170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Mak. 



on these combs of brood and tucked up as warm as 

 possible, so that they can hold this brood till it ma- 

 tures. Here they are kept till they have these 

 frames filled with brood clear down to the bottom 

 corners, and till the bees begin to crowd out beyond 

 the division-board, when it is time to treat this colo- 

 ny the same as we did the first, and they should not 

 be so treated one day earlier. From what Mrs. H. says 

 about the " remnants " she practiced upon in try- 

 ing the "Doolittle" plan, I think she will see why 

 she did not succeed. Once more: 



In the spring of 1876, about the 15th of May, I 

 went down to Bro. Betsinger's to borrow S300 to 

 put with $600 which I had to build the house 1 now 

 live in; for, after paying $600 for the land where 

 was to be located my future home, the former .1600 

 was all of my eanhly possessions, except some 

 household furniture. Upon arriving at B.'s I 

 found him spreading brood and handling his bees 

 as if it had been June, for the place where he then 

 lived was a very sheltered one. When I came home 

 and went out into my beeyard, here in "old cold 

 Spafford," as this town is termed, and looked at my 

 46 remnants of colonies, only two of which had 

 brood and bees enough in their hives to call colo- 

 nies, I was thoroughly discouraged. I went to the 

 house, sat down, put my elbows on my knees, and 

 my head on my hands, and thought. Now, accord- 

 ing to the verdict "of the heavy producers" at the 

 Michigan Convention, lately held, my conclusions 

 should have been, " Take $100 of the borrowed mon- 

 ey and buy bees with it, not fussing with them or 

 those you have; for what you should be after is, the 

 greatest a^nount of money with the least ex'penditure of 

 labor, for time is money." Instead of this, after a 

 few minutes I said, " $900 is too small to build such 

 a house as I warjt; 1 can not run in debt more; 

 those bees must receive my very best care, give me 

 a living, and help on building a better house than I 

 now contemplate." 1 arose, went to work in ac- 

 cordance with the above, gave them the attention 

 they needed just when it was needed, according to 

 my best judgment, and in the fall I had almost 

 $1600 as my pay, they producing an average of a 

 little over 106 pounds of comb honey per colony, 

 spring count. This paid back the borrowed money, 

 gave me a little to lay aside for a " rainy day," be- 

 sides building a better house than I had first plan- 

 ned, and putting into my life an ambition never be- 

 fore enjoyed. 



The idea advanced by some of our brethren, re- 

 garding the greatest amount of money with the 

 least expenditure of labor, has a smattering of the 

 thought that " bees work tor nothing and board 

 themselves." The thought seems to be, that the 

 same labor given to 200 colonies in producing .5000 

 pounds of honey is better than the same labor 

 spent on 50 colonies to produce the same amount. 

 This is an unprogressive idea, and one that should 

 not be tolerated by any one who wishes to rise in 

 the world. It is only on a par with the rule so oft- 

 en adopted, of poorly working four acres of land to 

 get the same results obtained by friends Root, Ter- 

 ry, and the late Peter Henderson, from one acre. 

 Why, Mr. Terry would not care for a hill of pota- 

 toes as some of these do for their bees. He be- 

 lieves in planting his potatoes in the right time, 

 fertilizing and cultivating the ground and the 

 plants in the right time, while the fighting of the 

 beetles and their larva?, digging and caring for the 

 crop, etc., are all alike thoroughly looked after. 



Because some one, or the multitude says, so much 

 fussing is not in accordance with the greatest 

 amount of money with the least expenditure of la- 

 bor, does not affect Mr. T. or his progressive ideas 

 in the least, for he proves to himself year by year 

 that his is the course that an intelligent man should 

 pursue, not only as far as dollars and cents are con- 

 cerned, but in lifting mankind up out of the slip- 

 shod way they have been in the habit of doing 

 things, and putting an ambition in them which 

 causes them to look away from self out toward a 

 higher and nobler life, which contemplates a love 

 for the beautiful and progressive, for mankind in 

 general, and for the Creator of all which we enjoy, 

 in particular. Just so regarding the pursuit of 

 bee-keeping. Letting the bees " manage their own 

 domestic affairs," as Mrs. H. proposes, is only ad- 

 mitting that we are not capable of doing things at 

 just the right time and in the right place, and has 

 not an atom of soul stirring thought in it, or any 

 thing which looks toward attaining in the future 

 any achievement not obtained in the past. Breth- 

 ren and sisters, don't let us settle down on any 

 such ideas of non-progression, but, rather, let us 

 say, " Nothing is impossible in this progressive 

 age." Now, Mr. Editor, if you consider this article 

 too fiery or too long, so arrange the articles which 

 you publish that no one shall pour cold water on 

 that " old tough crow " when they attempt to pick 

 him again. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Feb. 17. 



ADAPTING T SUPERS TO THE DOVE- 

 TAILED HIVE. 



DR. MILLER GIVES US SOME WISE COUNSEL. 



The veterans who have been raising honey for 

 years are pretty well settled as to the appliances 

 they shall use. They have learned what suits them, 

 or they have become so accustomed to what they 

 have, that they think nothing else can be better. 

 Even among them there is found more or less 

 reaching out after something better, so that what 

 may be accounted the best appliances to-day may 

 be superseded in a few years by something quite 

 difterent. This being the case, so much changing, 

 so much difference of opinion among those who 

 have settled upon what they think best, 1 do not 

 wonder that the beginner may feel much distracted 

 in trying to settle upon what fixtures he shall use. 

 In the hope of helping such a little, I have under- 

 taken to write this article. 



Now, Mr. Beginner, I must tell you plainly in the 

 beginning, that I don't know all about what is the 

 best for you to use; and if I thought any one else 

 could, I would not trouble you with this talk. But 

 I can talk a little about some general principles, 

 and this may be of some use to you. My experi- 

 ence has been mainly with comb honey, which will 

 limit my suggestions somewhat to that side. You 

 have dabbled a trifle in bee-keeping; have read the 

 differing views of bee-keepers, and have formed 

 some theories of your own, and one of the first 

 things you are likely to do is to plan a hive and ap- 

 purtenances thereto belonging, that embodies all 

 the best principles, and that shall differ from all 

 hives already made. 



Now for a first word of advice— do/t't. Won't take 

 my advice? Know more than anybody else, and 

 can get up something away ahead? All right; go 



