394 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 1 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



THE HIVE OR THE MAN. 



' ' I have decided to go into the bee business. 

 Will you tell me which is the best hive to 

 use, Mr. Doolittle? An old man who has 

 kept bees, but has none now, tells me if I 

 start with a good hive my bees will do well, 

 as the hive used has much to do with any 

 bee-keeper's success." 



"Which would mean that, if you started 

 with the Danzenbaker, Gallup, Dadant, Hed- 

 don, Langstroth, or some other good hive, 

 you would be likely to meet with success, no 

 matter how poorly you attended to the bees, 

 nor how ignorant of the first principles of 

 bee-keeping you were. While a good hive 

 may have much to do with the results of bee- 

 keeping, the man has much more to do with 

 the success or failure. Look at the man with 

 his choice stock. If he has only a good mod- 

 ern barn to house them in, does he let them 

 care for themselves otherwise expecting a 

 profit from them?" 



"I do not think so." 



"No; he spares no pains to have them 

 properly cared for, and gives them every 

 chance in his power that tends toward suc- 

 cess. Yet three out of four such men will 

 expect a good income from bees, should they 

 get a 'bee in their bonnet,' if they only have 

 9iem in good hives, even if they do not do 

 more than to hive the swarms, if any issue, 

 and put on and take off the supers." 



"But this old man told me if I had my bees 

 in good hives they would largely take care 

 of themselves." 



"Which but shows that he is living in the 

 past. That old idea that 'bees work for 

 nothing and board themselves ' still clings to 

 many of the past generation, but it must be 

 banished from the thoughts of the one who 

 would meet with success in the twentieth 

 century. Successful bee-keeping means 

 work, and intelligent work on the part of a 

 man who has brams enough to know that he 

 must leave no stone unturned that tends 

 toward success. KgoodhxYe in the hands 

 of such a man is a power which rolls up tons 

 of honey, and shows to the masses that there 

 is something in the bee business. Such a 

 man will have his bees in readiness for the 

 honey harvest when it comes, and do things 

 in just the right time to secure the best re- 

 sults." 



"I suppose that those hives which you 

 named have frames in them which are mov- 

 able, do they not?" 



"Certainly. All good hives have movable 

 frames." 



"What advantage has a movable-frame 

 hive over box hives? or over hives like the 

 Miner patent, which have guides so the bees 

 build their combs straight with the rows of 

 holes in the top leading to the supers?" 



"Much, every way, in the hancls of a skill- 

 ed apiarist; but none at all with the man like 



the one who has been advising you to get the 

 best hive, for he would never handle the 

 frames to take advantage of the benefits de- 

 rived from being able to keep good queens 

 in all his colonies at all times by making the 

 strong colonies help the weak, by equalizing 

 the stores where a part of the colonies were 

 lacking, by being able to make his increase 

 as he desired or preventing swarming entire- 

 ly, by shaking the bees from their combs of 

 brood on combs without brood, etc." 



"Do bee-keepers generally practice all 

 these things which you have enumerated?" 



"The successful ones do. What are mov- 

 able frames good for if not for the above pur- 

 poses? Still I must admit to you that we 

 have many all over the country who style 

 themselves bee-keepers who know little or 

 nothing of what is going on inside of the 

 hives during the whole season. If you are 

 to pattern after these, instead of after the 

 successful ones, then the old Miner hive is 

 as good for you as any thing you can have. 

 Yes, better; for you will not have to regret 

 so great a loss of cash when you write failure 

 as your record, after your bees are all dead 

 and gone. Following such a plan brings 

 plenty of candidates for 'blasted hopes.' " 



"But I did not suppose there was so much 

 in the bee business to make it a success." 



"Now, look here. You are a dairyman, I 

 believe." 



"Yes. That is, I keep cows for a living 

 now, and I wished to add bees as I supposed 

 there would be but little more work." 



"Ah! I see. You thought that, by enter- 

 ing the ranks of apiculture, you could save 

 the fuss of milking the cows twice a day, 

 carefully straining this milk, and hauling it 

 to the creamery or the cars, feeding and wa- 

 tering those cows during the winter months, 

 and driving them to and from the lot at each 

 milking-time during the summer. The av- 

 erage successful bee-keeper does not spend 

 the time on ten colonies during the year 

 that you spenS on one cow; and when the 

 profit from ten colonies is compared with 

 that from one cow the chances lie with the 

 bees, taking a term of years together." 



"But you don't intend to say that colonies 

 need overhauling every day, do you?" 



"No, not that. What I mean is that, when 

 there is need of looking inside of the hive, 

 do it, and just at the right time. In early 

 spring see that all colonies have plenty of 

 honey; and when pollen becomes plentiful 

 see that all have good queens. Later on, see 

 that there is plenty of room in each hive, so 

 that the swarming fever will not be contract- 

 ed. Put on supers at the beginning of the 

 first bloom that gives a surplus of nectar. 

 Remove the sections when completed, and 

 be sure that the bees have plenty of stores 

 for winter, and that they are properly pre- 

 pared for their long winter's nap as early as 

 the first of October. What I wisn to impress 

 on your mind is this: A thorough practical 

 apiarist will succeed with almost any of the 

 hives in use by the up-to-date bee-keepers, 

 while a careless slipsnod man will not pay 

 his way with the best hive ever invented." 



