22 



ones, situated right in the heart of the 

 country, and are naturally attended chiefly 

 by sons of agricultural workers. Such 

 teaching is bound to bear fruit in time, 

 whether at home or abroad; and now we 

 have made a start I anticipate the whole 

 of the schools in rural districts will be 

 drawn to adopt a similar coui-se of study, 

 and in time beekeeping will form the sylla- 

 bus of every country school. 



The photos will explain themselves, and 

 were all taken at one particular school at 

 different times of the year. The first four 

 photos have previously appeared in that 

 excellent little journal, Tlie Beekeepers' Ga- 

 zette, but I have Editor Digges' permission 

 to utilize them in this direction, as it is not 

 often that we are in front of our cousins 

 across the water. The remaining photos 

 have not previously appeared in any paper. 



You will naturally ask how beekeeping 

 came to be taught in the schools at all. It 

 was chiefly due to my owm personal repre- 

 sentation and to the good work of our asso- 

 ciation (though at the same time I must 

 admit that the education in this country is 

 undergoing a vast change, particularly in 

 rural parts) that the Staffordshire" Educa- 

 tion Committee agreed to the experiment. 

 The difficulty then presented itself, how 

 could the schoolmasters and mistresses teach 

 the subject, not knowing it? Such obstacles 

 can be overcome, and they were overcome by 

 my giving tiiem a series of lectures and 

 demonstrations; and here let me remark that 

 it was not only an easy task, but a very 

 simple one. Highly trained men and women 

 can be taught a subject, or, rather, the ele- 

 mentary portion of it, in a very little time. 

 They are apt pupils; and when I explain- 

 ed the anatomy the enthusiasm for the sub- 

 ject was apparent. 



I need scarcely say that the children ex- 

 hibit no fear at "all. The trouble is to keep 

 them back. Each school is supplied with 

 two up-to-date hives, with accommodation 

 for the storing of 60 lbs. of honey, two 

 stocks of bees, ten veils and a smoker, while 

 there are extractors and honey-sieves to go 

 from school to school. The children are 

 thus educated in all the various branches. 

 We already see some results by parents of 

 the children buying a hive of bees instead 

 of the pet rabbits, cats, pigeons, etc. 



The educational feature has been a great 

 success, and the financial side has also been 

 satisfactory, one school haxing made $15.00 

 from the sale of honey from the two hives. 



At one school, where the schoolmaster 

 has developed rapidly into a first-class bee- 

 keeper, an observatory hive was fixed in the 

 school window, and tliis lias proven an ex- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



cellent educative feature, the children being 

 able to observe the bees at work in every 

 detail. It is intended to fit more schools 

 in a like manner in the future. 



The children are taken to the colonies, 

 and a practical lesson is given, according 

 to the time of the year. The scholars then 

 write, unaided, an account of the lesson, 

 thus marshaling their thoughts and setting 

 them down on paper. These are very clev- 

 erly done. At some schools the girls are 

 instructed in cookery, and these girls are 

 taught the art of making bee foods. Wood- 

 work is another subject that is being taught, 

 and here also the boys are instructed into 

 making articles for the apiary, thus making 

 the subject doubly interesting and practi- 

 cal. 



A profit-and-loss account is kept in all 

 the schools by the children, thus enabling 

 them to be keenly attached to a subject in 

 which they have a personal interest. 



Stone, Staffordshire, England. 



HOW I STARTED BEEKEEPING IN A LARGE 

 CITY 



BY ALBIN PLATZ 



On July 6, 1908, I started my career as a 

 beekeeper on a small scale, engaging in the 

 pursuit principally for the recreation it 

 affords, and to keep myself and friends 

 supplied with the finest and i^urest of all. 

 sweets — honey. I bought my first colony 

 on the evening of the day mentioned, pay- 

 ing $5.00 for it, which also included all fix- 

 tures, such as queen-excluder, super com- 

 plete, etc. The day was exceptionally hot 

 and sultry; and in order to confine the bees 

 securely while they were being transported 

 to my home the beekeeper of whom I bought 

 them nailed a piece of wood over the entire 

 entrance, excluding all air. They were thus 

 confined over three hours, and I have often 

 wondered why the combs did not melt down 

 and the bees smother. However, no such 

 thing happened, and I received them in 

 first-class condition. During October of 

 the same year I jDurchased my second colo- 

 ny of a woman in the eastern end of Cin- 

 cinnati, for $3.50; and from this colony I 

 raised my best stock and queens. I bought 

 both of these colonies too late in the season 

 for them to store any surplus, but they 

 went through the winter in fine shape and 

 were exceedingly strong in bees in tlie 

 spring. 



Now, thought I, having read all of the 

 literature on bees I could get hold of dur- 

 ing the winter, and knowing it all theoreti- 

 cally, I can not fail to harvest a nice croi. 



