1887 



GLEAl>riNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



72!) 



c-oincs nearei' to it; lor the' busy time with" bcrs 

 comes ill the i*niniut'r \'iH-iit ion; ami one witli sutli- 

 eicut strength and the right taste might talic earo 

 of quite a number of colonies without interfering 

 with sehool duties. I think, however, he would in 

 time decide as I did, to give up one or the other. A 

 notable e.vcejition, howe\er, is in the case of Mr. 

 E. A. Gastman, of Decatur. 111., who has been for 

 many years superintendent of schools, if 1 am not 

 mistaken, and at the same time a bee-keeiier. Mr. 

 (iastman, liowexer, is a man of magnitieent phys- 

 ii|ue— by the way, it just occurs to me that he is 

 very much the build of (i. M. Doolittle— and looks 

 as if he might easily do the work of two ordinary 

 men. 



Of course, there may be many special depart- 

 ments in which ditferent individuals may have de- 

 veloped special taste and ability, where a some- 

 what successful combination might be made. For 

 instance, the teach ?r of the old-fashioned singing- 

 school (now unfortunately out of vogue) could take 

 care of bees without interfering with his " schools," 

 held only on the long evenings. 



Hut what we are after is something that may be 

 doni' by almost anyone with the re(iuisite iiualiftca- 

 tions to be a good bee-keeper. I think I have heard 

 poultr.x-keeping spoken of in connection with bee- 

 keeping. That, again, comes too much like berry- 

 raising. When work begins to press with the bees, 

 old Biddy will lie wanting to sit, and perhaps two or 

 throe hens will be sitting on one nest, persistently 

 changing from where you want them, till you feel 

 like shutting your teeth together hard, and saying, 

 '■ Wliat does make you act so, when I haven't time 

 to fuss with you? 1 should, just like to wring your 

 necks for you." Vet after all this is said, there re- 

 mains the fact that, in at least two instances, peri- 

 ("licals have been published having for their spe- 

 cialties l)ec-keeping and i)oultry-i'*ii^>ug. Why this, 

 unless tlie two pursuits were sui)posed to have 

 some siiecial a<laptation to each other? To tell the 

 truth, if a young man to-day were to write me, " I 

 ha\e at least onlinary ability as a bee-keeper, and 

 ha\<* decided I must have some other i>ursuit to 

 connect with bee-keeping, what shall it be?" with 

 iwy present knowledge I should repl^', " Keep poul- 

 try." But 1 wouldn't have any hens sitting in 

 swarming time, nor, indeed, with flocks of little 

 chicks wandering about, tr.ving to lose themselves in 

 the wet grass. I have studied some little about it, 

 and taken some observations; and 1 think the 

 whole business of poultry-raising might be done al- 

 niost entirel.v when bees require little attention. 



Mind you, I don't sa>- it is best to combine at all; 

 but if combining is done, the merits of poultry- 

 keeping deserve consideration. Others, perhaps, 

 will favor us with their combinations. 



Marengo, 111. ('. C. Millek. 



Friend M.. I lia\e thought of this subject 

 a good deal, and especially this matter of 

 giving up every thing else and depending 

 solely upon bees. If one has decided to do 

 this, lie should be very slow in making the 

 change ; and I would advise having capital 

 enough in the bank, or somewhere else 

 readily available, to take them through one 

 or two seasons with little or no honey. Per- 

 haps few know how many have got into 

 trouble by depending on bees alone during 

 the season that is just past. And there is 

 :iuotlier point : A yoiuig person with not 



very much experience in bees or poultry 

 either, would be pretty sure tn neglect one 

 or the other. Dividing the interest, with 

 many people, seems to unlit them for what 

 they might do well if their whole energies 

 were given to it. I'ruit-raising, or garden- 

 ing and poultry-keeping, come in nicely, be- 

 cause one can be at home in the pursuit of 

 all these indtistries. If tlie bee-keeper is 

 employed by somebody else his time is uol 

 his own, and either the bees or his employer 

 is apt to suffer. On the whole, I think" it 

 well for a bee-keeper to have a small piece 

 of land, say five or ten acres; then let him 

 manage his crops, or whatever else he does, 

 so that it shall not absolutely demand his 

 attention at the same time tlie bees do. 



WHAT HAS THE HARVEST BEEN 



PKOF. COOK GIVES US HIS KEPOUf OK Til K SKA- 

 SON .lUST PAST. 



E have just put up our bees for winter. 

 While they have given ns very little honey 

 (the least we ever got in any year since 

 1868, when I commenced keeping bees 

 here), still they are in grand shape for 

 winter— strong, healthy, plenty of young bees, and 

 more than enough honey. 



It will be remembered, that our bees are Syrian 

 with several crosses of Carniolau. I went into 

 t<yrian exclusively when Mr. .Tones first introduced 

 them. I liked them; they were prolific, good to 

 protect their hives, good to collect honey; but they 

 were a little too irritable. 1 got a Carniolau of Mr. 

 Benton some years since, and each year since ha\ e 

 introduced some Carniolau blood. I now have two 

 pure Carniolau queens in the apiar.v. The bees in 

 general are quite yellow, show^ing the pre]iotene.v 

 of the Syrian race; but they are also quiet, and 

 reallj' 1 like them much. 1 believe I am on the 

 right track— any way, I shall keep right on, con- 

 stantly breeding from the best. 



A nephew, who has lai-gely cared for his father's 

 bees, helped me the other day. " Why." said he, 

 " 1 never saw such iileasantbees to handle." 



" Thank Carniola for that," said I. 



1 worked with them all the afternoon Saturda.\'. 

 with no protection, no bee-tent, and yet I got haril- 

 ly a sting. Of course, robbing was started; but 

 never fear robbing with good vigorous colonies o1' 

 Syrians. 



PROK. COOK GIVES APIFUGE A TKIAI.. 



Last Thursday 1 wished to work with some of the 

 colonies; and as no other aid was available, Katie 

 was my right-hand— manly girl. The day was quite- 

 cold and windy. Mr. Cowan had left me some 

 a})ifuge; so I said to Katie, " We will try it.' We 

 both rubbed it all over our hands. Katie got one 

 sting, and I got ten. The day before, I worked 

 about the same time and got only four stings, with 

 no apifuge, though the day was warmer. So much 

 for apifuge. I did not use a bee-tent at any time. 



Mr. Root, I wish to tender a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Cowan, from American— that means Canada also— 

 apiarists. He was very thoughtful, and spared no 

 pains that he might aid us to the utmost. I shall 

 ne\er forget his \ i-il, luid ^shall hope that It will 

 be soon repeated. 



