102 
THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
An Educational Apiary Smashed. 
BY EDWARD F. BIGELOW, ARCADIA: SOUND 
BEACH, CONNECTICUT. 
I he educational apiary under the 
management of The Agassiz Associa- 
tion at ArcAdiA, Sound Beach, Con- 
necticut, has met with a serious catas- 
trophe. In the heavy storm of Sep- 
tember 30 the cable fastenings that 
held together two parts of a huge oak 
broke and the smaller part, some two 
feet in diameter at the base, crashed 
to the ground, crushing about a dozen 
hives. Fortunately only about half of 
the outdoor hives came within the area 
of the falling limb and the near-by 
apiarian laboratory was untouched. 
The oak tree is one of the largest in 
the vicinity, measuring eleven feet in 
circumference. Something like three 
hundred dollars has been spent upon it 
in cavity work, bolting and cabling. It 
is a relic of the days of the Indians 
and of later years when there was not 
the appreciation of trees that has been 
brought about by The Agassiz Asso- 
ciation and other organizations in more 
recent times. For something like a 
hundred years, perhaps more, ending 
about half a century ago, there was 
near this tree a pond. In the winter- 
time skaters built bonfires under the 
tree sometimes on one side of the trunk 
and sometimes on the other. In the 
summertime came picnic parties of 
clam diggers that judging from the 
cartloads of clamshells must have dili- 
gently feasted for many years. The re- 
sult was that the trunk of the tree 
actually had clear through it an ex- 
cavation tuneled by lire. 
With the coming of The Agassiz As- 
sociation to this picturesque spot ten 
years ago efforts were at once made to 
retain the tree and barring the recent 
disaster the efforts have been success- 
ful. The main part of the tree is still 
standing. In no part of the country 
could there have been obtained a more 
picturesque place for an apiary and the 
one here located has become known 
the world over. Several leading con- 
cerns in motion pictures have here 
taken pictures. Still photographs in- 
numerable have been published in vari- 
ous bee and other journals. The apiary 
has had the hearty cooperation of The 
A. I. Root Company and of local bee- 
keepers. It is used wholly for educa- 
tional purposes, the honey produced 
being given away. Last year eight 
hundred pounds, mostly in sections, 
were distributed among students, 
friends, and visitors to ArcAdiA. 
All over the country I have demon- 
strated the handling of honeybees with- 
out glove or veil, and have done so 
many, many times in this apiary. But 
here was a situation to try the strong- 
est of nerves and the greatest of faith 
in kindly methods of dealing with 
honeybees. A number of the hives, 
some with three or four supers, some 
with extra stories, were crushed, and 
others, standing on foundation boxes 
for convenience in handling, were com- 
pletely overturned. The difficulties of 
the situation were increased by the 
fact that it occurred near the end of 
the honey flow and the bees were ready 
to rob, in fact they had nothing else to 
do. The result was bedlam let loose. 
There were bees everywhere — to the 
right, to the left and in front and in back, 
to say nothing of overhead, and they 
were as mad as yellow jackets. Owing 
to the difficulty of getting in among the 
limbs a veil was not much assistance 
but almost a hindrance. I had to cut 
my way to the crushed and overturned 
hives amidst an army of swarming, 
fighting bees. Within two hours, how- 
ever, I had all but one of the hives 
under control and that one had to fight 
it out for itself until I could take time 
the next day for the more laborious 
work of cutting a path to that. 
The catastrophe was announced in 
the local papers and the scene of action 
was visited by a number of people. Mr. 
L. C. Root, the veteran beekeeper of 
Stamford, Connnecticut, said that in all 
his experience he had never even heard 
of such an occurrence. Presumably no 
great amount of honey was actually 
lost to the apiary as a whole but 
an immense amount most certainly 
“changed hands’" in a very short time 
and the depredations were not entirely 
stopped for nearly a week. 
Beekeepers often know of the terrors 
of a swarm of bees tipped over by a 
cow or horse but think of several pros- 
perous colonies turned over at such a 
critical time as a warm day just at the 
end of the honev flow. 
