S4 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



The bees were left, entirely to their own devices throughout 

 the winter. In the latter part of March the weather at Cincin- 

 nati became quite warm, and I wrote to my beekeeping friend, 

 Mr. Lester, to get him to take the bees out of the cellar. He 

 took them out under protest, for Cincinnati weather and Maren- 

 go weather are two different things, and when they were taken 

 out, March 31, they were probably ushered into a rather cold 

 world. They were in bad condition when taken out — ^bees do 

 not always winter in cellar in the best possible manner with 

 their owner several hundred miles away — and when I got home 

 in May I found only three of the nineteen left alive. 



THREE YEARS IN CHICAGO. 



Immediately upon the close of the Cincinnati Festival I 

 began work for the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., at their, Chi- 

 cago office, where I stayed three years. My wife and. littlfe boy 

 stayed on the farm at Marengo during the summer: and spent 

 the winters with me in Chicago. Notwithstanding the f^ct' Ihat 

 I could have only a few days with the bees each summer, I'sfciD 

 clung to them. At least I could lie awake nights dreaming and 

 planning as to what might be done with bees and I could do 

 that just as well in Chicago as Marengo. 



One thing that resulted from that three years' sojourn in 

 Chicago was an appreciation of country life that I had never 

 had before. The office, 80 and 82 Adams Street, was in the 

 heart of the burnt district left bare by the great fire of 1871, 

 and to one with a love for everything green that grows it was 

 desolate indeed. A few weeds that grew in a vacant lot hard by 

 were a source of pleasure to me; and my chief delight was to 

 stand and admire a bunch of white clover that grew 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 



