28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



grass. If the field had been cropped the previous 

 season, I would cross-plow In place of cultivating. 



Buckwheat is such a quick-growing- crop, the point 

 is to get the soil loose and light as deep as the roots 

 go, and also have the surface pulverized very fine 

 for a seed-bed. The time for sowing with us is the 

 tenth of June, but would vary according to locality. 

 In average seasons the bees commence storing hon- 

 ey 45 days after sowing; and as there should not be 

 a break between basswood and buckwheat, it would 

 be impossible to fix a date. The seed should be 

 soaked 24 hours, and then rolled in plaster or quick- 

 lime; this insures an even catch, and also gives the 

 young plants a start. The quantity of seed for 

 smooth ground would be half a bushel per acre; 

 for rough and uneven ground, double the amount 

 will be required. Most grain, where a small quanti- 

 ty of seed is sown, will send up several stalks from 

 each grain. Buckwheat sends up but one from this 

 main stalk. Side branches are thrown out, on which 

 the bulk of the crop is matured; and unless the sur- 

 face of the ground is very smooth, the stalk can not 

 be cut below the side branches. When more seed is 

 used per acre, the branches are thrown out nearer 

 the top of the stalk, and there is less trouble in har- 

 vesting. 



In regard to soil : If I could have just what I want- 

 ed, it would be a sandy loam. When grain is the 

 only object, I would sow the fifteenth of July. I 

 have had a good yield of grain when sown early; but 

 on an average, my late sowing does much the better. 



H. T. Bishop. 

 Chenango Bridge. N. Y., Dec., 1881. 



Thanks, friend B. ; bnt if I am correct, 

 many of our farmers would object to your 

 very rich soil, on the ground that the grain 

 would all fall down in consequence. Yeiy 

 likely you are right in saying that it mus't 

 have a richer soil to produce honey largely, 

 than for just grain alone. What do the rest 

 of the friends say about the cultivation of 

 buckwheat, especially for the honey V 



OUR BUSINESS. 



fjjHOSE who 

 ey-produc 



think of entering our ranks as hon- 

 jcers always inquire, " Which is the 

 best hive to produce honey? how much can 

 you get from a colony of bees annwally?" and a lot 

 of questions like these. Were I out of the busi- 

 ness, and contemplated going into it, I would ask 

 myself, or some better posted man, or both, the fol- 

 lowing: As it is a fact, that honey is bringing a good 

 price now in our markets, do you think we can safe- 

 ly figure on the perpetuation of this state of things? 

 How many pounds of honey, taking the years to- 

 gether, will an area of six or seven miles diameter 

 yield? Can you tell me of a good unoccupied field? 

 How many colonies of bees in proper hives, and 

 properly managed, will I need to collect the amount 

 you mention, getting the greatest proportion of sur- 

 plus? How much capital do you think it will re- 

 quire, to set up in business? About how much 

 labor annually? 



The above are some of the primary questions that 

 those who are destined to succted will ask. The 

 man of tact will /eel at once that the possibilities, or 

 even probabilities, of one or ten colonies of bees has 

 but little bearing upon his future success as ahoney- 

 produoer. Some have urged the purchase of a 

 very few colonies at first, so as to let knowledge of 



the business grow along with the capital. In this 

 course I have no faith. Why will not the same rea- 

 soning and advice apply to carpentering, shoemak- 

 Ing, doctoring, preaching, or the practice of law? I 

 believe our business a hybrid, or cross between the 

 trades and professions, and I believe that, wh^n the 

 man who is going to succeed at it turns his mind to 

 it he will be fit for little else; that it will be found a 

 great waste of lime, to be tinkering along with a 

 number of colonies unworthy of the time of the op- 

 erator; also a slow and uncertain method of getting 

 knowledge. Where is the producer of to-day who 

 has grown up in this way, who has not in the past, 

 or got to in the future, throw away hundreds of dol- 

 lars in the many hives and other fixtures? I believe 

 that in this business, as in all others, the specialist 

 can produce the product the cheapest; that he will 

 be forced to produce it as cheaply as he can, the 

 same as has been the rule with other productions. 

 That will put the business in the hands of special- 

 ists; and I believe that there is great wisdom in let- 

 ting it severely alone, unless you expect to become 

 one. Those who do, will do best by serving a season 

 or two as a student apprentice, with some one in 

 whose success and methods they have confidence, 

 getting as much for their services as they can agree 

 upon. I know of a few eases of this kind, and they 

 point strongly to the wisdom of the course. 



I commenced in I8t)!t, and the first thing I lost the 

 capital I l)egan with; took a small start in connec- 

 tion with fruit and vegetables, and crept slowly up- 

 ward. Honey was high; and could I have traded 

 the fruit and vegetable business off for practical 

 knoidaluc of apiculture, I would have done much 

 better. Though it is a fact, that the field of api- 

 cultural knowledge was considerably smaller than 

 it is to-day, it would have paid me handsomely, and 

 saved me hundreds of dollars had I worked under 

 Adam Grimm, or some such man, a year at least, 

 even if T had got only my board. I know that, when 

 the honey of the country is produced by a smaller 

 number of well-posted men, who will buy only a 

 fewjnecessitles that they can not more economically 

 make, that the supply trade will be much less than 

 as though the same amount of honey were produced 

 by amateurs and persons of other callings, in a 

 smaller way; and this proves the economy of spe- 

 cialty. While the supply trade will no doubt be, 

 even then, in advance of what it is to-day (so much 

 more honey will be produced from fields now unoc- 

 cupied), it will also be a more agreeable, staple 

 trade, goods and prices being more uniform, dealers 

 and purchasers better acquainted with each other, 

 and our whole system running with less than half 

 the friction and disappointment of to-daj-. 



All honest men, whatever may be their interest, 

 who see it in this light, are anxious to herald the 

 "good time coming." Jamks Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Dec. 12, 1881. 



If one undertakes the bee business because 

 of the money he can make out of it. and for 

 no other reason, I do not know but that I 

 pretty nearly agree with friend Heddon ; but 

 if I am correct, a great part of the readers of 

 Gleanings have other reasons for keeping 

 bees. The man who makes honey-pails by 

 the hundred thousand can assuredly make 

 them cheaper 1 han the one who makes them 

 by the dozen ; and the man who raises and 

 puts up honey by the ton, can (or at least 

 ought to) furnish it at a less price than the 



