FEBRUARY 1, 1915 



Iween blaeks and Italians. Whatever may 

 bo tlie case in Switzi'rland and other lands 

 across tlie sea, one of the thing's that I know 

 for certain is that Italians are far and away 

 ahead of the blacks that I had, and I made 

 a good bargain when I paid $10.00 for an 

 Italian qneen. 



Some things in which blaeks differed from 

 Italians wonld seem strange to many a bee- 

 keeper of to-day. I wonder, for instance, 

 how many of my readers ever saw a good 

 ease of " roping down." When a frame 

 covered with blacks was held np by one 

 corner, the bees wonld run down over one 

 another and string down from the lower 

 corner until they fofmed a " rope " six or 

 eiglit inches long. The important difference, 

 liowever, was the difference in the amount 

 of honey gathered. 



In 1863 I had begun to use a movable- 

 frame hive having a frame of odd size, the 

 dimensions of which I do not now remem- 

 ber; but in 1870 I adopted what I supposed 

 was tlie regular Laugstroth hive. In one 

 respect it was more " regular " than the 

 Langstroth, for there were no fractions in 

 the dimensions of the frame. It was 18 x 9, 

 while the Lang-stroth is % inch shorter and 

 Vs inch deeper. That little difference in 

 size seems hardly worth considering, yet 

 when later I came to change to the regular 

 size it cost no small sum in money and 

 trouble. 



In 1870 I got a honey-extractor, the 

 Peabody, the best then known. There was 

 no framework revolving in a can, but can 

 and all revolved. A handle was on top, and 

 you leaned over and made it revolve, and 

 you had to be careful when the extractor 

 was in full motion lest the projecting frame 

 should strike fingers or clothing. 



In 1871, ha\nng bought several colonies at 

 different times, I succeeded in having fifty 

 iiives to go into cellar for winter, each hive 

 containing bees, although some of the hives 

 contained scarcely more than nuclei. By the 

 time the season opened in 1872 I had two 

 colonies left ! How was that for encourage- 

 ment after eleven vears' work? But as I 



wajs keeping bees only for the fun of it, it 

 didn't trouble me, and I went at it afresh. 



Hut why give in detail all the ups and 

 downs of my career in getting started as a 

 beekceijer? Are they not all duly recorded 

 in the chronicles of my experience in the 

 book "Fifty Years among the Bees"? 



In 1877 I returned to comb honey, using 

 pound sections. They were four-piece, there 

 being as yet no one-piece. For 38 seasons 

 I have continued the production of~sections ; 

 but for the i)ast two years I have extracted 

 some 500 pounds each year. If I were to 

 begin afresh it is quite possible I should 

 extract mostly or altogether, chiefly because 

 it would be doing just so much toward 

 having more honey eaten, and so having a 

 stronger nation ! 



Although beekeeping was for a longtime 

 only a side line, yet as the years went by I 

 began to dream of a time when all my time 

 could be employed in working with bees, 

 planning about them or writing about them. 

 In 1878 that dream became a reality, and I 

 liave now passed through 37 seasons as a 

 specialist in beekeeping. And what a good 

 time I've had ! Some talk about the en- 

 Ihusiasm of the beginner, and the better 

 lesults obtained because of that enthusiasm. 

 All fudge — at least in my case. Last sum- 

 mer, my 54th summer with them, I was just 

 as much interested in working with bees, 

 just as keen in working out new problems 

 with them, and, if you must insist on my 

 telling it, just about as likely to try some 

 fool thing with them that would turn out all 

 wrong, and withal just as grateful to God 

 for the enjoyment of it all, as I was in the 

 middle of the past century. 



Young- fellow, if you have no other inter- 

 est in bees than the money to be made out 

 of them, let 'em alone. But if you're so 

 built as to love bees, to think bees, to dream 

 bees, go to it ; j^our chance to-day is better 

 tlian when I began. And if you want just 

 a word of advice from one who would be 

 glad to begin it all over again, let me advise 

 you to breed from the best all the time for 

 all your colonies. 



HOW NOT TO DO AND HOW TO DO ; BEGINNING IN BEEKEEPING 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



[The following' article is the first of a series by R. F. Holtermann upon the general subject, " How <Not 

 to Do and How to Do." The second of the series will he published in an early number. — Ed.] 



When one is about to undertake a certain 

 piece of work it is his duty to do that work 

 thoroughly and expeditiously. It should be 

 a fixed principle to expend no more time 

 and energy upon an operation than neces- 

 sary, for act upon act in time becomes a 



habit, and such a habit results in making, to 

 a greater or less extent, success or failure of 

 the work. Let me illustrate, and perhaps I 

 may be pardoned for referring to myself. 

 Many years ago, when times weie liard, and 

 I was a young man witli but little ready 



