16 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



Notwithstanding my utter ignorance of bees, I be- 

 gan to feel some immediate interest in the bees in that 

 barrel. I put them in the cellar, and at some time in the 

 winter I went to a bee-keeping neighbor, James F. Les- 

 ter, and with no little anxiety told him that some disease 

 had appeared among my bees, for I found under them 

 a considerable quantity of matter much resembling 

 coarsely ground coffee. He quieted my fears by telling 

 me it was all right, and nothing more than the cappings 

 that the bees had gnawed away to get at the honey in the 

 sealed combs. 



In the spring I sawed away that portion of the barrel 

 not occupied by the bees, and when the time for surplus 

 arrived I bored holes in the top of the hive and put a 

 good-sized box over. There were holes in the bottom 

 of the box to correspond with the holes in the hive. I 

 made three box-hives, after the Quinby pattern, with spe- 

 cial arrangement for surplus boxes, and they were well 

 made. 



"taking up'' bees. 



When the bees swarmed I hived them in one of the 

 new hives, and later on "took up" the bees in the barrel. 

 Altogether I got 93 pounds of honey from the barrel, and 

 am a little surprised to find it set down at 123/2 cents a 

 pound. Perhaps butter was low just then, for in those 

 days it was a common thing for honey to follow the price 

 of butter. 



I left one of the hives with a farmer, and he hived 

 a prime swarm in it, for which I paid him five dollars. 

 In the remaining hive I had a weak swarm hived, paying 

 a dollar for the swarm. I bought a colony of bees besides 

 these, paying $7.00 for hive and bees. 



WINTERING UPSIDE DOWN. 



The bees were wintered in the cellar, and according 

 to Quinby's instructions the hives were turned upside down. 



