10 



THE BEE-KEEPERS REVIEW 



requires time to learn anything so you 

 can do it expeditiously. 



I have always made my own hives, 

 complete, and have always used the bent 

 nails for wiring. I would use them if 1 

 bought my frames, for the wire is always 

 taut, which, -contrary to the ideas of 

 some bee keepers, I would have no other 

 way. This form of wiring gives a nice 

 straight comb. 



1 formerly used light brood foundation 



in these frames, but, of late, especially 

 for extracting, I have used medium 

 brood. However, either is very satisfac- 

 tory. 



It may seem to some that for only a 

 few hives of bees it would not pay to go 

 to the trouble to make forms for nailing 

 and wiring frames, but let me say that 

 you will change your mind quickly if you 

 will try it once. 



East Jordan, Mich., Dec. 7, 1909. 



Triumphing Over Obstacles in 

 "Keeping More Bees." 



D 



MATHILDE CANDLER 



EAR Mr. 

 Editor: —1 

 regret that 1 am 

 a little late in 

 preparing the 

 sketch of my 

 beginning in 

 bee keepinf, 

 which you re- 

 quested. 1 have 

 been so very 

 busy getting my 

 bees moved to a better location that I've 

 hardly had time for anything else. "How 

 did you ever come to take up bee keeping 

 as a business?" is a question I am often 

 asked. It seems to surprise some people 

 to find a woman who is a bee keeper, 

 although I do not know why. Woman is 

 taking a more or less active part in all 

 the world's work, and 1 cannot see why 

 she may not become interested in bees, 

 or anything else, for that matter, in which 

 human beings may be interested. It 

 somewhat surprises me that it surprises 

 them. 



Before I had bees I was a school-marm, 

 teaching a country, district school. One 

 day I saw an advertisement in an agri- 

 cultural paper, of the A B C of Bee 

 Culture. Having always had a liking 

 for the objects of Nature— birds and 



bees and bugs and beetles and flowers 

 and trees, of which I used to gather 

 specimens to examine with a miscro- 

 scope — I became interested and resolved 

 to send for the book. Reading it brought 

 on the worst kind of a bee-fever, not only 

 the wonders of bee keeping, of which I 

 read there, but also the greater inde- 

 pendence which I thought I could secure, 

 attracted me; and in the spring of 1890 I 

 bought two colonies of bees in box hives. 



Now began my troubles. 0, those 

 first lessons in bee keeping! Stings! I 

 wonder if any other beginner was stung 

 any worse or any more than I was that 

 first season. I waded right into it and 

 I was a s'ght. I actually cried with the 

 pain. I even wished that I had never 

 seen those horrid bees, and that some- 

 thing might happen to rid me of them 

 forever: ahh'iugh I never would have 

 confessed myself defeated, to any one. 



But nothing happened, and after a 

 time 1 learned better how to handle them. 

 1 bought me some rubber gloves, made 

 me a good bee veil, and learned to keep 

 my smoker from going out. My en- 

 thusiasm returned. I subscribed for a 

 bee journal, and read eagerly the articles 

 from the pens of old and experienced 

 bee keepers. Do not all beginners read 

 those first? Does not every enthusiastic 



