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REMINISCENCES. 



A Record of a AVoinaii's Work 

 Anions llic Bees. 



Written fur the Ainer icon Bee Journal 



BY S. B. ATWATER. 



The season has been a disastrous one 

 to me. There was one continual 

 drouth from tlie beginning to the end 

 of tlie season. I iiept my bees alive 

 by feeding honej'. 



Deatli of Mrs. S. B. Atwater. 



But on Dec. 12, 1887, my dear wife 

 passed to the " summer land." As a 

 consequence of this death in the 

 family, the bees also died. 



If it were known how many years I 

 liave been I'eading the Amekican Bee 

 Journal, the reader would no doubt 

 exclaim, " Can any man read modern 

 bee-culture to so little purpose, that 

 that old superstition still clings to 

 him ?" I have read modern bee-oul- 

 ture quite extensively, and still what I 

 have said I believe to be true. Mj- 

 wife also had studied the books, and 

 read the papers until she became well 

 versed in what is known of the nature 

 and habits of the honey-bee, and an 

 adept in the management of an apiarj'. 



We worked our apiaiy at first alto- 

 gether for extracted honey ; and in 

 building up by dividing, by forming 

 nuclei and other methods of increas- 

 ing the original stock, she had consid- 

 erable experience. In this work she 

 often made discoveries bj' her observa- 

 tions, and came to concUisions that 

 months afterwards, and sometime years 

 afterward, she saw confirmed by the 

 observations of others, and recorded in 

 tlie bee books and papers. 



Bees DcTourins; tlieir Eggs* 



One of these oljservations I recall 

 now, made several yeai's ago. She 

 had strengthened a nucleus by giving 

 it fi'ames of Ijrood from a strong col- 

 ony. When these frames were put in, 

 she noticed one frame filled with eggs 

 that were not hatched. In two days 

 afterward the cells in this frame were 

 cmjity — the bees had evidently de- 

 voured the eggs. The same was no- 

 ticed every time that eggs were put 

 into the hives where there were but 

 few bees, and those bees young. 



On another occasion after we had 

 divided some strong colonies, leaving 

 about the same (juantity of bees and 

 brood in each of the two hives, she 

 noticed that but few bees were tlying 

 the next day in front of the hives that 



had been moved to a new location. 

 On noticing these "bees closely, she 

 saw that tliey would walk out of the 

 entrance a little wa_y on the alighting- 

 board, and then return to the hive 

 without taking wing. She came to 

 the conclusion that the old bees — the 

 honey-gatherers and water - carriers 

 that had been once in these hives — had 

 flown out in the eai'ly morning, and 

 when they had obtained their loads, 

 had gone back to the hive on the old 

 stand instead of coming back to the 

 new place ; and that the bees in the 

 hives on the new stands were all j'oung 

 bees, and not old enough to fl}'. She 

 sprinkled some water on the edge of 

 the alighting-board, and was delighted 

 to see how eagerly the j'oung bees 

 crowded out and drank it. 



In a few days, as she watched these 

 hives, she saw that the young bees 

 were beginning to 6y, and hunt new 

 watering-places. ' And then again, 

 when she had the good fortune to 

 catch a stra}' swarm, that had struck 

 out to find a new habitation, and had 

 it nicely hived, she thought it was not 

 otic new colony that we then most 

 wanted, but two or thi'ee. So she 

 lifted two or three frames from the 

 newly-hived swarm with their clusters 

 of bees, and put them in a new hive 

 with plenty of frames of brood from 

 hives that could well spare them in 

 June ; and two or three more frames 

 were lifted fi'om the hive containing 

 the new swarm, and placed in still 

 another hive, which was filled up bj- 

 frames of lirood drawn from strong 

 colonies. These hives were each placed 

 in a new location, and as the division 

 was made before the newlv-hived 

 swarm had had time to mark its loca- 

 tion, each part staid with the brood 

 that was given it. 



In this experiment there was no 

 complaint about the bees eating fresh 

 eggs in comb that was put in the hive, 

 nor was there any necessity for sprink- 

 ling water on the alighting-board for 

 the young bees to carry in. This divi- 

 sion of the new swarm was so satisfac- 

 tory, that in after years, when we de- 

 sired to increase, we waited for a 

 natural swarm and then divided it 

 according to its strength. 



These and man}- other things she 

 discovered which afterwartl she saw 

 confirmed by the writings of others. 

 Some experiments that she tried in 

 the management of bees did not work 

 out as well as she expected they would, 

 but even in failures there wei'e lessons 

 that were learned. In trying dilVcrent 

 plans of management, she found which 

 were the best. As an illustration, she 

 put the extra story of empty comb be- 

 low the bees instead of above, as is 

 usual, but the experiment was not a 

 success. 



Those colonies which had their ex- 

 tra stories of emptj- comb placed above 

 them gathered more honey than those 

 did whose condition was reversed. I 

 have written this much to show that 

 my wife vi'as a thinker and an experi- 

 menter. She had read that it is nat- 

 ural for bees to store honey over their 

 brood, and she believed it after she 

 had tried to make them store it below. 



Bee-Stlngs and Smoke. 



I cannot tell you all the discoveries 

 she made in one short letter, but I will 

 relate one more : She noticed that 

 sometimes when we pinched a bee and 

 induced it to resent the provocation 

 bj- a sting, that other bees would be 

 excited by the scent given out by the 

 stinging hee ; and perhaps a half dozen 

 other bees, that up to that moment 

 had been well-l)ehaved, would instantly 

 take the warpath and rush right to the 

 spot already stung, and do their best 

 to sting it some more. At such times 

 she used the smoker, turning on a 

 blast of smoke to take away the scent 

 of the bee-sting. It was but a short 

 time till she discovered that smoke 

 was an antidote for the poison of the 

 bee-sting. 



We have tried many things, but 

 nothing gives so much relief as 

 smoke blown from the bee-smoker for 

 a few moments on the place stung. 

 This fact has been mentioned in the 

 Bee Journal, but for the benefit of 

 new subscribers it ought to be re- 

 peated every three months. Those 

 who try the experiment for the first 

 time will soon learn to lose as little 

 time as possible after being stung, be- 

 fore beginning to puft" the smoke on 

 the sting. I never saw any man who 

 could do as much work, and do it as 

 intelligently in handling bees, as my 

 wife could. 



The FliUosopIiy. J 



I will now return to the philosophy 4 

 — not the superstition — that connects 

 the death of my wife with the death of 

 the bees the same winter. She and I 

 had always worked together in pre- 

 paring our bees for winter. My wife 

 was taken sick just about the time we 

 expected to go to work to prepare the 

 bees for winter, and she was not able 

 to help. My whole time and thoughts 

 were engrossed in caring for mj- wife. 

 The bees were neglected, and stood i 

 out through the rigorous winter with- ; 

 out any packing. They are dead now, ■•. 

 but there would have been but little j 

 profit in them this summer had they | 

 lived. The white clover was killed by J 

 the drouth one year .ago. It came up 

 from the seed, and if we have a gooil 

 winter, this will be a good location foi- 

 bces next year. 



Viola, Ills. 



