234 



August, 1S12. 



American Bee Jonrn^^ 



A variety of bottles may be had, and it 

 is not easy to choose between them. 

 When women get to do most of the 

 honey-bottling, it may be that some- 

 thing will be evolved more pleasing to 

 the eye than anything now on the 

 market. 



< • > 



Sequel to "Man Put to Flight" 



I hiivt- been vt*ry nnicli interested in tlie 

 ■' BeeKeeping for Wonien " page in the Bee 

 Journal, because my wife is the " bee- 

 man "(? of our family. About the only part 

 I have in the enterprise is to buy the sup- 

 plies, pay for beebooks and subscribe for 

 journals on bee-culture; and then, when I 

 become honey hungry, 'phone the grocer to 

 send me up a few sections. I have eciuipped 

 my wife with a smoker, a pair of gloves, veil, 

 etc.. and have important ?* business up town 

 when a swarm is to be handled. They sting 

 me in the quietest of times. 



Lfp-to-date bee-cultnrc in this immediate 

 vicinity is comi)aratively a new enterprise. 

 and now that my wife has the above-men- 

 tioned equipment, she is sought by the 

 neighboring novices to handle perplexing 

 problems. Brother W.. who lives on one of 

 our beautiful avenues, had an obstinate case 

 to handle recent ly. and asked me -one day if 

 Mrs. Home would notassist him. I informed 

 him that she would he "dee-lighted" to 

 render the ser\ice, 'I'he next afternoon 

 'phone No. 302 had a call, and Mrs. H. was 

 asked to come over and assist in making a 

 single nursery out of a double one he had in 

 his garden. 



Equipped witii the aforesaid paraphana- 

 lia, and a proud walk. " our professor." (that 

 is what we call her) betook herself to Bro. 

 W.'s posthaste. Sister W. assisted in get- 

 ting up the hive, tools, cloths, etc., and took 

 her position where I usually do. behind the 

 fie tree. Brotlier W. did not have any equip- 

 ment except a i;)air of very sheer lady's hose 

 on his hands. From the lirst the bees showed 

 fight, but Bro. W. would not bear the idea of 

 deserting and leaving a woman alone to 

 manage the colony. Finally Mrs. H.'s per- 

 suasion, and a sting on lop of his bald pate, 

 sent him toward the house. 



There were so many bees after him that 

 Mrs. W. was afraid to let him in. but he 

 slapped, fought and begged until she let him 

 in just in time for him to fall on the couch in 

 a faint. He fainted twice, and Mrs. W. be- 

 came so alarmed she 'phoned for a physi- 

 cian. The bees got so mad they attacked a 

 crowd of children at play out on the street, 

 and one little girl, with a full head of hair, 

 fairly alarmed the neighbors for a block 

 away. 



Brother W. is a sanctified Methodist 

 brother, but some one heard him say he had 

 a great mind to kill every bee in that hive, 

 and get some bees of a more friendly and 

 sensible kind. 



Mrs. H. says she would not have gotten 

 stung at all. but a puff of wind blew her veil 

 against her nose, which had the appearance 

 of a "Milwaukee" nose for two or three 

 days. 



How will this do for a sequel to the story. 

 " Man Put to hlight." in the June number of 

 the journal ? 



In the meantime I am content to hold my 

 original job. /. c. to furnish the implements, 

 journals, etc., and attend to my town mat- 

 ters. Wc like the journal very much. 



Kespectfully, T. N. HoRNE. 



Never mind, Mr. Home, some of 

 these days instead of your 'phoning to 

 the grocery the grocery will be 'phon- 

 ing to your wife fur honey. 



The Joys of Bee-Keeping 



Something must be a little wrong 

 with the make-up of that bee-keeping 

 sister who does not feel a thrill of de- 

 light upon reading the following beau- 

 tiful pitcture from the pen of Miss 

 l^thel Kobson in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal : 



'Ihere is the (irst (light of the bees in the 

 spring when you are able to form some esti- 

 mate of how thebecs have wintered and 

 you know that wintering is one of the points 

 in which bee keepers take great pride; then 

 the tirst peep into the hives, wlien. if the 

 bees have wintered well, the sight sets the 

 [lulses throbbing with visions of a bounteous 



harvest; the bees wakine from their Ions 

 winter rest are active and alert, boiling up 

 over the frames, and eager for the busy life 

 so soon to begin, and which they will share 

 for such a little time; there is the sight of 

 fields yellow with dandelion, and orchards 

 white with bloom. There are flashes of 

 sunshine after rain, when the air is so full 

 of the hum of bees as to be intoxicating; the 

 joy of sitting quietly on a Sunday afternoon 

 while the bees come tumbling in from the 

 fields; but, best of all. there is the long suc- 

 cession of days spent in the open air with 

 the sun. and the wind, and the bees for 

 companions, when you are drawn close to 

 the heart of Nature and made to partake of 

 all her bountiful life— this is the great joy of 

 beekeeping. 



where we will Then look at the marVgXIous 

 antennae, the uses of which are not yet fully 

 understood. biU by which bees cer vainly 

 smell, and which are believed to b e the 

 means by which their wants and desires 

 can be communicated from one to the other. 

 It is possible also that bees may possess 

 senses or sensations of which our great 

 coarse bodies can form no conception. By 

 aid of the antennce they may feel vibrations 

 which never affect us. 



How It Feels to be a Bee 



In the Irish Bee Journal is an article 

 by A. Beatrice Bambaut, who evidently 

 has a lively imagination as well as the 

 powers of observation. Here are two 

 paragraphs from the article : 



It is somewhat hard to realize that at this 

 present moment one-thirdof the population 

 of the world believes in the transmigration 

 of souls— believes that before his present 

 existence here on earth, man has already 

 gone through a multitude of varied exis- 

 tences, and tliat if he does not make the 

 most strenuous efforts, he will probably be 

 obliged to go through a still larger number. 

 They maintain that a being can transmi- 

 grate into any form whatever, and. accord- 

 ing to his good or bad actions, he will pass 

 to the highest or the lowest state Of 

 course, we always feel it to be extremely 

 improbable that our opinions are wrong, 

 and other people's opinions right. But let 

 us assume transmigration to be a fact, and 

 that, to correct such faults as disloyalty or 

 want of thoroughness in our work, or dirty 

 or slovenly habits, we may awake some day 

 and find ourselves to be neatly packed into 

 the tiny body of a bee. How shall we like 

 the change ? 



I imagine we shall feel quite delightful, 

 for just consider the marvellous increase 

 we shall find in our capabilities. Instead of 

 2 arms and 2 legs to have 6 legs, blessed with 

 a " versatility otherwise unknown in the 

 realm of legs," Instead of reciuiringa mo- 

 tor car, a flying machine, or a cab, to have 

 wings on which at any moment we can fiv 



Women to the Front in Africa 



They are certainly to the front, liter- 

 ally, in the South African Bee-Keepers' 

 Journal, in the May number the first 

 page is occupied with a line picture of 

 Miss M. Dagmar Sillar, and the first 

 article is on " Bee-Culture for Women," 

 by Miss Mary W. Johnstone. One can- 

 not doubt that Miss Johnstone speaks 

 from experience when she says: 



None but those who have handled full, 

 fresh. " clean " sections of honey-comb can 

 realize the pleasure that it gives the bee- 

 keeper to see the first "taking" of each 

 season. There is an exhilaration about 

 han<iling honey-cotnb in sections, fresh 

 from the hive, that surpasses anything in 

 other pastimes, such as poultry-keeping, 

 flower growing, etc. Fven the first success- 

 ful hatch of chickens in a new incubator 

 cannot compare with it! 



Bees Balling the Queen 



Do you ever have trouble with your 

 bees balling or killing the queen when 

 she is returned after being handled? 



When dropped on top of the frames 

 she is likely to commence running all 

 over, and the bees will be very apt to 

 chase and ball her. Especially is this 

 true if you have wide top-bars. Try 

 this "kink:" Turn a frame of brood 

 and bees Hatwise and drop the queen 

 among the bees. We have never had a 

 queen killed or injured when returned 

 in this wav. 



Far Western ^ Bee-Keeping 



Conducted by Wesley Foster, Boulder. Colo. 



Is the Middleman's Profit Excessive? 



In the lune issue of tlu' Bee lournal I note 

 an article from Mr. Wesley Foster, of Boul- 

 der. Colo.. " Honey- the Consumer's Dollar, 

 and Who Gels It ?" I luve been on the dis- 

 triljutive side of business for many years- 

 being a retail lumber dealer— and have been 

 able to make from less than nothing to a 

 little over (1 percent per annum on capital 

 invested, averaging about ^ percent, I think 

 I am accounted as successful as the average 

 in my line of business. 



Now. take Mr. Foster's showing on 100 

 colonies of bees: $240 return on honey pro- 

 duced, and deducting $».! expenses, and al 

 lowing $100 for his labor Si.Ki per colony foi 

 all labor and expenses), it still leaves $.s; for 

 return on $1111.1 investment, or 'I'/i percent 

 Compared with my lumber business that 

 looks good, 



I am also in the bee-ljusiness in an amateur 

 way. having, last year. 20 colonies of bees: 

 amoiuit invested in the business Siw. I got 

 7511 pounds of comb honey, rated at to cents 

 per pound. S;?. My labor, expenses and sup- 

 plies for tliese 20 colonies amounted to Si-t^n 

 per colony, or $w, leaving $is for interest on 

 an investment of ti.so. or w percent, i.ast 

 year, with me in the liee business, was bet- 

 ter than the average, but I have kept bees 

 for H years, and keei> accurate books: the 

 returns (Ui the money invested are far ahe.id 

 of the same invested in the retail lumber 

 business. 



Most producers and consumers want to 



eliminate- not the services of the middle- 

 men antl their capital — but /xn'^/ie for the 

 same. If the peoiile who are finding fault 

 with the mitUilemen. were compelled to 

 ser\'e a 5-year period holding itiiddli-men's 

 jobs— somebody has to do the service, it can- 

 not be eliminated--tliey would return to 

 their original work much better satisfied 

 with the returns on the labor and capital 

 invested, G. W. li'EUi.EisEN. 



Madrid. Iowa. 



My contention is, that the producer 

 is paying the middlemen too much for 

 doing the distribution. The qtiestion 

 is not so much whether the dealer, 

 such as Mr. Fehleisen, is making .'! or (i 

 percent on his investtiient, as to how 

 much of the ultimate consumer's ilollar 

 he is getting for tlieact of distribution. 

 I know of sever:il men in the retail 

 business who are making less than 

 nothing, but they are selling goods at 

 W to lOU percent above cost. Our sys- 

 tem is at fault, and the return to direct 

 dealing, such as the parcels post will 

 help to bring, will eliminate some of 

 the waste in distribution. 



The past winter I could have sold 

 my extracted honey to dealers for (J to 



