84 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



and with a little smoke driving the 

 bees out of the way, so that the sun 

 might shine down between the combs, 

 thus revealing any queen cells that 

 might be starting on them. Not wish- 

 ing to keep watch of the bees all the 

 while, I thought I would try my suc- 

 cess in ascertaining this matter. So I 

 bundled up with coat and mittens and 

 veil and prepared for the siege. 



I often wonder that I persisted in 

 working with the bees when I was so 

 afraid of them. But this must be done, 

 taking stings patiently, if success must 

 be ours. After getting stung pretty 

 badly several times, I found that each 

 time the pain and swelling grew less 

 and less, till T finally dropped all but 

 the veil, which I still wear, as a gen- 

 eral rule, when working with the bees. 



To return: With "fear and tremb- 

 ling" I blew a little smoke under the 

 hive, and inverted it, blowing smoke 

 from a roll of rags (no improved smok- 

 ers then) upon the bees, and to my sur- 

 prise I found queen cells nearly ready 

 to seal over. In a day or two this hive 

 cast a swarm which was safely run into 

 one of the Langstroth hives. That was 

 the only swarm of the season, as 1869 

 was the poorest season I have ever 

 known for bees. I now had a swarm 

 in a frame hive, and these I would 

 manipulate every few days till T be- 

 came familiar as to how the combs 

 were built, the larva fed. the time from 

 the egg to the perfect bee, etc., all of 

 which every bee-keeper should be thor- 

 oughly acquainted with at the outset. 



To shorten up. In the fall I had one 

 full box of honey (six pound boxes 

 were the smallest then in use) and two 

 partly-filled from the colony which did 

 not swarm, and three colonies of bees, 

 to which I fed $.5.00 worth of sugar to 

 insure safe wintering, as the season 

 was so poor that most colonies not fed 

 starved before spring. Honey was so 

 scarce that year, that I was offered 50 

 cents per pound for the completed box 

 I obtained, and the few who had honey 

 to sell reaped a rich harvest I bought 



another colony in the fall and had an- 

 other given me which had no honey. 

 This I fed, and a taking of account 

 showed an outlay of $35.00, with noth- 

 ing to show for it except the one box 

 of honey, two partly filled, and four 

 empty hives, with five colonies of bees 

 to run my chances on through the win- 

 ter. Infatuated with the bees as I was, 

 I now resolved that I would never lay 

 out a single cent more on them, unless 

 they first earned it for me; believing 

 that if I could not make five pay I 

 could not five hundred. This resolve I 

 stood by, so that my bees never cost me 

 more than the $35.00, and have earned 

 me my home of thirty acres, all the 

 buildings on it, all the machinery and 

 conveniences in them, all I now have 

 to enjoy, and something laid aside for 

 old age, besides paying their way. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



New York State Association of 

 Bee-Keepers' Societies, 



Written for the American Bee-Keeper. 



BY HARRY S. HOWE. 



fHE bee-keepers of this state have 

 for a long time been asking for 

 some recognition of the value of 

 their industry to other branches of ag- 

 riculture; for the same protection 

 against adulteration that is accorded 

 other food products; and for freight 

 rates ihe same as other commodities of 

 similar value and similar methods of 

 packing; but in most cases they have 

 asked in vain, because they could only 

 speak as individuals, or at best as the 

 representative of some local organiza- 

 tion. 



Recognizing this fact, a call was is- 

 sued by a committee from the local so- 

 cieties for a meeting of delegates from 

 the local societies of the state at Ge- 

 neva, N. Y., March 16th, to discuss 

 ways and means. 



As a result it was decided to organize 

 a State Association of Bee-Keepers' So- 

 cieties 



It is hoped that by acting as a unit 

 we may be able to accomplish much of 



