608 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



Now, of course you will ask about the 

 disadvantag-es of my system, and I will tell 

 you. In breeding queens their full capaci- 

 tj^ they sometimes fail the second j^ear, and 

 are usually not good after two years, al- 

 though I have had some very good at three 

 years of age. I always change them by 

 inserting anew queen whenever they begin 

 to fail, without regard to age. 



In conclusion I will say a few words 

 about selling honejs as that is about as im- 

 portant as its production. Of course, I 

 could sell my honey at 5 cts. per lb., and 

 make plenty of money out of it; but I think 

 it is really worth 15 cts., and is cheaper at 

 that price than any thing else of its kind 

 we buy to eat; and if I sold at that price 

 mj'^ neighbors who keep bees, and manj^ of 

 them very poor, would have to go out of the 

 business, and that would create a monopo- 

 ly. I aim to buy all the honey produced I 

 can hear of for miles around, and pay 15 

 cts. cash per lb. for it — just what I sell it 

 at — and this prevents farmers running it in 

 and glutting the market. Storekeepers 

 will try to buy honey, especially of small 

 producers, just as cheap as they can. 

 Now, I make a uniform price for each kind, 

 and furnish a good article, and never have 

 any complaints. I have my 60-lb. cans 

 made to hold 64 lbs. ; and when a person 

 takes 20 of them I give them an extra can — 

 they pay for only 60 lbs. in a can. I "usu- 

 ally sell comb honey by the case, and guar- 

 antee 20 lbs., but I never fail to get in at 

 least 22 lbs. I always give liberal weight 

 and have every kind of honey in my office, 

 and invite all who come in to inspect it and 

 eat all they want, especially women and 

 children. This will create a taste for hon- 

 ey, and children will insist on their parents 

 buying it. We make cakes out of honey, 

 and can much fruit with it, and this sets 

 an example which others will follow. In 

 selling honey we can afford to be liberal, 

 as it comes to us as a gift, just like finding 

 it, and why not distribute it? I have found 

 nothing is lost by liberal methods, and it 

 will greatl}' help to counteract the false- 

 hoods about honey adulterations. I always 

 furnish ministers honey free, and editors 

 the same, and then I oftentimes have the 

 latter copy articles in their papers from the 

 A B C of Bee Culture. Of course, a mer- 

 chant who buys honey of a commission firm 

 usually has to sell on a close margin, and 

 he can not afford to be very liberal; but the 

 producer can give away large quantities 

 without any loss. I have alwa3's thought 

 that every dollar's worth I gave away 

 brought me two in return. 



Apiculture is a pleasant, easy, honora- 

 ble, and healthy business, and is conducive 

 to long life and happiness, not only to j'our- 

 self but to the human race. 



I look upon the apiarist as a benefactor 

 of the human race, as his teachings to the 

 people warning them of the dangers of us- 

 ing refined sugars certainly entitle him to 

 the respect and esteem of the humanitarian. 

 I have practiced medicine nearly forty 



3^ears, and have closely observed, and I 

 never knew a consumer of honey or bee- 

 keeper to die from that dreaded malad}', 

 Bright's disease of the kidneys. There can 

 be no doubt that the use of honey instead 

 of sugars tends to prolong life; and I have 

 known many invalids, affected with suppos- 

 ed incurable disease, to recuperate and get 

 well under a diet composed largely of hon- 

 e3^ With knowledge and industry the road 

 to success for the bee-keeper is an easy one 

 o tread, and will lead to health, wealth, 

 and happiness. 



[I have no doubt that this will seem like 

 a fairy-tale rather than a sober narration 

 of what has been accomplished, and I con- 

 fess to being myself somewhat stumbled. 

 When a man says he has averaged 400 lbs. 

 per colony, spring count; has made $25,000 

 from bees in two seasons; sells his honey — 

 extracted, comb, and chunk — all at 15 cents 

 — well, it does seem hard to believe; and 

 were it not for the fact that I have obtained 

 some corroborative evidence from residents 

 in that vicinity, and were it not for the 

 further fact' that Mr. Gandy writes of ex- 

 periences that corroborate my own observa- 

 tions, I should feel that the whole thing was 

 a hoax. 



Some time ago a bee-keeper, whose name 

 I have mislaid, wrote me that I ought to go 

 out to Nebraska and visit a bee-keeper whom 

 he knew, who was more extensively engag- 

 ed in apiculture than any other man in the 

 world, and who was more than a million- 

 aire. I have not visited him 3'et, but this 

 is the man to whom my friend referred. 



Dr. Gandy tells about making 300 and 

 400 lbs. average. Let us now stop and con- 

 sider how he does it. W. L. Coggshall puts 

 locality first; man next, hive last. In the 

 first place. Dr. Gandy undoubtedly has a 

 remarkable locality: He has doubled and 

 almost trebled its value by putting out, as 

 I should judge from what he writes, man3'' 

 acres of sweet clover and catnip. Both are 

 remarkable honey-plants. M3^ father once 

 put out a quarter of an acre; but when he 

 had 300 colonies in the neighborhood he 

 could scarcel3' tell what that amount of cat- 

 nip would do. But suppose he had set out 

 25 acres of sweet clover, and an equal area 

 of catnip — then what? I am rather of the 

 opinion we should have had some results; 

 added to these acreages of clover and cat- 

 nip, we have a man who is considerabl3'^ 

 above the ordinar3' as a bee-keeper. 



He has proved what I have long been tr3'- 

 ing to teach, following after the Dadants, 

 that large hives — or two or more L. hives 

 one on top of the other — are more profitable 

 than single L. brood-nests. He practicall3' 

 says he does away with swarming ; and 

 that these big colonies will treble and quad- 

 ruple the amount of honey over the amount 

 obtained from smaller ones. 



I am having, at this writing, at our south 

 3'ard — a 3'ard I have been taking care of 

 myself largely — a few twelve-frame Lang- 

 stroth hives; a few Jumbo or Quinby size; 



