132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



"doiii^ their duty," — far diftereiit froin their 

 motions wlien ;it tlie cidvv mills, or robbing, — 

 that rbr a long time l)afflo(I us ; und it was not 

 until we discovered one "sou of toil" with 

 muddy feet, that it dawned on lis that they 

 were only carryhi2,' water. A vi.sit to the creek 

 .sliowed them loadiuu: vip from the pebbles, and 

 the one we saw had iiro!):ii)ly slipped oil". 



THE OTH.EK SI©K ©F BEK CrLiTrRE. 



ii'"TlrIE following, at least in substance, was 

 41) sent us some time ago, and refused on the 

 ground that — although containing some truth, 

 — it was too great an exaggeration : 



Editor Wkstkun Ki:ka!. :— Thinking that the good 

 of all conceiiied demands ihal both sines oi' all suh- 

 jects should be shovvn up and believing mysell' to be 

 among the most siiccesslul lioney producers in this 

 couniiy, I think it would not Ije out of place lor me to 

 say a few words through your columns, should you 

 have room for light matter. 



The bee journals lead tlieir readers to believe that 

 apiculture is about the most prolitablc business on 

 earth, while statisti<;s show that more barks have 

 foundereii on tlie rocks of bee-keeping than almost 

 any other business known. If we throw aside the 

 worthless "modern im))rovements'' (so called), we see 

 little or nctliing more to warrant success, than wc liad 

 twenty years ago. The honey-emptying machine is 

 the source of much tliin, sour honey, besides being 

 the instrument wiiicli has made the system of nianii- 

 I'jLLturing iKniey possil)le. I'oor extracted honey lias 

 injured the reputation of comb honey, and now near- 

 ly every city and town in the United States is drugged 

 \l'itli iioney. if any one is inclined to doubt this as- 

 sertion, you can satisiy yourself by talking with honey 

 deaU'is in >our own city. 



While I liuve worked very liard at lioney producing 

 and have been favored l)y fortune as it were, ;as my 

 nnnu;;l' re])orts shove) what liave I made lor all my 

 pain^ '.■' 1 have now :if-2,00U invested in the most risky 

 ,-.tock 1 know of, and if my } ear's income shoultl equal 

 I hat of iny neighbor wlio wuiks in the eaijacity of 

 cieik, witli nothing invested, my rei)ort would appear 

 on the first page ct every bee journal in tlie land. 



The outlookior the lioney producer is darker to-aaj- 

 than for yeais i)ast. Put your protluets where you 

 will, anil you meet a competiiion tliat drugs the 

 )naiket. Talie Irom the market manulactured honey, 

 and ail honey that cost the producer double what U 

 is selling for, and there would still remain a surplus. 

 We must not forget that bee-keeping as a business, 

 was run inio and out of before we were born. 



You wid noiice that nearly all of our leaders in 

 this ••fascinating pursuit,"' no sooner get tlie business 

 ■well learned than they eliange their tactics and en- 

 gage in furnishing "apiarian 8ui)piies" (send stamp 

 i'or circular); go into the water-cure business, or 

 some other less 'fascinating"' business. The cost of 

 honey is ever falsely esiimated, until tlie producer 

 makes the business a specially, devoting his wliole 

 lime anil attention to ii, when all at once he finds 

 out that every pound of honey he ever raised cost 

 all or more than he got for it. The sjiecialist can 

 alwi'.ys produce goods clieaiter than any other man- 

 niaeiiircr or prodiuier can. <J a:\iks IIkddon. 



Cans Co., Mich. 



Very well, friend 11, we v/ill all sell out and 

 apply to our next store for a situation as clerk. 

 There is room for us all, and they (ilwaijs get 

 good pay, wear nice clothes, and don't have 

 mnch to do. Besides it dou't make much dif- 

 ference whether they have earnfcd a rcputatiou 

 for fuithfulUess and honesty or not. Mr. Pal- 

 mer o'" Hart, Mich., has i^ccn a clerk, and yet 

 the foolish man has gone out into the woods, 

 persists in keeping bees, and insists that lie can 

 raise money in this manner even more <iuickly. 

 Aside from the profits of his own Apiary, this 

 season, he has been so rash as to go into a proj- 

 ect like the following: A banker in Hart who 

 has observed the way in which he has handled 

 bees for a few seasons past, gave him !fGO().((0 

 last May, with orders to go and purchase 40 



colonics of Adam Grimm. This he did, and lo- 

 cated them 2,' .2 miles from his own Apiary. 

 Mr. P. was to take all charge of them, for 

 which he was to have half the net proceeds of 

 sale of honey and liees, and to divide the stock 

 equally at the end of o years. Now here is the 

 funny part: the company bees have in just 4 

 months prodivced bee's and honey to the value 

 of over *500.00, and yet the original stock is 

 left in tine trim for winter, worth at least all 

 they cost, and yet ^Ir. P. has visited them no 

 oftenerthan once in one or two weeks. 



Mo3{.\L. Adam Grimm always has bees to 

 sell, the swamps and forests of Michigan al- 

 ways yield honey, comb honey in such section 

 frames always sells at sight, and the "unlucky" 

 ones can sell out in the fall, and buy more of 

 Grimm in the spring. 



[For Gleanings.] 

 DOOLITTI.E'S KEPOKT. 



■^"'^J ) been silent for some time, we are not out 

 ot the bee business as. perhaps you have in- 

 ferred from the discouraged tone of our last 

 writing. By referring to pages 7G and 95 pres- 

 ent volume, it will be seen we were only 46 

 very weak colonies on the 20th of ]VIay, and 

 had given up all hopes of anj^ prolit from our 

 bees this year. From June 17th to the 22iul 

 wc had to keep close watch of our bees every 

 day, as they were in really a starving condi- 

 tion. In the morning there was scarcely a 

 drop of honey to be seen, but at night there 

 would be a little sparkling in the ceHs. 



Locust yielded very little. The trees had a 

 merry hum of bees in them yet the hives 

 showed that they did not get more than they 

 consumed. June 23rd clover began to yield 

 sparingly and continued to do so until the 27th, 

 when it became cold and wet and honey gath- 

 ering ceased until July 2ml. Our bees com- 

 menced to swiirni about this time and obtained 

 honey enough to keep them swarming prettj' 

 lively until up to the 10th. At that time we 

 concluded to .-.warm the remaining 15 that had 

 not swarmed, ourselves, as we wished to get 

 back our old number if v:c did not get any 

 honey. 



Bees got but little more than a living from 

 this time to the IGth when basswood and tea- 

 sel opened. After cutting out all drone comi) 

 aud getting all combs straightened generalh", 

 we found but combs enough for 70 hives, so we 

 contined our new swarms to live frames and 

 by the 20th they had them tilled with nice 

 straight worker comb. We spread them apart 

 at that time and put in each alternate space an 

 empty comb, putting the boxes on. Basswood 

 did not seem to yield much honey until ^A\^•. 

 25th, yet the strongest swarms had connnenced 

 in boxes from what they got from teas^el. 



On the25lh basswood was full of hone.y and 

 such a roar from bees we never heard. The 

 air was full of them all day and at night near- 

 ly every swarm was seeing which could make 

 their combs grow fastest. The 2Gtli aud 

 27th were nearly as good days and basswood 

 was gone. Teasel lasted until Aug. 10th and 

 yielded pretty fairly when bees could work on 

 it, but the first five days of Aug. were so cold 

 and rainy they did nothing. Buckwheat 



