I'HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



13 



or just before it was allowed, the Board asked 

 for a list of experiments that we wanted 

 performed, and uow that some of them have 

 been performed, and some others attempt- 

 ed, it seems that there is likely to arise an 

 idea that the work is finished, and there is 

 no need of continuing the Experimental 

 apiary. The Board does not seem to clearly 

 understand that new things and features are 

 continually coming up tliat need attention, 

 or that some of the experiments already 

 made must be repeated year after year to ar- 

 rive at definite conclusions ; that there are 

 experiments, or lines of experiments that 

 need to be followed out and repeated in or- 

 der to get their full value. To drop the ex- 

 periments now would be about as wise as it 

 is for a man to put a fence part way round 

 his farm aud then stop because it would cost 

 so much to finish it. For the last twenty 

 years, if not longer, our experiment stations 

 have been experimenting in regard to potato 

 culture ; they have been trying to decide 

 how deep the seed should be planted, how 

 far apart, and how many "eyes" in a hill, 

 etc., etc., still they are not satisfied, but one 

 man is expected in a year or two to settle all 

 of the knotty problems of bee-keeping. 



There is still another feature that needs 

 consideration, and that is that the compen- 

 sation is too meager. There is no doubt 

 that there are plenty of men who would jump 

 at the chance to make experiments at !|50U a 

 year, but there are men, and men, and when 

 we get a man like Mr. Taylor that is careful, 

 conscientious and capable, and so anxious 

 to succeed that he will use his own bees in 

 order to get valuable results (and has got the 

 bees to use) and will hire a man to help him, 

 when we get such a man he should not be 

 asked to do the work at a loss to himself. 

 To take the care, furnish a large share of the 

 bees, employ help, plan and carry out the 

 experiments, and make out accurate, intelli- 

 gent reports to the State, in short, do the 

 work as Mr. Taylor is doing it, is worth more 

 than !il;.")00 a year. It should be twice that. 

 Until one becomes really engaged in the 

 work there is no really fair conception of its 

 magnitude. 



There is no longer any question as to the 

 truthfulness of the statements made by Mr. 

 Taylor that " bee-keeping lives not to it- 

 self," that it is probably of more value to 

 agriculture in general than for its product, 

 that is, the increased productiveness of 

 grains, fruits and vegetables because of the 



thorough fertilization brought about by the 

 visits of the bees is of ten fold more value than 

 the nectar that is gathered up while the bees 

 are doing this act of fertilization. 



Let every bee-keeper who is interested in 

 the continuance of the experimental ai)i-iry, 

 aud who is not, write to tiie "Chairman of 

 the State Board of Agriculture, Agricultural 

 College, Mich.," and urge the continuance 

 of the apiary and an increase in the money 

 paid for the work. It would also be well to 

 write to the other members of the board. I 

 do not know their names and addresses, but 

 I will learn them and give them in the next 

 Review. 



Ontario has not only established an ex- 

 perimental apiary but she grants !f;;"00 each 

 year for tne encouragemeiit of her bee-keep- 

 ers' association, besides paying her foul 

 brood inspector $600 a year. 



WILL THE BEE-KEEPING OF THE FaTlTBE DIF- 

 FEB FROM THAT OF THE PAST ? 



( Read at the Ontario B. K. Convention.) 



All well-informed bee-keepers know some- 

 thing of the bee-keeping of the past. They 

 know that in the early times b^es were kept 

 in log "gums," or in straw hives. Next 

 came the box hive, made of boards. In those 

 days there were no spaciaiists ; at least, not 

 in this country, and as we understand the 

 word. Probably not every farmer kept bees, 

 but a large share of them did, and in the 

 fall the heaviest and the lightest colonies 

 were brimstoued. Then came the grandest 

 invention of which modern bee-culture can 

 boast — the movable comb hive. With the 

 birth of this hive came the specialist. Then 

 followed the bellows bee-smoker, the honey- 

 extractor, the section honey box, comb foun- 

 dation, and queen excluding metal, aud new 

 journals sprung up and disseminated apicul- 

 tural knowledge broadcast over the land, 

 and bee-culture soon attained to the dignity 

 of a profession, in which ignorance, super- 

 stition and slipshod management were sup- 

 planted by scientific knowledge and positive 

 and accurate methods that brought certain 

 and profitable results. Our country was in 

 just the right condition to bring the best re- 

 sults from bee-keeping. It was not a howl- 

 ing wilderness in which there could be found 

 no white clover, no orchards with their blush 

 of bloom in the spring time, aud no fields 

 white with buckwheat in the autumn : neith- 

 er had it reached that stage where all of the 



