130 



American Vee Journal 



April, 1916. 



mind or stomach trouble. 



We have made a practice of chang- 

 ing judges each year, securing one 

 that is a stranger to all if possible, and 

 I think it pays, but those that under- 

 stand this line of work thoroughly and 

 will serve within the price limit are 

 few. We are allowed $2.5 for this pur- 

 pose, to cover salary and expenses. 

 Our judge this year was Wheeler D. 

 Wright, of Altamont, N, Y. 



The only restriction to entry into 

 this department is that all must be 

 members of the Connecticut Beekeep 

 ers' Association, the yearly dues of 

 which are one dollar. 



The educational features of such an 

 exhibit, to the honey producer, are val- 

 uable ; illustrating different styles of 

 jars, manner of putting up, labels, clean- 

 liness, clearness, and body of honey, 

 methods employed for display, etc. 

 Again, a whole week in the company 

 of fellow workers engaged in the same 

 God-given occupation, healthful be- 

 cause it is God-given, to exchange ex- 

 periences, is better than a vacation , 

 taken in any other way. 



Hartford, Conn. 



Some Things New England Has 

 Done for the Bee World 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



THE beekeepers of the rest of North 

 America oft seem inclined to look 

 upon those of New England and 

 their business as of small consequence. 

 Well, there is a lot of comfort in an 

 ample stock of self complacency, but 

 sometimes there is more benefit and 

 profit in looking about and seeing 

 what the other fellows have done and 

 are doing. 



It will jolt a lot of the boys to learn 

 how much they are indebted to the 

 beekeepers of little old New England. 

 Here are a few of the things: The 

 first importation of honeybees into the 

 United States, the publication of the 

 first half dozen American bee-books, 

 the movable-comb hive (Langstroth's), 

 the first real system of commercial 

 queen-rearing (Alley's improvement of 

 Quinby's), the baby nucleus and its 

 accessories (Pratt), the sectional outer- 

 case protected hive (Manum's), the 

 hot plate foundation fastener, the steam 

 heated uncapping knife and sundry 

 systems of practice and management 

 now so universal as to excite no curi- 

 osity as to their origin or development. 

 There were also many things now ob- 

 solete which were the foundation for 

 things now more or less indispensable. 



It isn't always the country producing 

 the most of anything that produces the 

 best or gives a thing its fame. " Clover 

 honey," the synonym for the " best," 

 the honey by which all others are meas- 

 ured, got its fame in New England, and 

 today the finest comes from New Eng- 

 land and New York. The fame of 

 clover honey was built on a natural 

 blend of clover with a little raspberry, 

 basswood and some of the mints, and 

 it is from places giving that natural 

 blend where the finest " clover honey " 

 is produced today. 



New England beekeepers have not 

 only originated and developed apicul- 

 tural things, but at sundry times have 



A.W.YATES I 



IMPORTER'"' BREEDER.,! 





YATES' EXHIBIT AT HARTFORD FAIR-Photo by Burton N. Gates 



shown the fallacies of widely exploited 

 plans and methods which were costing 

 beekeepers a lot of money. 



It does not follow from all the fore- 

 going that the beekeepers of New Eng- 

 land have been superior to those of 

 the rest of the country, but that possi- 

 bly their environment, their closer 

 touch with manufactures, with com- 

 merce and more time and facility for 

 study and experiment gave them a 

 broader knowledge and a better per- 

 spective than some of their fellows in 

 other sections. 



Times have changed, and today other 

 sections of the country are challeng- 

 ing each other as well as New England 

 in the race for progress. And it is 

 well. 



I recall, at this moment, the names 

 of a few who have made a greater or 

 lesser mark in the progress of apicul- 

 ture. Most of them noted for real 

 progress, a few for errors and black 

 marks, but by those tokens arousing 

 others to energy and advance. Of the 

 following, but one is left in the bee- 

 business, and all but two or three are 

 dead : 



Thomas, Thatcher, Smith, Packard, 

 Langstroth, Hubbard, Russell, Freyer, 

 Wakefield, Bigelow, the three Carys, 

 Manum, Larrabee, Alley, Kidder, Cot- 

 ton, Weeks, Mason, Davis Sweet, Pond, 

 Jeffrey. True, Locke, Cushman, Pratt, 

 and Chase, the latter, over 90 years old, 

 still keeps bees and attends the bee- 

 meetings, and on Feb. 5, this year, I 

 heard him give a forceful address, clear 

 and to the point. Cushman is living but 

 out of the business, and Locke and 

 Larrabee, I believe, are alive. All the 

 rest went more or less long ago. Of 

 the others living I will not speak save 

 of one of the greater ones who now 

 makes his home with us and is still 

 actively interested in bees, and that is 

 L. C. Root, of Stamford, Conn. Has 

 not little old New England a record to 

 be proud of? 



Providence, R. I. 



Beekeeping for Women 



BY MRS. HELEN MATHIE. 



IN these days when, everywhere, wom- 

 en are asking the question " What 

 can I do to earn money at home?" 

 I wonder that more of them do not 

 turn their attention to beekeeping. The 

 greater part of the work is easily with- 

 in their strength, and requires attention 

 only for a part of the year. The initial 

 investment need not be large, and the 

 up-keep is not heavy. Once established 

 the hives and working tools will last 

 indefinitly if properly cared for. Even 

 if the bees die out, the outfit is left, 

 and an outlay of a few dollars will start 

 another apiary, presumably with better 

 stock than the bees that died. In a 

 good year the profits for time expended 

 are larger than on almost any work a 

 woman can do. 



I say I wonder why, but really I be- 

 lieve I know why after all. Almost all 

 women fear them. Of the apiaries 

 within a radius of several towns only 

 one is owned by a woman other than 

 myself. However, she does not fear 

 them, and when at home works among 

 them. I reason that women fear them 

 because although " crazy about bees" 

 for years before I had any, I could not 

 muster courage to start with them, not 

 knowing anything about them, because 

 I felt sure they would sting me if I 

 went near them. If Providence had 

 not sent a swarm to alight almost on 

 my doorstep I doubt if I should know 

 any more about bees today than I did 

 20 years ago. That it was a mistaken 

 fear I very soon learned, and it would 

 take some pretty hard knocks of ad- 

 verse fate to drive me out of the bee- 

 business now. 



At the time my first swarm adopted 

 me, my sole actual knowledge of them 

 was the seeing of about a peck basket- 

 ful of them winged into a hive by a 

 neighbor arrayed in veil and gloves, 

 while the remainder of bis family hov- 



