616 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLRIXAL. 



Sept. 8, 1904. 



practice of making- honey-cookies, using them in the family 

 and putting them before their guests, others will be induced 

 to follow the example. More than one who has sampled 

 our cookies has wanted the recipe, and it will be the same 

 elsewhere. It is nice to send a few such cookies to the pas- 

 tor's family or to other friends, and that will help. 



Now, that's only one item, and by no means all has 

 been said that might be said. The matter lies largely in 

 the hands of the sisters, not the brothers— although the 

 brothers' mouths may help out. Let us push it. 



Bee-Keeping- Combined with Other Pursuits. 



I have read with much interest lately the arguments of 

 bee-keepers who favor the handling of apiaries as a specialty 

 and an exclusive occupation and source of income. Al- 

 though the other side of this important question has been 

 lightly touched upon, there are doubtless very many who could 

 say considerable if they wished, in defense of bee-keeping in 

 connection with other business. Of course there are sections 

 in our country where the pasturage is so assured and gen- 

 erous, and where the bee-keeper has facilities for handling 

 outlying yards, that it pays well to make a specialty of the 

 business. But the fact also remains that a larger percentage 

 of apiaries, especially in the East, are so situated that, for 

 one reason or another — take them year in and year out— 

 they will not, if managed alone, afiford an income sufficient 

 to provide comfortably for a family; while if the apiary is in 

 connection with other lucrative employments, it adds a sub- 

 stantial item to sales, especially on small farms. 



In most of our Eastern States the honey-flow is very 

 spasmodic, the pasturage in many sections supporting only 

 about eighty colonies to the apiary, and the income varying 

 from $ioo to $500. As such a limited number of colonies re- 

 quires only an occasional day's work in the yard, there is con- 

 siderable time left for fruit-growing, poultry-raising, and 

 other like pursuits. 



Again, if bee-keeping goes hand in hand with other 

 branches of husbandry, the general business of the farm will 

 be sufficiently arduous to justify employing an assistant to 

 bear the brunt of the hard work in the apiary also. This 

 will enable a person who is not robust to run a small place 

 comfortably and profitably, when otherwise life would be a 

 painful struggle. 



A little farm of three acres will accommodate a good 

 bee-house and yard for 100 colonies; buildings, yards, etc., 

 for 2,000 ducklings, as many chickens, 100 turkeys, and i.ooo 

 or more pigeons; also a good vegetable garden, about thirty 

 fine apple-trees, 1,000 choice currant bushes, grapes, raspber- 

 ries and plums, and there will be considerable room for ex- 

 pansion. 



The owner of such a little farm, with one helper the 

 year around, and another during the busiest summer months, 

 can keep every part of it in good, healthy, running order, and 

 if the honey season is poor there are the other resources to 

 fall liack upon: if poultry fails the honey crop will probably 

 be good. 



Another advantage in inixed farming is that the pro- 

 prietor of a hotel or a fainily purchasing one item of you is 

 quite likely to take the others, a market thus being established 

 for the entire farm product. Also in advertising stock there 

 is a decided gain in having three or four first-class products 

 for sale. 



There are few moderate-sized poultry farms that cannot 

 also run an apiary with good results ; and very many of our 

 bee-keepers who have small apiaries can double their income 

 and comfort by adding to them the raising of poultry and 

 small fruits. Fhances Ellen Wheklkr. 





Nasty's Afterthoughts 



) 



■ Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hastt, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



PROPER SPACING OF BROOD-FRAMES. 



The expert opinion on the proper spacing of combs is 

 eleven for 1:?^ inches, eight for I'z inches, two for 1 and 

 7-16; and just one thinks he would like 1^. Two pretty 

 decidedly don't care. Only two confess any inclination to 

 change, both in the direction of closer spacing. Sorry it 

 came out exactly so. Where combs are continually manipu- 

 lated in a hive in which bees are not very plenty, close 

 spacing comes easy, so it does where there is practically no 

 manipulation at all ; but it looks to me that a man who 

 wishes to handle over his combs a few times in the course 

 of the season — colonies strong some of the time — will do it 

 easier with the widest spacing. Page S17. 



BKES IN SUPERS — WHITENESS IN HONEY. 



S. T. Pettit will think I'm queer, but I doubt if he can 

 abate much the inclination of bees to crowd into the center 

 of a super. Even if he puts a thin septum below and makes 

 all the bees go up front, rear and sides, I should doubt still. 

 Bees don't seem to regard a thin septum i/ ii is entirely sur- 

 rounded with bees. They know where the center of things 

 below is, and as a matter of preference prefer to be exactly 

 over it. In cool weather there would be a gain in throwing 

 more warmth into the outside sections. 



And here's a sentence of his that bears repeating well : 

 " We should not lose sight of the fact that bee-keepers are, 

 without any profit to themselves or their patrons, educating 

 the public to demand what they do not adequately pay for." 

 Page 518. 



BALLING QUEENS — SENSE OF SMELL IN BEES. 



I think Miss Wilson is wrong in assuming that Sister 

 " Colorado's " queen was balled to protect her. Bees with 

 all their wisdom don't know enough to recognize their own 

 mother if a foreign scent is upon her. That startling smell, 

 originating with the fingers of that "critter" that had 

 touched their queen, was what did the business. Sure, 

 their queen never smelt that way. If the daintiest cheek 

 were pressed for a little while with an onion, or a tomato 

 leaf, the chap meditating a kiss — well, the scoundrel would 

 "kiss and tell." He would tell how it smelt and tasted. 

 It's plain that bees vie with dogs as to the amazing delicacy 

 of their sense of smell. The nicest, cleanliest fingers are 

 to the bee more than an onion is to a human being. Page 520. 



KNOWING AND " DON'T-KNOWING ". 



The little boy's dog that used to be older — being a gen- 

 uine incident — is an instructive one. How much children 

 know — and at the same time how little they know ! Rest of 

 us in the same predicament. In medicine, in chemistry, in 

 religion, in other things, an examiner with all wisdom in 

 possession would surely catch anj- one of us on here and 

 there a point where we are equally unable to see the 

 utter un-verity of assertions and dogmas. Our alleged 

 wisdom contradicts itself ; but we can't see the contradic- 

 tion. Page 533. 



BEE-TENTS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 



John Newton's bee-tent on the front of No. 31 is worth 

 talking of. The double arrangement of curtain for door- 

 way seems to be excellent. The fly-open top, if in practice 

 it doesn't gape open and let bees pass, would be nice, I 

 guess. The screen-wire windows are all right. Don't think 

 of such a thing as getting into a tent that you can't see out 



