:l6 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



condition by combination and co-opera- 

 tion. Some years these two States seem 

 to be favored spots that produce large 

 quantities of honey, and, if the rest of the 

 country produces a short crop, there is 

 then an opportunity for the bee keepers 

 of these two states, by combination, to 

 secure good prices for their honey. With- 

 out orga>ii~atio7i nothing of the kind 

 could be accomplished. I believe that 

 this question is one that might be profit- 

 ably discussed. If there were some way 

 by which we bee-keepers could know 

 what the crop is as soon as it is off, and 

 could then decide what prices ought to 

 be, and would all stand by those prices, 

 it would be accomplished. Sounds sim- 

 ple enough, but how can it be done? 



XAM*. »fr^^^^^^ 



WHICH IS THE MOST HOPEFUL FIELD ? 



This is an age of specialty. Concen- 

 tration of aim, energy, capital and pur- 

 pose accomplishes more than does a scat- 

 tering of them in various directions. In 

 this respect, bee-keeping is no exception. 

 We have had many discussions as to what 

 would best mix with bee-keeping, and 

 the decision has always been, some more 

 bees. Many a bee-keeper fails from keep- 

 ing twofeiv bees. Bees in limited numbers 

 will probably always be kept by a large 

 number of persons, and this is entirely 

 right and proper, the same as a bee-keep- 

 ing specialist may keep a few fowls, or 

 plant a garden, if he really cares for that 

 kind of work, but, as the years go by, 

 more and more will the great bulk of hon- 

 ey be produced by men who follow bee- 

 keeping as a business. This being the 

 case, the question arises: In which di- 

 rection is commercial bee-keeping sus- 

 ceptible of the greatest improvement? 

 Where is light most needed ? Which is 

 the most hopeful field ? 



I think that the time was once when 

 bee-keepers in the Northern States would 

 have unhesitatingly said: The wintering 

 of bees. Perhaps some of them will say 

 so now — and they may tell the truth, too. 

 However, we are doing so much better 



in this direction than we did years ago, as 

 to leave it an open question whether win- 

 tering should be placed at the head — or 

 further down in the list. 



The idea of planting .specially for hon- 

 ey has practically been abandoned. It 

 has been found much easier for Mohamet 

 to go to the mountain than to bring the 

 mountain to Mohamet. 



Our hives, supers, extractors, comb 

 foundation, smokers, and other imple- 

 ments, together with the methods for 

 their manipulation, are probably not per- 

 fection, but, if the bees will only bring in 

 the nectar, these things enable us to han- 

 dle it to pretty good advantage. 



The devising of some plan whereby 

 bees may always find nectar in paying 

 quantities, will probably never be accom- 

 plished, but we have had many reports of 

 some strain of bees lying up a fair surplus 

 while some other strain had to be fed. 

 Here is food for thought. Improvement 

 of our stock may not be the most hope- 

 ful field at present, but it certainly will 

 yield abundant fruit if rightly tilled. 



Our methods of putting up honey for 

 market, and our systems of marketing, 

 are great improvements upon those of the 

 past, but they are decidedly behind the 

 times, as compared with the wa3-s that 

 some products are put upon the market. 

 We need system, uniformity, co-operation 

 and business like methods. Too many 

 of us, when we have produced a crop of 

 honey, think our work is done. It is 

 only half-done. 



I have now mentioned a few of the 

 field? in which I believe that we as bee- 

 keepers may labor with fair prospects of 

 receiving our just rewards. Which one 

 ought to arouse our brightest hopes, I 

 am unable to decide; and to the one who 

 will, before May 15th, send me the best ar- 

 ticle on this subject, giving reasons why 

 some particular field offers the greatest in- 

 ducements, I will pay I5.00 cash. To the 

 w'riter of each article, aside from the 

 prize article, that is accepted I will send 

 the Review one year and one of the Su- 

 perior Stock Queens. 



