THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



61 



from 40 stocks. I know of no way to gam 

 this point by breeding from any stock we 

 have at present. 1 am satisfied it cannot be 

 done by breeding from the pnre Italian; 

 the purest and brightest of mine have 

 generally been the lazy bees, the very ones 

 to put their wax and honey where it is not 

 wanted, instead of "putting it where it will 

 do the most good," and they are the ones 

 that do the most of the swarming and fool- 

 ing around generally. Nor do I think that 

 the pure blacks will fill the bill, unless we 

 give up the point, and use them in box 

 hives, or something near it, using more 

 stocks in number to make a ton of honey. 

 It is not the man that makes the most 

 honey per stock that is the most successful, 

 but he who makes the most honey for a 

 day's work. 



If we hybridise, shall we breed from the 

 yellow mother, and fertilize with black or 

 hybrid drones, keeping very close to the 

 yellow race? or shall we breed from the 

 black mother and fertilize with the yellow 

 drones, then breed again from them by hy- 

 brid mothers, and so on? Who knows? I 

 put a few black bees in my apiary last sea- 

 son, and shall try the latter plan, in all its 

 devious ramifications, to see if I can bring 

 about any better results. 



To run bees in hives with immovable 

 combs will knock the poetry all out of 

 the business; but it is not poetry that the 

 great mass of bee-keepers are after; dollars 

 and cents are what they want. In the pres- 

 ent state of bee literature, all the old, ex- 

 ploded ideas that come up in a new form, 

 and all the new-fangled fixtures and imple- 

 ments, no matter how complicated, are 

 counted as progress, I think it about time 

 to stop and consider whether all these 

 things contain the elements of true pro- 

 gress. If I rightly understand in what true 

 progress consists, in this business, it is that 

 we should simplify everything about it, and 

 use as few implements as are absolutely 

 necessary, and so arrange our plans and 

 management as to produce the largest 

 amount of honey for a day's work; as labor 

 is the largest factor that enters into the 

 product, and our aim should be to put a ton 

 of honey on the market, in just as good or 

 better shape but at a less cost, and then we 

 need be in no hurry to put the price down 

 in proportion; it will go down quite as fast 

 as any will care to see it. 



This business, compared with other agri- 

 cultural pursuits, with me at least, stands 

 the test pretty well; it has given me an in- 

 come this year of §1,000 (after paying for 

 lumber and glass) for my labor on 40 stocks 

 of bees. I am a strong advocate of mixed 

 husbandry, and as several other branches 

 have partially failed with me this season, 

 my honey crop helps me out very nicely. 

 The market is somewhat depressed, it is 

 true, but not near as badly as some other 

 things that I am engaged in producing. 



That the movable comb, the Italian bee, 

 and tlie honey extractor, have had a large 

 share in educating the modern bee-keeper 

 up to his present high position in the 

 science of bee-culture, I think we all (even 

 Mr. Heddon) are willing to admit. That a 

 man so educated can run an apiary of black 

 bees, in properly constructed box-liives, 

 with pecuniary success, I doubt not; but I 

 don't see advantage enough in it to warrant 

 me in making the change. I think I would 

 rather wear out my hives as they are. 



J. P. Moore. 



Apicultural Progress. 



READ BEFORE THp; MICH. B. K. ASSOCI- 

 ATION, DEC. 31, 1876. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: — At 

 your last annual Convention the idea of tell- 

 ing others all that is known of bee-culture 

 and letting the light of the Convention 

 shine in all its dazzling effulgence, was set 

 forth in a paper, and to my knowledge 

 never reported. Now, Mr. President, none 

 can fail to see that, in a missionary sense, 

 the ground was well taken; how well the 

 principle was maintained I have no means 

 of knowing, but from the source from 

 which it eminated no doubt it was well de- 

 veloped. I shall not at this time presume 

 on an opinion whether such effort is ad- 

 visable or not. But with your permission I 

 will try to show how much light this or any 

 other convention may cast in the dark and 

 virgin corners of honey culture. It is not 

 necessary for me to show how many bees I 

 keep, or how long I have kept them; 

 neither, whether they have been a source 

 of profit to me— all these points 1 waive, as 

 most of you have such facts— all that are 

 necessary at least. 



The first and most valuable contribution 

 after Weeks, of Vermont, who I believe 

 was the first to generally introduce a 

 chamber or extra top cavity, containing sur- 

 plus boxes, and who also wrote a book 

 which perhaps more than any other early 

 obtained circulation, with his hive, and 

 gave an impulse and practical value to the 

 honey-bee, as an adjunct to agriculture pre- 

 viously unknown. This hive and manage- 

 ment created a demand for comb-honey in 

 small packages, which has gone steadily 

 forward, and is not yet abandoned in places 

 when such is attainable. 



Mr. M. Quinby comes forth as a contem- 

 porary of said Weeks, and puts his know- 

 ledge oil paper antl brings out a hive. The 

 boolv was ixitented, the hive was n"ot pat- 

 entable. The hive was used to sell the 

 book, and the book was used to sell the 

 hive ! All that was common in apiculture 

 was gathered up and put in said "Mysteries 

 of Bee-Keeping," and some probable opin- 

 ions expressed. Making the title truthful 

 at least— that is, establishing the theory 

 that bee-keeping was a mystery. In this 

 book all that was practical and of value to 

 the bee-keeper under the prevailing system, 

 was well eliminatfd; and bee-keeping as a 

 source of profit went steadily forward. In 

 fact it rose to a high degree of perfection, in 

 a remunerative sense, and promised more 

 than we have realized. 



At this time several inventions using the 

 knowledge gained from the above works, 

 and numerous experiments appeared in 

 "Dividing Hives and Methods of Artificial 

 Increase," and as has since been the case- 

 great results were promised. How great 

 these results might have been, no one can 

 determine, as they were cut short by the in- 

 troduction of the Langstroth hive and his 

 book— "The Hive and Honey-Bee." 



In this case the hive was patented as 

 was also the book. Sharp, shrewd men 

 clutched at the principle, and hives multi- 

 plied; each one having a patent book and 

 some devise also patented, and the words 

 "patent movable-comb hive," in bold let- 

 ters appeared below the happy inventor's 

 name— with dates in rapid succession. 



