Yol. X. 



AUG. 1, 1882. 



No. 8. 



A. I. ROOT, ] PuWished Monthly. 



Publisher and Proj)rietoi\ \ 



Medina, o. j EstahUshed in 1873. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER AXNUM, IN ADVANCE: 

 2 Copies for 31.90; 3 for §2. 75; 5forS4.00; 10 

 01- more, 75 cts. each. Single Number, lOctt-', 

 Additions to clubs may be made at club 

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NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



xo; 33. 



ESTHUSIASM IX BEE-KEEPING. 



MOW 1 did enjoy reading friend Doolittle's arti- 

 cle on page 332 of July Gleanings, and then 



■ there is friend Heddon; he, too, wakes up in 



the night and (/u'/i7>8. When a man becomes so in- 

 terested in his work that he can scarcely sleep nights, 

 we may be pretty certain that something is going to 

 be done. 1 sometimes think that a thorough, go- 

 ahead bee-keeper, like a poet, is born, not made; 

 he loves his business as the engineer loves his en- 

 gine, the old sailor his vessel, or the artist his art. 

 But this enthusiasm can not be manufactured to 

 order. Lying on one's back in the shade, reading a 

 bee paper, and now and then giving an upward 

 glance to see the bus.v little workers whirling away 

 into the vault of heavcnl.v blue, writing platitudes 

 and "gush" for the papers and bee conventions, 

 etc., will never make of one an enthusiastic and 

 successful bee-keeper. The genuine enthusiasm 

 must bul)ble up spontaneously from the "inside;" 

 and if it takes the shape of working steadily from 

 daylight to dark, disregarding stings and the hot sun- 

 nhine — yes, and perhaps a rack full of tempting 

 newspapers, then look out for a good report next 

 fall. 



HIVES rV\A. OF BEES AT JUST THE KIGHT TIME. 



Friend Doolittle says : "The great secret of suc- 

 cess is in getting a full force of workers read.v for 

 the field just when they are needed." Now, this is a 

 point that I think needs " stirring up." Down to the 

 convention last spring, at Detroit, Mr. J. H. Robert- 



son stood almost alone in saying that he didn't care 

 if his bees were not extra strong early in the spring. 

 He prefeired that they should remain quiet, and not 

 commence breeding much until the weather was 

 fine and settled, fie did not favor the plan of stimu- 

 lating them to early brood-rearing, using up honey, 

 and perhaps having brood chilled by a spell of cold 

 weather; or, if this does not happen, having hives 

 full of bees at a time when there was not much hon- 

 ey to gather. Others thought that a colony that was 

 strong early in the spring would also be strong, if 

 not stronger, in the honey harvest. The next morn- 

 ing alter the convention, friend Hunt took me out 

 into the yard and showed me different colonies. 

 "Now, then," said he, "which colony would you 

 take, if you were purchasing, and were eiven your 

 choice? and which one do you think Mr. Robertson 

 would take, this one here where the bees ' boil up' 

 at any corner of the quilt that you choose to lift, or 

 I one where the bees occupy only three or four spaces 

 between the combs? " Now. then, brother bee-keep- 

 ers, which one would \ivu take? Of course, if one 

 wishes to sell bees by the pound, or make up nuclei 

 j for queen-rearing, early in the season, strong colo- 

 '' nies arc to be preferred; but how is it when an api- 

 j ary is to be run for honey? Let's have this question 

 I agitated; let's have sovae facts upon the subject. 



FUEL FOR SMOKERS. 



Friend Heddon, how graphically you can write! 

 Only one who had "been there" would ever have 

 written, "And pufC and puff and puflf, and see so 

 little smoke issue as to be only just discernible." In 

 reading your article, I watched carefully to see if 

 I you had ever tried rags that had been soaked in a 

 1 solution of saltpeter, and then dried, Friend Runt 



