u 



(,.li:anix(;s ix uee cultuhe. 



Ja>'. 



it. T believe we have honey-dew honey here 

 when tliere is no How Irom'the llowers at all. 

 as has been the case lliis season, wlien the 

 ]iouey-(ie\v came dnrint,^ the extreme drought. 

 It needs tlie lioney-dew or rain to soften up 

 the dried-down 'saccharine matter so the 

 l)ees can lick it up. May be you are right in 

 thinking we liad better stop calling it bug 

 juice. There is a great difference in the 

 quality of the hon^y-dew, and we have some 

 aroun(l here who like it. and prefer it to any 

 other honey— not enough, iiowever, to make 

 a market tor it. A man was here yesterday 

 with over 500 lbs. of beautiful-looking white 

 (;omb honey stored in one-pound sections. I 

 did not dare offer him even 10 cts. per lb. for 

 it, for tlie reason tliat I have been unable to 

 dispose of the wIioIh of a -ts-lb. case, al- 

 though 1 sell it as low as VJ. cts. per lb. 



SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO AN 

 APIARY, AND A SHOP FOR MAK- 

 ING BEE - HIVES. 



ABOUT SUCH AN ESTABLISHMENT AS EVERY SMALL 

 TOWN OR VILLAGE SHOULD CONTAIN. 



fKIEND ROOT: -I send you by mail six cards, 

 with some photographs on, of bees, etc., not 

 to have engravinfs made, but as a sort of 

 visit to you to this part of the country. If 

 there is any thing in them that you wish to 

 have engraved, you are welcome to do so. The cut 

 of drone in Gleanings, Oct. 1, is a very good repre- 

 sentation of the photograph I sent you, so I supoose 

 it was made from it. I believe I am already paid, 

 as I received a photograph of A. I. K. free by mail 

 for my album about that time. 



Careless bee-keepers in this neighborhood are 

 losing some colonies by starvation, as the crop was 

 short, and the bees kept breeding so much all 

 through the season. Jas. A. Nelson. 



Wyanrlott, Kansas, Oct. 'Z8, 18S-1. 

 Tlie engravings on the opposite page were 

 suggested by some stereoscopic views kindly 

 sent me by Mr. James A. Xelson. of Wyan- 

 dott. Kansas. You see friend Xelson, in 

 his letter above, says I may make what use 

 of the drawings I "choose. Well. I believe 

 the two pictures are not very far from tlie 

 photographs, but I have changed them a lit- 

 tle in some of the details I do not know 

 whether friend X. lives in a village or a 

 town or a city ; but in looking at the pic- 

 tures it occurred to me that every village 

 could with profit afford something 'like the 

 bee-hive shop shown. The machinei\v, in- 

 deed, coidd be run by horse-power, tread- 

 power, wind-power, or. perhaps, best of all, 

 H little two-horse-power engine. Tiie en- 

 gine, to be out of the way. can be in a sort 

 of shop, or lean-to. against the building. A 

 suitable opening in the wall should be pnv 

 vided at the proper places to i)ush througli 

 shavings and refuse lumber. For safety in 

 case of tire. I would have tiiis opening closed 

 by a swinging door, the latter being covered 

 with tin. as well as the woodwoik around 

 the engine and l)oilfr. The shop should be 

 long enough to handle Ifl-foot boards nicely. 

 There had l)etter be two saw-tal)les— one loi- 

 cut off', and the other for ri]), although one 

 table may be made to answer both purposes 



for a time : in fact, by frequent change one 

 table may l)e made to'do almost all the work. 

 For making sections, a gang of dovetailing 

 saws will be needed ; and if one-piece sec- 

 tions are to be made, it will take still anoth- 

 er machine. The machinery should be cho- 

 sen, of course, according to the amount of 

 work to be done. If bee culture is in its in- 

 fancy in your vicinity it would not pay you 

 to nmke'any great outlay to l)egin with. 

 X'ow, the great secret of succeeding in busi- 

 ness will be to have every thing that any- 

 body may call for, in readiness to load up on 

 the instant, in case your customer is in a 

 hurry. 



In the foreground we notice a friend who 

 has probably loitered into this shop to see 

 what is going on there. He naturally asks 

 about honey-, and probably somewirere in 

 the rear of the shop, near the apiary, he has 

 been shown honey nicely put uj). neatly 

 labeled, in tin pails of various sizes. May 

 he some of them are out on the walk. He 

 tastes it leisurely, after awhile takes out his 

 pocket-book, and pays for a pailful, such as 

 he thinks will be needed for the family. 



The man with the wheell)arrow owns a 

 grocery, and he. too. has been attracted by 

 the look of thrift and business that is seeii 

 around the establishment. He has taken a 

 48-pound case of comb honey, and also a 

 combined crate holding a single tier of sec- 

 tions. The latter he has set up edgewise, 

 as you will notice. If he has good luck he 

 will come around with his wheelbarrow oft- 

 en, you may depend on it. 



The fellow who owns the horse and wagon, 

 and looks after the happiness of that nice 

 little woman with a parasol, is a farmer. 

 Said little woman took a shine to bee culture, 

 as many a thrifty housewife does ; and one 

 day, when they were busy cultivating the 

 corn, she spoke something as follows : 



" James, our bees are doing so well I am 

 really afraid they may possibly swarm ; and 

 you know you have hot got those new hives 

 that you promised to see about." 



He stands with both hands straight down, 

 looks anxiously at the corn-fleld, and then 

 back to his trim little wife. She is a pretty 

 good general, and knows how to manage not 

 only bees but husbands, so she tips her 

 shapely head a little to one side, and then 

 with a smile she knows he can not resist, 

 suggests, "• 1 should really like to go to town 

 this morning, and you "know it would not 

 take any m(n"e time now than after the bees 

 have swarmed ; and then may be they would 

 be gone to the woods before you got back, if 

 you did that way. It would take you but a 

 little while, and I will be ready just as soon 

 as vou can get hitched up." 



You see, the conversation has all been on 

 one side. James, like a dutiful husband, 

 just let her do the talking, and before nine 

 o'clock this bright June morning tliere they 

 are at the l)ee-man"s establishment. I sup- 

 pose he has got boys enough to run the buzz- 

 saws while he sees to the hives, and loads 

 them up : so there he is with his coat off, ex- 

 plaining matters. I do not (juite see what is 

 to be done witii the little Avoman, if you put 

 many more hives into that light spring bug- 

 gy; but I guess thev will (ix it safelv. When 



