THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



805 



know that you want to use it largely, 

 you can, from past experience, usually 

 figure out how many colonies you will 

 need to have, to think of buying a 

 foundation machine. 



There is another point to be con- 

 sidered right here. Sometimes cheap 

 tools and cheap machinery make us 

 so much bother and worry that they 

 spoil all the pleasure of trying to keep 

 bees ; whereas a high-priced tool or a 

 high-priced machine would go right 

 along, without any hitch or accident, 

 in such a way that the work would be 

 only pastime or " fun." Where one's 

 time is valuable, or where he already 

 lias many cares and responsibilities, 

 nice toijs or nice machinery, all in 

 perfect working order, is by ail means 

 the most satisfactory, and, I believe, 

 the most profitable. This latter point 

 comes in more with tools or machinery 

 that is ne(;essarily somewhat com- 

 plicated. We had some experience in 

 this line in making and sending out 

 rubber plates for making foundation. 

 While we made the machines work 

 nicely in tlie factory, and while a few 

 of our customers were pleased with 

 them, the majority found there were 

 so many conditions to be observed, 

 and the whole arrangement was so 

 uncertain in its results, that I have 

 always regretted that I advised any- 

 thing of the sort. The same remarks 

 will apply with force to home-made 

 honey-extractors. We have for years 

 sold the inside work, so that the 

 friends who wanted to economize 

 could save sometliing by attaching 

 them to an ordinary tin-can or barrel ; 

 but as a rule, I believe they found it 

 more vexation of spirit, and perhaps 

 more expense in the end, than to have 

 purchased an extractor all ready for 

 use. Where one has a great many 

 bees, and a good market for extracted 

 honey, perhaps an automatic extractor 

 will be found to be cheaper than any 

 other. 



In regard to bee-feeders : My ex- 

 perience has been in favor of some- 

 thing very plain and simple. One of 

 our bee-friends once made a remark 

 in jest in one of the bee-papers, that 

 every bee-feeder and bee-hive, accord- 

 ing to his notion, ought to have " cog- 

 wheels," slides, and levers, some- 

 where about them. Now, "cog- 

 wheels " work very nicely in a warm 

 room on a winter's day ; but when 

 you get out in the apiary, among the 

 bees, about harvest time, when every- 

 thing is crowding, these cog-wheels 

 seem to be somehow out of place. Ijet 

 us have our implements plain, simple, 

 and substantial ; let us pay enough 

 for them to have everything exactly 

 as it should be — hives and frames 

 interchangeable— everything so that 

 it will work easily and surely ; no 

 sticking, nor jamming, nor pounding, 

 to get things in place. 



In regard to utensils for honey : I 

 believe the demand seems to be in 

 favor of cheapness — tin pails that are 

 to be given away, as well as crates to 

 hold comb honey. Sell the honey for 

 so much, package and all. But even 

 though we give them away, let us 

 have them well enough made to be 

 sure there will be no leaking nor 

 daubing. 



In regard to honey-knives : I would 

 advise, as I advised the boy with his 

 first pocket-knife. If you have few 

 bees, and do not expect to go into 

 the business largely, you can make a 

 10-cent garden-trowel do your uncap- 

 ping very well for quite a while. 

 When you need a better uncapping- 

 kuife, get it. 



In regard to perforated zinc and 

 things of this sort, do not include any 

 in your first purchase. Wait until 

 you feel the need of such new imple- 

 ments. May be you will never need 

 them at all. 



Even though I advise economy in 

 purchases, I would have everything 

 painted that stands out in the 

 weatlier. If you say you cannot 

 afford it, I would have half the num- 

 ber of hives, and have them protected 

 from the weather by paint, rather 

 than increase so fast, and have the 

 weather constantly spoiling my im- 

 plements. Besides, I would pay some- 

 thing for the sake of having things 

 look decent and in order. A great 

 many times, nice-looking implements 

 encourage us to renewed energy; and 

 sometimes just a little extra energy 

 makes all the diflt'erence between suc- 

 cess and failure, or profit and loss. 



Every man who has honey to sell 

 ought to have some sort of scales to 

 weigh it on. The family steelyards 

 will do to start with ; but whenever 

 you begin to take time enough in the 

 course of a year, in using steelyards, 

 to pay for a pair of scales, get the 

 scales, but do not get them sooner, if 

 you are cramped for means. When 

 your business increases so that it will 

 pay to have still better scales, get 

 them. Do not waste the price of a 

 good article in bothering with a poor, 

 cheap one. 



In regard to seeds for honey-plants : 

 Go slow, unless, indeed, you are a 

 farmer, and can raise Alsike, buck- 

 wheat, rape, or raspberries, so as to 

 make it a paying investment aside 

 from the honey. If you can do that, 

 by all means raise honey-plants. I 

 am led to make these remarks, be- 

 cause some of the new bee-friends 

 seem to think that the first thing to 

 be done in starting in bee-culture is 

 to get a pound of figwort seed, and -1 

 or 5 pounds of the spider-plant, just 

 because these plants yield honey in 

 such quantities as to be visible to the 

 naked eye. Buy a five-cent package 

 of these seeds first; and if they please 

 you, plant more the next year, by 

 which time you should have seed of 

 yojir own raising. 



in regard to sections for comb 

 honey : As the appearance of this 

 product has a great deal to do with 

 the price obtained, I think it very 

 likely that the best is the cheapest 

 every time. 



When you find that you need a 

 smoker (and you may need it the first 

 day you can call yourself the owner 

 of a "small colony of bees), I should 

 say, try a cheap one to start with. 

 But perhaps you can decide what you 

 want before you buy, by examining 

 them at conventions, or testing those 

 used by your neighboi's. I say this, 

 taking it for granted that bee-keepers 

 are always neighborly. Is it not so i* 



In regard to hiving-boxes : 1 have 

 sometime thought I would about as 

 soon have a half-bushel or peck basket 

 fixed to a pole, as to have any of those 

 in the market. May be. after having 

 tried them, though, you will think 

 differently. 



When your business arrives to the 

 dignity of requiring a steam-engine, 

 it will pay you to look into the matter 

 very carefully. If you can, go and 

 see the engines made near you. But 

 as I said before, be sure you need one 

 before you get it. If you are doing 

 your own work, decide how cheaply 

 you can afford to furnish power by 

 treading a foot-power machine. 

 Whenever an engine would save you 

 $25 a year for power, if you can raise 

 the money to buy it, without cramp- 

 ing yourself, buy one of 1 or 2 horse- 

 power. When you need a larger one, 

 you can, as a general thing, dispose of 

 the smaller one, or turn it toward 

 another one as part payment. 



While some folks get along nicely 

 without any bee-veil at all, others 

 save time and save their nerves, by 

 using veils. Ttie same may be said 

 in regard to gloves, although for my- 

 self I should certainly never use the 

 latter among bees ; and if I had the 

 entire management of an apiary, I do 

 not think I should ever need a veil. 

 Cheap, home-made veils will ^answer 

 a very good purpose ; but there are no 

 gloves that will do, except the regular 

 rubber gloves made for the purpose. 



Prudence and economy would dic- 

 tate some sort of wax-extractor. But 

 do not buy one until you have dis- 

 covered you need one. If you com- 

 mence on a small scale, as you by all 

 means should do, I would get a cheap 

 one first. 



Now I am going to talk a little on 

 the subject of taking care of tools, 

 even if that subject was not assigned 

 me. 



A cheap, low-priced tool may be so 

 well cared for that it will always give 

 excellent results ; whereas, the most 

 expensive tool may be so badly used 

 that it will very soon give poor re- 

 sults. Have for yo\ir tools regularly 

 assigned places. "Where any tool is 

 wanted in different places, I would 

 have duplicates. For instance, cheap 

 brushes for brushing off bees should 

 be in handy places in the honey-house, 

 and in several places about the apiary, 

 at least during the summer time. The 

 same may be said of hammers. Do 

 not leave any kind of tool out in the 

 rain. Keep every kind of tool not 

 only vi'ell oiled on the moving parts, 

 but oil it to prevent rust. Oil the 

 hinges to the door of your honey- 

 house. Rub tallow on the windows 

 so tliey will slide easily up and down. 

 Keep your lawn-mower nicely oiled, 

 and out of the rain. Have your 

 brooms hung up in broom-holders so 

 the ends will not get rolled up and 

 made useless ; and keep the brooms 

 out of the rain also. If you use a 

 wrench, keep it nicely oiled and in 

 place. And this matter of oil is of so 

 much importance that I would have 

 cheap oil-cans filled with oil, on nice 

 little bracket shelves in the barn and 

 in the stables. A little box should 

 also be there, tilled with tallow, 



