The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1889-11-08
TAKING BEES TO BLOSSOMS.
cae Annual Going from Village to wher
the Wild Heather blooms.


cae Annual Going from Village to Where
the Wild Heather blooms.
AS soon as the first yellow tint be-
gins TO show on the oats the village
beeman of the Borderland thinks it
time his skeps were away TO the moor
land, for then the flower harvest is al
most over and the heather is coming
into bloom lie has been making pre-
parations for months in anticipation
of an event of importance to his pock-
ct and associated in his mind with
mystery and romance. a few bee
keepers are so fortunately placed that
they can convey the skeps by train,
and it WAS once common to employ
donkeys. The long cart borrowed
from a neighboring farmer is now
most generally used 1t is brought
down after dark, when the bees, after
the completion of their days work,
have retired for the night, and the
owner has foiled their egress with a
piece of perforated tin. Where a
number of villagers have each a hive
or two they combine to employ sew
cral carts, and the scene before de-
parture is very animated.
When all is ready the procession
moves off along the dark road, rem
dered darker by the elms on either
side, but the villagers let it be as late
as possible for the sake of GOODNESS,
and also that day may break before
they come to the path perilous among
the hills At dawn the summer an
gler, as he is casting his first fly on
the hill stream, and wondering as he
does so whether rain or sunshine is
portended by the night cap on the hill
and the ribbons of mist waving above
the pine tree, will catch view of the
carts slowly rumbling along wheel
track midway between the woody
slope and the water Men and horses
all look tired and draggled, but their
journey is well nigh at an end A few
miles more and the welcome saluta-
ton of the shy dogs in the glen which
see strangers SO seldom will announce
the end of their labors. In very
brief space of time the hives ere placed
on their stands within disused sheep
fold, and the bees are let out.
After one sweep round, in which
they seem to take their bearings, the
industrious and business like insects
settle down to work, and within an
incredibly short space of time they
may be seen returning with their bur-
dens. 1t is usual to pay the shepherd
a small sum-haf crown or soto
keep an eye on the slseps, and l have
counted from 600 to 1000 under one
mans charge. The field of heather,
extending over many thousand acres,
is visited by the convoy, and old
hands will tell at once by the very
hue of it if there is any honey; if the
night has been dewy, however, and the
morning balmy, ones boots are
whitened with pollen while walking
through it. On such day the stream
of bees from the fold to the heath is
so large and continuous as almost to
darken the air; and so intent on their
work are they, that, like men in a
hurry, they will hustle against any
obstacle, with this difference, how
ever, that he who happens to be the
obstacle is sure to be stung.
Yet it requires all their industry,
for the harvest is very brief one.
When the autumnal winds are driv-
ing before them the first shower of
withered leaves; when the harvest
wages have been paid and the kirn
dance held; when the children are be-
ginning to look for blackberry and
hazel nut, the beekeepers will come
back for their hives. Gloomily they
will travel home in mist and rain If
the season has been cold and the skeps
are empty; but far other will they
fare if the season has been good, and
twenty pound tops are common, while
there are top swarms that will turn
the scale at forty.-Scots Observer.