2^4 



GLliAKli^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



recommended by some, brought from 12c. per lb. up 

 to 20, thus proving that the co-operative plan is not 

 always the best. After placing the amount of this 

 last sale on my ledger, it was but natural that I 

 should look over the debit and credit columns to see 

 what my bees have paid me for ray season's labor. 

 After footing up the whole receipts, and deducting 

 the expense incurred by the bees therefrom, I And 

 I have an average profit of $29.63 for each colony I 

 had in the spring, as the cash receipts free of all ex- 

 pense. Thus it will be seen, if a person can care for 

 100 colonies of bees (and it is done by many of our 

 practical apiarists), this would give an income of 

 f 20G3.00 a year. But to be on the safe side, suppose 

 we call it 50 colonies, thus giving a salary of $Usl 50. 

 I wlU admit, that the season of 1881 was better than 

 an average one for honey in this locality, and, there- 

 fore, to be sure and not get our figures too high, we 

 will take off $481.60 from the above, when we have 

 left SI 000 as an average yearly income for one per- 

 son. As proof that the above is not overdrawn, I 

 will say that I have cleared on an average over $1000 

 from my bees each year for the past nine years, 

 with an average of less than 50 colonies each year. 



That beekeeping will compare favorably with any 

 other pursuit in life, I firmly believe; and the 

 trouble why so many fail in it is that they do not 

 properly attend to it. Men will give their horses 

 and cattle the best of care; but when it comes to 

 the bees, they let them take care of themselves, 

 w th the exception of hiving swarms and putting on 

 and taking off boxes. What would they expect 

 from their cows, if treated in that way? The keep- 

 ing of cows means milking twice a day for at least 

 210 days out of the year, and feeding ttiem three 

 times a day for 180 days, saying nothing about clean- 

 ing stables and other work necessary to carry on a 

 dairy. When men are willing to thus care for bees 

 they will find they will give a greater profit than 

 can be obtained from cows, er any other branch of 

 rural Industry. Bee-keeping means work, energetic 

 ivorli, a place for every thing and every thing in its 

 place, and to know how to do things just at the right 

 time and in the right place, if we would make it 

 profitable. We also want the best bees, the best 

 hives, and all the modern appliances, just as our en- 

 terprising dairymen would have the best breed of 

 cows, and the best utensils to care for the milk. 

 Also a man must have a liking for the business. No 

 man will ever make bee-keeping profitable who pre- 

 fers to lounge about a country store or tavern in- 

 stead of working in his apiary. In fact, a person 

 will not succeed in any business, unless he has 

 enough love for his calling in life so he will be dili- 

 gent and faithful thereto. " Seest thou a man dili- 

 gent in his business? he shall stand before kings," 

 was what Solomon told his son; and the saying is as 

 true to-day as it ever was. If a person is not willing 

 to spend the time on bees which they require, he had 

 better keep out of the business; for sooner or later 

 they will become disgusted with It, if it is undertak- 

 en with the idea, that " bees work for nothing, and 

 board themselves." G. M. Doolixtle. 



Borodino, N. Y., March, 1882. 



As friend Doolittle truly says, thei'e is no 

 great good witliout great labor; and our 

 boys and girls who hope to succeed must not 

 only work hard, but they must know exactly 

 what they are doing, and all about it. A 

 few days ago I went into the wax-rooili and 

 found a couple of hands rolling fdn. One 



was looking out of the window, and his as- 

 sistant, who turned the crank, was looking 

 over his shoulder. The sheet had torn in 

 two, and one part was going round one roll- 

 er, and the other the other. If a bee-keeper 

 expects to succeed, he must work in quite a 

 different way, for it needs hands, eyes, and 

 thoughts, all together and all at once. 



BEES OF AMERICA. 



THEIU ANTIQUITY, GEOGRAPHICAL KECOIIDS, AND 

 RANGES. 



MR. ROOT: — You say, "I must still be a little 

 incredulous about any thing like Italian 

 ' blood being found in America before tbeir 

 importation." It is judicious and commendable in 

 an editor to be incredulous enough to doubt facts, 

 until evidence enough has been drawn out to estab- 

 lish them; but I have the impression that truths 

 susceptible of proof should be given the preference ; 

 that probable truths, sustained by analogous testi- 

 mony, should take the second place; and that theo- 

 ry against which analogous testimony bears strongly, 

 shall be given the last, or rejected as unworthy of 

 the confldtnce of men. 



To remove this incredulity I took a journey of 13 

 miles, and obtained the inclosed statement, which 

 speaks for itself. Mr. Capps is a gentleman of good 

 standing in society; is familiar with the country for 

 many miles around; he knows the use to which his 

 stat«ment is intended to be put, and the necessity 

 of caution in stating the facts. It would be interest- 

 ing to learn how far north, and how far in other di- 

 rections, a tendency to assume yellow bands has 

 been developed in this race of bees. Our Southern 

 friends have furnished no reliable means by which 

 } we can trace them beyond Arkansas and New Mexi- 

 co; and Mr. Tcter, though he established the fact 

 that they exist in Minnesota, has said nothing of 

 their being tinged with yellow. Such of the readers 

 of Gleanings as wish to trace the facts produced 

 concerning them, will find them given in the July, 

 October, and December numbers of Gleanings for 

 1880. Many others must ba familiar with these bees, 

 and the silent indifference with which they view the 

 subject is surprising. 



THEIR antiquity. 



The Rev. Edward Stevenson, Secretary of the Bee- 

 keepers' Association of Utah, in the News of Salt 

 Lake City, has added much light concerning the 

 " Bees of America," and their ancient importation. 

 Mr. Stevenson quotes the " Book of Mormon," and 

 in a letter to me cites passages from the Bible to 

 show that the honey-bee was brought here 600 years 

 before the birth of Christ, by a cobny from the 

 Eastern Continent. Strongly confirmatory of Mr. 

 Stevenson's quotations is the recent discovery of a 

 cave in Kentucky, in which were found several 

 mummies. Masonic emblems, and a pyramid. It is 

 certain that they have existed here long enough for 

 the Missouii River to remove a body of earth some 

 fifty feet thick, ten or twelve miles wide, and many 

 hundred mles lon^, since the petrified bee that Mr. 

 Murphy certifies to was deposited in the rock on the 

 shore of the Missouri River. Bees may have reached 

 here by the abovcmentioned colony, and they may 

 have previously reached here, or the same conditions 

 that produced one paii^ may have produced several 



J 



J 



