236 



aijEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A close view of a comb containing foul brood, showins;; the sunken and irregular cappins!^, 

 scattered patches of brood, etc. 



as far as surplus is concerned; but from 

 these two stands an artificial increase of 

 six was made, and, with the purchase of four 

 more hives, the second year closed with 

 twelve !?ood colonies. 



The winter following was a severe one, 

 and a total loss of four occurred, two of 

 which came because of leaky lids. This 

 caused me to fit all my colonies the following 

 summer with metal covers. By careful 

 methods I was able to g'et good surplus last 

 summer ; but not one of the eight old stands 

 produced as much as a prime swarm which 

 was captured the first week in June. When 

 winter came I had a total of fourteen colo- 

 nies. The additional six were natural 

 swarms, five of which were captured, and 

 one was my own because I overlooked a 

 queen -cell. 



Few are the men and women engaged in 

 the hazards of business who do not look 

 forward to the time when they shall have a 

 country home of their own, let it be large or 

 small. There they hope plenty of all of 

 life's necessities may be assured regardless 

 of financial conditions. 



That has been mj' sole ambition. While 

 yet a young man, not yet out of my twenties, 

 I hope to return to the soil whence my 

 ancestry came. While a bank account is a 



thing much to be desired, thousands of 

 young men and women, married or single, 

 find things seriously different from what 

 they anticipate when they reach the end 

 of the business world. The game requires 

 much and gives back little in return, and 

 absolutely nothing when old age and in- 

 firmities come with awful suddenness. Dis- 

 charge from the service of the employer 

 sometimes brings nothing to face but the 

 infirmary when the small savings of fitful 

 frugal periods are gone. 



Therein lies the reason why so many 

 acquire knowledge of bee culture, poultry- 

 keeping, and gardening-^that they may 

 succeed when their backs are turned on the 

 fallacies of the cities, and that they may 

 return to health, happiness, and a bank 

 account in the country. 



Two years ago I had the pleasant and 

 profitable experience of assisting the state 

 inspector of apiaries in this section — an 

 exj)erience which has proved to be more 

 valuable to me than 1 had ever expected. 

 There can be no reason why any one who 

 owns bees or keeps them in any way, mod- 

 ern or crude, should not be well informed 

 on the subject of foul brood. P]very fnini 

 paper of any consequence, and nil of I lie 

 bee-journals, have articles of this kind, and 



