42 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 16, 



profitable where he is until they get entirely rid of that dis- 

 ease. 



Mr. Getaz was converted in 1876, while living on the 

 farm, after a very earnest revival meeting. He joined the 

 Southern Presbyterian church, and since that time he has 

 taken an active part in Sunday-school work, sometimes as 

 teacher, twice as superintendent, and is now assistant super- 

 intendent. He has had charge of the singing for several 

 years, and has been organist and chorister the balance of the 

 time. He is also a member and officer of a Christian Endeavor 

 society. The Editobs. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. J. p. II. BRO«'2V. AUGUSTA. GA. 



[Please flend all questions relating to bee-keeping tn the South direct 

 to Dr. Brown, and he will answer in this department. — Eds. "I 



Report of tiie International Bee-Keepers' Con- 

 gress at Atlanta, Oa., Dec. 4 and f , 1§95. 



(Continued from page 26.) 

 AFTERNOON SESSION, DEC. 5. 



First was the following essay by .T. D. Fooshe, of South 

 Carolina, on 



Bee-Keepingf a Profitable Industry. 



The question is often asked, " Will it pay to keep bees ?" 

 I answer, "Conditionally." 



To the wide-awake, energetic, practical bee-keeper, it will 

 pay as an industry alone, but I prefer to treat the subject as 

 connected with other industries, and especially with farming. 



It will not pay those who build air-castles with great piles 

 of honey, and give no attention to their bees. Like all other 

 industries the money comes according to interest manifested. 



There are those in all departments of business who do not 

 succeed for want of attention. 



Farming will pay, but it will pay better if a poultry yard 

 or an apiary is connected with it, or even both may be con- 

 nected with it, and both made to yield a handsome profit. 



I am one that believes in diversifying our interests so that 

 if we fail in one, another will succeed. I would not advise 

 keeping bees as a livelihood, because, like all other enter- 

 prises, it sometimes fails even with the most practical and ex- 

 perienced bee-keeper ; but on the other hand, if we have 

 something to fall back on, we would not feel so entirely 

 " broken up " if our bees gave no profit. A little attention at 

 the right time will invariably insure success. Honey alone is 

 not the only source of profit to be derived from the apiary. 



We now have queen-rearing reduced to scientific princi- 

 ples, and perhaps an apiary run for queens alone will pay 

 better than one run for honey alone. If you will pardon a 

 personal allusion, I have derived more profit from the sale of 

 bees and queens than I ever did from honey. Queens are now 

 permitted to go by mail, not only through the United States 

 and Canada, but to foreign countries also. Bees are also 

 shipped successfully in any quantities long distances by ex- 

 press ; but all are not expert at queen-rearing and shipping 

 bees. Some, therefore, will have to derive profit from honey 

 and wax. 



I would advise all who keep bees, even for honey alone, 

 to procure modern hives and fixtures. 



Section honey is so much more attractive and nice to eat 

 than the honey that is taken from the old-fashioned box-hives; 

 filled with pollen, that there is no comparison ; and so with 

 extracted honey in comparison with what is termed "strained 

 honey" flavored with pollen. 



The practical, wide-awake bee-keeper should know his 

 locality, and should be acquainted with every source of honey. 

 I will mention some of the flowers that yield honey. The first 

 with us here in the South is tag-alder and maple — these are 

 only pollen-plants, and answer a good purpose for building up 

 a colony by stimulating the queen. Next is fruit-bloom, and. 



if honey is gathered from it, it usually excites swarming. The- 

 apple-bloom produces in favorable seasons more nectar than 

 other kinds of fruit-bloom. Willow blooms a little before 

 apple, and is also a fine honey-plant. In some localities white 

 clover thrives and gives good forage for bees, but it does not 

 thrive in the South as in the North. 



Poplar and blackberry come next, and where poplar 

 abounds bees are sure to do well while it is in bloom. Per- 

 simmon is also a fine honey-plant, but honey sometimes granu- 

 lates that is gathered from it. During the bloom of willow, 

 apple and poplar, bees usually swarm, but should be prevented 

 from sending out more than one swarm to the colony. 



After swarmiug-time we usually have a dearth of honey 

 begins, say the latter part of June, and continues until cotton 

 blooms profusely, from which source bees gather a nice grade 

 of honey. After cotton, field-peas, and last, but not least, in 

 October the golden-rod and asters are in full bloom, and our 

 bees gather more honey and a better quality than from any 

 other source. From these they gather their winter stores, 

 and usually crowd the queen out from laying by filling all the 

 cells with honey. 



I have been astonished time and again that in view of the 

 many sources we have for honey, that we, of the South, let 

 it go to waste. 



Our Northern friends are confronted with more difficulties 

 than we are ; for while they are puzzled over the winter prob- 

 lem, we rest serenely, and leave all our bees to care for them- 

 selves on the summer stands. Their season is much shorter 

 than ours, and their winters more severe, yet it seems to me 

 that they are more successful with bees than we are. There 

 are more people in the North who keep bees than in the 

 South, and why they succeed so much better than we of the 

 South I cannot tell, unless on account of the attention they 

 have to give their bees, and the outlay necessary to carry their 

 bees through the winter, causes them to appreciate them 

 more; for that which costs no trouble, time or outlay, seldom 

 yields much profit. 



Until recently there was hardly a bee-journal published 

 in the South, but there are many published in the North. I 

 often ask. Why this difference ? I know that these facts ex- 

 ist, but cannot tell why, for certainly we have largely the ad- 

 vantage, both in climate and season. 



There is no profit from bees to those in the North or in 

 the South who do not take an interest in and give proper at- 

 tention at the right time. I believe that a barrel of honey 

 can be secured at less cost than one can grow a barrel of 

 syrup. A good colony of bees will often gather 50 pounds, or 

 more, of honey in favorable seasons. 



Bee-keeping does not require strength or much capital. 

 Ladies are as capable of making bee-keeping profitable as 

 men ; and in many instances more so, and they are more apt 

 to succeed on account of their carefulness in handling the 

 bees. Nearly all the work required in an apiary can be done 

 by a lady. 



There is an idea that bees will not sting some people, but 

 it is because some are not afraid of them, and are less nerv- 

 ous. Hybrids are usually crosser than pure Italians, but all 

 that I ever had anything to do with would sting if angered, or 

 misused, or treated roughly. Bees are not vindictive without 

 a cause, but they are no respecters of persons. Sometimes 

 they are more docile, and easier to handle, than at others, 

 and especially when filled with sweets. 



There are but few kinds of business that give any profit 

 without toil and labor. We people of the South, and espe- 

 cially farmers, have grown cotton until we take little interest 

 in anything else. Last year our great hobby failed us, es- 

 pecially in profit, so that we became very much discouraged, 

 and began to cast about for a diversity in order that we would 

 not be so dependent upon one thing. I would recommend bee- 

 keeping as a source of profit, but not in the old-fashioned way 

 of box-hives, etc. It costs but little to get a beginner's outfit, 

 and it very rarely, if ever, interferes with farm work. 



Many people have kept bees, but did not succeed on ac- 

 count of the moth-worm ; but worms very rarely, if ever, de- 

 stroy a colony of bees in a normal condition. A colony of bees 

 with a defective queen, or no queen at all, will sooner or later 

 succumb to the awful enemy unless helped by the apiarist. A 

 colony of bees will no more thrive without a queen than plants 

 will thrive without sunshine and moisture. 



I would advise every person who keeps bees to subscribe 

 for a good bee-journal, which will give light on the subject, 

 and will pay many times the cost. No one now-a-days can 

 succeed without being posted in his or her profession ; and I 

 do not know of anything that has made greater improvement 

 than bee-keeping since the movable-frame hives were intro- 

 duced by Mr. Langstroth. 



I would not give the bright side of bee-keeping alone, and 



