_Factoryville, Pa._, Aug. 5, 1870.
* * * * *
[For the American Bee Journal.]
More about the Looking-glass.
On pages 34-5, Vol. VI., of the American Bee Journal, H. Nesbit states
that he has tried the looking-glass theory to his satisfaction in _one_
instance.
Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to say, in reply, that the glass has been tried
three times, this year, to my knowledge, and three swarms of bees
secured. The particulars of _one_ case will be sufficient to cause most
of the Journal’s readers to try the experiment, when opportunity offers,
whether one that has “_played_” the theory “_out_” will try any more, or
not.
An old lady was in her garden, about four o’clock one afternoon, when
her attention was arrested by the hum of a swarm of bees, leaving the
top of an apple-tree that stood in the garden. The superstitious notion
of stopping bees by the music of the cow-bell (peculiar to a certain
class) was soon put in practice, but the bees moved on till _somebody_
flashed the sun’s rays among them, by the aid of a looking-glass. Then,
almost instantly, from some cause or another, the bees scattered and
some even fell to the ground; but in a few minutes more, all were snugly
clustered on another apple-tree, in sight of the one on which a portion
of them were first discovered.
Did the queen stop to rest in this case? Perhaps Mr. Nesbit will think
she was defective; or would his reply to this be as ambiguous as his
language, when he says in one place that there is “no use of your trying
to go away, for I will stop you with the looking-glass;” and in another
breath, after he had tried and failed, says--“I was rather a sceptic
before.”
Mr. Editor, he makes me think of an old Dutch lady, with whom I used to
be acquainted, that knew how to bake bread and fry meat. You might read
her a recipe from some agricultural or other Journal, for making
something new and rich, and she would at once go about trying it, “to
see if it was good.” But, in place of following the directions to the
letter, she would use the ingredients in quantities that seemed
handiest; and the consequence was that she would make compounds to
disagree with the gustatory organs of all hands. The fault was never
with the old lady, and she could always tell that it was in the recipe;
but in no instance could she be induced to try her hand a second time on
the same thing. Perhaps, if Mr. Nesbit will take his looking-glass to
the well and invert it, and instead of looking down the well, will look
into the glass, he will see differently from the way he did on the other
occasion. If he will take a glass large enough (a _piece_ will answer
the purpose; but it will depend upon how bright the sun shines, and the
distance of the bees from the ground, what must be the size of the glass
required,) I think he can stop a swarm in every instance.
Before quitting, I will also say that if Mr. Nesbit, or any one else
will obtain the “_blackest_” and “_knottiest_” piece of wood, near the
size of a quart pot, and secure it by means of a pole or otherwise,
surrounded by foliage, in front of the apiary, before natural swarms
issue, that by the time the fifth natural swarm is hived, the experiment
will have very well paid him for his trouble with the knot.