so far as they contained 

 any honey, untouched. On the same 

 day, right in the midst of clover and 

 liiuien bloom, the bees began to kill 

 their drones, and I regard it as very 

 fortunate I did not extract too closely, 

 as they liave barely held their own 

 ever since and many combs are almost 

 eniptv- 



I think if I had had empty old 

 combs to give them I should have 

 secured a much larger crop, but they 

 bad to draw out foundation, which 

 takes time, and a sheet of foundation 

 just drawn out will not hold more 

 than tliree-ciuarters as much honey as 

 a tough old comb. Three hundred 

 pounds does not in quantity really 

 amount to anything, but then there 

 are some not very far off who have 

 none at all. so I feel encouraged. 



None of my eleven colonies swarmed 

 or had any nuclei made from them, so 

 you will see I directed their whole 

 energy to honey gathering. We have 

 every reason to exjiect and look for- 

 ward to a good yield from golden rod 

 and asters^ as the conditions for it ap- 

 pear just right; last year it failed 

 entirely. 



I have noticed in the Jouhnai. 

 several articles, the writers of which 

 claim that the production of drones 

 can be stopped or controlled by using 

 worker foundation, and several an- 



