FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 27 



of pleasure to me; but my chief delight was to stand 

 and admire a bunch of white clover that g'rew near Clark 

 street. I think all my years of country life since have 

 been the brighter for the dismal months spent in that 

 burnt district of the great city. 



The three colonies that were left in the spring of 

 1873 were increased to eight in fair condition, and I 

 took perhaps 60 pounds of honey. These eight were put 

 into the cellar Nov. 10, and December 10 Mrs. Miller 

 gave the cellar a good airing by opening the inside cellar 

 door so as to communicate with the upstairs rooms, and 

 then she closed up the house to go into the city to spend 

 the winter with me. 



March 30, 1874, I went out and took them out of 

 winter quarters, and was delighted to find them in superb 

 condition, the whole eight alive, and hardly a teacupful 

 of dead bees in all. These eight I increased to 22, taking 

 390 pounds of honey. Of course they were increased 

 artificially. 



I attributed the previous winter's success partly to 

 their having been taken in earlier than ever before, so I 

 decided to take them in still earlier, and went out for 

 that purpose Oct. 29. But the bees decided they would 

 not be taken in, and whenever I attempted to take them in 

 they boiled out. So, just as I had done a good many times 

 before, I had to give up and let them have their own 

 way, leaving Mrs. Miller to get them in when the weather 

 was cool enough for them. 



November 19 they had a good flight, and November 

 20 they were taken in by Mr. Phillips, a farmer with 

 the average knowledge — or perhaps the average ignorance 

 — of bees, aided by "Jeff," Mrs. Miller's factotum, one of 

 the liveliest specimens of the African race that ever 

 jumped, with considerable more than the average fear of 

 bees. December 12 my wife gave the cellar a good airing, 

 and then it was closed up for the winter. 



