GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At BorodimcD, New York. 



BEGINNING IN BEEKEEPING. 



" I am about to start in beekeep- 

 ing. How many colonies should I 

 start with, and about what should 

 be the outlay? At what season of 

 the year would it be best to be- 

 gin?" 



The spring is the best time to begin bee- 

 keeping, and May or the first part of June 

 the preferable time. Then the bees should 

 be in a condition in all northern locali- 

 ties, so that " spring dwindling " will be 

 past. If a good colony is selected on the 

 first of June, it will be ready, usually, to 

 take advantage of any honey harvest which 

 will come after that. If you have on hand 

 a surplus hive and super for each colony 

 purchased, you will be in good condition for 

 a successful outcome from your first ven- 

 ture with bees. 



As to the number to start with: If you 

 have never kept bees, nor had any schooling 

 with some good apiarist, my advice would 

 be to purchase not more than from two to 

 five colonies; otherwise your increase at the 

 start may become out of proportion to your 

 gain in knowledge, and thus you may make 

 a failure and become discouraged through 

 your knowledge not keeping up with the 

 number of colonies. One of our best bee- 

 keepers, who has accumulated quite a for- 

 tune from his sales of honey, once told me 

 that he began with only two colonies, and 

 that he considered that number as the best, 

 and so advised all who appealed to him re- 

 garding the matter. This was the number 

 of colonies I started with in 1869, so I 

 quite agi'ee with him in this matter. He 

 told me that his start with bees cost him 

 $25. I paid out $35 for my start; and after 

 that I never paid out a dollar later until I 

 had sold enough from the bees themselves to 

 purchase those dollars. 



But perhaps I should tell regarding an 

 addition to this start which cost me nothing 

 save my labor. Passing through a piece of 

 woods one day in March, 1870, I saw dead 

 bees on the snow under a tree; and on 

 looking up I saw bees going in and out of 

 a hole. I obtained permission to cut this 

 tree, and in May I secured a fairly good 

 colony, transfen-ing the combs and bees to 

 a hive I had made in April for them. In 

 1871 I set aside as many full combs of 

 honey as I could obtain without robbing the 

 bees I had. Then in the fall, wherever I 

 could hear that any one was going to take 

 up his bees, as they used to in those days by 



killing them in order to get the honey, I 

 would offer to take the bees alive and give 

 them the honey. Of course the farmer was 

 out what honey the bees gorged themselves 

 with in the drumming-out process; but as 

 most farmers are tender-hearted they liked 

 the idea of not having to kill the bees. I 

 got several good colonies in that way. 



I remember that one farmer had two 

 small colonies or second swarms he was 

 going to kill with burning brimstone, and 

 he was glad to let me have them. He offered 

 me all the empty comb there was in addition 

 to the bees. I put the bees from the two 

 hives together. As all after-swarms have 

 young and vigorous queens which are liable 

 to breed a little later than an old queen, this 

 colony was composed of bees of the right 

 age for wintering to the best advantage, 

 while the queen would be at her best the 

 following season. The result was that this 

 colony gave me two good swarms the next 

 year, and I sold honey from them to the 

 amount of $18.76. When I jingled that 

 money in my pocket I considered I had 

 cleared that much, and added thi'ee colonies 

 of bees to the apiary, besides saving the 

 bees from brimstone torture and death. 



" Do you think it profitable to save the 

 bee-journals as they come, and pack them 

 away? My wife does this with her maga- 

 zines; but the papers I take generally go 

 into the waste-basket." 



If 3'ou do not follow your wife's example 

 with your magazines you will show poor 

 qualifications for a successful outcome with 

 the bees. And, remember, you'i'e not to 

 allow those bee publications to lie packed 

 away till you don't know the year dated on 

 the first volume you have. I have nearly 

 everj' is.sue of evei'y bee-journal published 

 in the United States, and most of them 

 bound, and at my fingers' end whenever I 

 wish to refer to them. I prize them very 

 highly. I have had a chance several times 

 to part with them, but have always refused. 

 These papers have been very largely the 

 means of making me what I am as a bee- 

 keeper to-day. They have walked with and 

 talked to me all along down through the 

 weeks, months, and years for a generation, 

 giving me good advice and wholesome doc- 

 trine regarding our beloved pursuit. In 

 fact, I have grown up with them and they 

 with me, and to part with them would be 

 like parting with one of the family, I am 

 continually getting new thoughts out of 

 them as I handle them over. 



