GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



have a space below frames open full width 

 at both ends. 



I introduce queens of different races ; 

 raise young queens; iind by personal obser- 

 \ ation how old a queen is before she mates, 

 and how soon after she begins to lay; keep 

 old queens after the bees decide to super- 

 sede her and watch both queens laying on 

 tlie same comb, etc. 



The work is all pleasant, and not to be 

 compared to keeping chickens. The supers 

 are i^repared indoors during leisure hours, 

 for recreation. If a big cloud comes up, I 

 don't have to telephone my wife to gather 

 the live stock to keep it from standing 

 under a weed and getting chilled or drown- 

 ed. What a pleasant sight it is to see the 

 bees come pouring into the hive when the 

 sun becomes overcast and the first cool 

 breeze of a spring storm stirs the leaves! 

 Chickens are a nuisance in town, any way 

 you look at it. I had them several years, 

 and made them pay too. But they are dirty 

 things, and require endless care and looking 

 after. 



No, sir! Give me bees. 1 believe I can 

 demonstrate that I can produce enough 

 honey from un^e hive for the average fam- 

 ily's yearly use, using shallow extracting- 

 fraraes in super with full sheets of founda- 

 tion and a good colony of Italian bees. 



Tola, Kan. 



ANOTHER DENTIST WHO FINDS BEEKEEPING 

 ON A SMALL SCALE A HEALTHY EXERCISE 



BY DR. R. M'CULLOUGH 



Of all the professions, that of the dentist 

 is the most exhausting in that it has, in 

 addition to all the other strenuous condi- 

 tions peculiar to professions, the element of 

 close confinement added, and that, too, for 

 long hours. This feature is so fatal that 

 reliable statistics show that the average 

 life of the dentist is only about forty-five 

 years, which indicates that the man who 

 allows his work to master him — that is, who 

 attends strictly to business, as we are so 

 often admonished to do — is destined to early 

 retirement. The logical conclusion, then, is 

 that the dentist who wishes to survive must 

 have some outdoor attraction; and I will 

 most positively say that " bees are it." 



When I say that, I mean that beekeeping 

 is far beyond any other avocation I know 

 of, and I think I have tried them all. I 

 liave been advised, times without number, to 

 take long walks, morning, noon, or night ; 

 but without an incentive one is simply not 

 going to do it. Now bees offer that incen- 

 tive. 



Some fine spring morning you see your 



bees coming in with gi-eat loads of bright- 

 yellow pollen. Where are they getting it? 

 Before you realize it, off you go to find out; 

 and after a good tramp you may find them 

 working merrily on the pussy willows. Then 

 by the time you have lost interest in the 

 source of the yellow pollen, another color 

 catches your eye, and you are off again to 

 ferret out the new source of supply. 



All the time this is going on, with what 

 pleasure you note your bee family gi'owing 

 full and strong for the coming harvest, and 

 all without the everlasting worry of feed- 

 ing, watering, cleaning coops, etc., attend- 

 ant on poultry-raising for instance. 



By the time you have located the source 

 of most of the pollen your attention is at- 

 tracted by the heavy manner in which your 

 bees are dropping down to the entrance, 

 and the general appearance of hustle in 

 evidence. Away you go, and, may be, after 

 two or three morning tramps you discover 

 the locust trees in bloom, and the air filled 

 with their fragrance and the hum of bees; 

 and you go on to your office with a smile 

 on your face that lasts all day. 



So it goes from spring to frost, always 

 something new, giving your pets this little 

 attention or that, until you arrive at the 

 close of the year, and realize that you for- 

 got all about taking that vacation which 

 you have usually been compelled to take; 

 and when you begin to analyze your condi- 

 tion you are compelled to admit that you 

 never felt better in your life. 



But suppose you did not forget about 

 your vacation ; well, go ahead and take it. 

 See that the bees are not cramped for room 

 in the mean time, and they will be there 

 when you come back, probably all the bet- 

 ter off for your absence, and you will not 

 have bothered your neighbors to feed and 

 water them while you were gone either. 



I have been writing as one professional 

 man talking to another, and I think I can 

 not do better than to go on in that strain. 

 All that I have been saying can probably 

 be summed uji in a few words by intimating 

 that I have been getting the outdoor exer- 

 cise of which I was so much in need, with- 

 out the consciousness that I was just doing 

 something for health's sake. 



Poultry may give you something to in- 

 terest you out in the back yard; but the 

 back yard is the limit of your interest; 

 and accompanied with it is the constant re- 

 sponsibility so that, when the first enthu- 

 siasm wears off, you begin to feel more tied 

 down than ever, which in reality you are. 

 The same might be said to a greater or less 

 degree of almost every other avocation with 

 the exception of bees. 



With them your interest is extended to 



