82 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



some delight in having everything as 

 nice as possible, others are careless; in 

 fact almost all kinds of people are 

 found keeping bees; from the special- 

 ist to those who keep a few colonies for 

 amusement. In the ranks of bee-keep- 

 ers are found some with thousands of 

 colonies, many with hundreds, more 

 with less than one hundred. 



When we also consider the difference 

 in altitude and latitude, that the 

 United States are about 2,800 miles 

 from east to west and 1,C00 miles from 

 north to south, with mountains, hills, 

 plains and valleys; soil from barren to 

 fertile, climate from hot to cold, dry to 

 wet and with almost every combina- 

 tion of soil, rainfall, season and flora, 

 it seems as though the bee that would 

 prove the most profitable in all the 

 above conditions would be a perfect 

 one, with no faults, ana leaving noth- 

 ing more to be desired. 



Again, some produce box honey 

 while others bend all their energies to 

 the production of extracted. In some 

 sections a light flow precedes the main 

 harvest and the bees are done swarm- 

 ing before the main honey flow comes 

 on. Another section is very poor in the 

 early season, and then comes a heavy 

 flow of honey and the bees swarm and 

 swarm until the apiarist is in dispair. 

 A few miles away there may be a light, 

 almost continuous flow during the sea- 

 son. In some parts the main crop of 

 honey is gathered early in the season; 

 other parts give only a late crop. Some 

 bee-keepers can count reasonably sure 

 on two crops with a dearth between. 

 And so it goes in endless variation. 



When we consider variations in cli- 

 mate; the different kinds of location; 

 the uncertainty of the honey flow; the 

 various systems of management, and 

 the climatic conditions that are liable 

 at any time to upset our best plans, it 

 seems almost wonderful that the ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers have decided that 

 the Italians are best suited for all pur- 

 poses. It shows that they have sterling 



qualities and are almost as capable of 

 adapting themselves to their surround- 

 ings as man himself. 



It is true that in some locations, and 

 in some seasons, hybrids have given 

 the best results, but they are uncertain. 

 Some are extra good workers; some 

 are very poor; while their temper is 

 very unpleasant to say the least. The 

 writer believes that by a little change 

 of management the Italian may in 

 nearly, perhaps all, locations, prove su- 

 perior to hybrids. Especially so when 

 we consider that at times hybrids are 

 almost uncontrollable, and even at 

 times dangerous in a community. 



A gentle Jersey cow would be ruined 

 for a time, if not for life, if whipped, 

 chased by dogs and brutally treated; 

 while a scrub cow would take abuse 

 as a matter of course, and so with a 

 fine blooded horse. A hybrid colony of 

 bees will stand an amount of smoke 

 that will nearly smother an Italian col- 

 ony. They (Italians and hybrids) re- 

 quire different treatment, and I, for 

 one, prefer to get along with as little 

 smoke and as few stings as possible, 

 especially when the majority claim the 

 Italians as superior, and my experience 

 agrees with the majority. 



How I Started in Bee-keeping. 



Written for the American Bee-Keeper, 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLK. 



^/TiTK) CORRESPONDENT says he is 

 jQim^ about starting in bee-keeping, 

 ^^^'^ reads the American Bee-Keeper, 

 and that he wishes I would tell through 

 its columns how I started, thinking it 

 would be interesting to the readers. 

 Well, with the editor's permission, I 

 might say a few words on this subject, 

 although it might not be as profitable 

 as an article on some other subject 



When about sixteen years old, while 

 boiling sap one day in the fore part of 

 April, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon 

 I got a little lonesome, so placing a 

 good lot of large wood in the fire, so 

 that the sap would be kept boiling for 



