IM 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



case of sections with foundation, and 

 the bees will show their preference. 



During the past season I arranged a 

 number of hives with a case of sections 

 filled with foundation, and above this a 

 story of empty comb with some brood as 

 a " bait," thinking that the bees would 

 quickly fill the sections between the 

 brood above and below, only allowing 

 one Jo-inch opening between the sections 

 and the chamber above. To my surprise, 

 they filled the upper chamber full of 

 honey through the J^-inch opening be- 

 fore drawing one cell of foundation in 

 the sections, with all openings possible 

 between the lower hive and the sections. 



I know many of our best bee-keepers 

 claim that where comb and foundation 

 are used in the same super, the founda- 

 tion will be filled as quickly as comb. 

 This is true, for the bees like to com- 

 plete their combs in a uniform manner, 

 and whether full or part full of comb or 

 foundation, they like to finish all about 

 alike. 



Again, place a section filled with foun- 

 dation between two sections of comb 

 without a separator between them, and 

 they will draw the combs almost to the 

 foundation before drawing the latter in 

 the least. 



I have known the bees to draw the 

 comb in the brood-chamber to the very 

 base of a frame of foundation, scarcely 

 drawing a cell of foundation when placed 

 between combs not containing brood. 



Do not think that I wish to condemn 

 foundation, for I fill all sections and 

 brood-frames with foundation that do 

 not contain empty combs. 



Oswego, N. Y. 



PMIM Season limM, 



C. H. DIBBEKN. 



The new year opens auspiciously for 

 the bee-keeper, as well as for the farm- 

 er, the manufacturer and the laboring 

 classes. Never in our recollections have 

 the possibilities of the future been 

 brighter than at the present time. 

 While other parts of the world people 

 are starving for the bare necessaries of 

 life, our own country has been blessed 

 witii abundant harvest. 



Although bee-keepers have not been 

 generally equally favored with very 

 larg<' crops of honey, they will share to 

 some extent at least, in the general 

 prosperity. Ikit what is now of the 

 greatest (Micouragement to the bee- 

 ke(!per, is the almost certainty of abun- 



dant harvest of the golden sweets during 

 the coming season. Over a very wide area 

 the plants, especially white clover, are 

 now in very fine condition, and if we 

 only succeed in bringing our bees through 

 the winter, in equally good condition, we 

 will be "in clover" next June, sure 

 enough. The fine weather in December 

 has been a great help in the wintering 

 problem, and so far all is well. — Western 

 Plowman. 



Wlio SHoiill Keep Bees ? 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



The question is often asked, "Will it 

 pay me to keep bees '? I answer yes, and 

 I will tell why. I have argued against 

 farmers, as a class, fussing to produce 

 honey, when they can buy nice honey so 

 cheaply. The idea was, that they could 

 raise $20 worth extra of corn, oats or 

 cotton, at a profit, and with that money 

 buy the honey from a neighbor who made 

 bee-keeping a business, while, if they 

 had raised the $20 worth of honey, it 

 might have been at a loss. I have al- 

 ways argued that this was sound busi- 

 ness policy ; and, for that matter, I still 

 think so, but I am satisfied that it will 

 not work. 



Many farmers seem to have the feel- 

 ing that they must not pay out money 

 for anything they can possibly get along 

 without. The writer was born on a 

 farm, and it is easy to see where the 

 trouble lies — I tell you it makes all the 

 difference in the world, what one's 

 bringing up has been. It makes no dif- 

 ference how much nice honey is in the 

 market, there is a use for every dollar 

 besides being spent for honey. 



I will (juote something from Mr, 

 Terry's "Strawberry Book," to which I 

 am indebted for the spirit of this arti- 

 cle : 



" I remember once going home with a 

 well-to-do farmer who had many acres 

 of land to manage, and considerable 

 money invested in outside business. He 

 showed me among other things, a large 

 bed of strawberries. Now I knew that 

 this friend was close to a market where 

 he could buy fine home-grown berries at 

 fair prices, and 1 was rather surprised 

 that a man with so much business on 

 his hands should be bothering to grow 

 his own strawberries. So I said to him, 

 you grow these, of course, for the pleas- 

 ure of it, and not because it pays you to 

 fuss with such little matters, when you 

 have so large a farm and so much other 

 business to attend to? No : I raise them, 



