102 



TmM MMM'KicMH mmm j©i7Rifffii*. 



true of other farm crops. Now if such 

 beneficial results accrue to both the 

 animate and inanimate creations 

 (where experiments have been carried 

 on), who shall say that these highly 

 organized insects, bees, that perform 

 such an important part in developing 

 plant-life b}' cross-fertilization, are not 

 amenable to the same general law of 

 nature, that seems to govern the repro- 

 duction of plant-life itself ? Or if both 

 the higher and lower forms of life are 

 benefited by crossing, why not the in- 

 termediate ? 



It may be that this matter has been 

 proved, substantiating the theory ex- 

 pressed ; but if it has, I have never 

 heard of it. I can "conceive how diffi- 

 cult it would be to fully and satisfac- 

 torily verify either theory, in the pres- 

 sent state of the art. If fertilization 

 in confinement ever comes to be an 

 established fact, we could proceed 

 upon an intelligent basis to demon- 

 strate the facts. Or, if we could take 

 a single colony and isolate it 15 or 20 

 miles from all other bees, and limit 

 their increase to 2 or 3 colonies, so 

 that near relatives would be compelled 

 to mate, a few years might throw light 

 on the subject. But, few such places 

 exist, and if they did, bees multiply 

 with such rapidity that only a short 

 time would ehxpse before the relation 

 would be so distant that the probable 

 harm would be reduced to a minimum. 

 Perhaps that is what was meant by the 

 answer given to the question. If so, 

 our notions may not be so antagonistic 

 as I at tirst thought. 



But I believe in new blood. It seems 

 to me that the history of modern bee- 

 culture proves the desirability of in- 

 fusing vigor into the apiary, by the in- 

 troduction of distant and unrelated 

 queens. I would not trust altogether 

 to nature's methods, and compel the 

 queen to fly to a neighboring apiary. 



Forest City, Iowa. 



IOWA. 



Report of the Nashua Bcc- 

 Kcepers' Convention. 



Written for the AmeriP.ari Bee Journal 

 BY H. L. ROUSE. 



The third annual meeting of the 

 Nashua Bee-Keepers' Association met 

 in the Council Rooms at Nashua, Iowa, 

 on Jan. 26, 1889, at 1 p.m., with Presi- 

 dent Tracy in the chair. The minutes 

 of the last meeting were reftd and 

 approved. 



Vfiuteriiis: Uccs in Cellars. 



In discussing cellar-wintering of 

 bees, Mr. Bird preferred upward ven- 

 tilation, with the surrounding tempera- 

 ture at 45° to 47^. Othei-s preferred a 



lower temperature, with scarcely anj^ 

 upward ventilation. A cellar with 

 a living-room above was considered 

 much better for the successful winter- 

 ing of bees, than one having no fire 

 over the bee-cellar. 



" In what way can we best improve 

 our bees ?" Answer : It was decided 

 that we should buy a few choice queens, 

 and always exercise much care in 

 breeding from our best bees. 



"Would vegetables be detrimental 

 to bees in the cellar ?" It was thought 

 not. 



Next was the election of officers, 

 which resulted as follows : President, 

 Thos. Tracy ; Vice-President, Geo. 

 Stocks ; ahd Secretary, H. L. Rouse. 



" Is it desirable to have bees breed 

 in the cellar ?" Mr. Tracy would 

 ratlier that his bees would not breed 

 until after being put out in the spring. 

 Others thought that a few frames of 

 capped brood were a great advantage. 



Mr. Stocks advocated facing hives 

 to the north, as the bees would not be 

 enticed out on chill_y daj'S. President 

 Tracy puts his bees out of the cellar in 

 the night. If the weather is favorable, 

 he cleans his hives out on the second 

 da}' after putting them out; and Mr. 

 Potter cleans his hives out on the day 

 he puts them out. Beginners should 

 be very careful about overhauling bees 

 in early spring. 



H. L. Rouse then read the following 

 essay on, 



Itee-Keepiiig- Alone, or tiitli 

 Oilier Pursuits. 



Shall we make bee-keeping a spe- 

 ciality, or unite it with some other 

 business ? I believe that there are a 

 few apiarists at the present daj' who 

 make bee-keeping their sole business, 

 but their number is small compared 

 with the host that make it a side-issue. 

 Let us consider the feasibility of the 

 "specialty man" first. 



Suppose he has invested all his capi- 

 tal in 100 colonies of bees, and fixtures 

 to work them for either comb or ex- 

 tracted honey. If the season is good, 

 and he has no opposition, he will se- 

 cure a good crop of honey, and there- 

 by make some money. If this con- 

 tinues long, his near neighbors will 

 soon "catch on," and they will keep 

 bees all around him, in which case 

 they will spoil the specialty man's 

 business, and gain nothing thereb_y 

 themselves. 



"But," saj-s one man, " why not en- 

 act laws giving the first bee-keeper a 

 certain amount of territory, or let 

 priority of location rule ?" I have 

 grave doubts about this being a wfse 

 policy to adopt ; besides, if the special- 

 ists were guarded b)' such a law, there 

 is another and greater uncertainty to 

 contend with, and that is, the failure 



of the honey crop from which nobody 

 is secure. All bee-keepers will bear 

 me out in this by their experience of 

 1887 and 1888. 



On the other hand, I agree with Mr. 

 Root, that " it is not best to put all our 

 eggs into one basket." I will not say 

 what other business is best to unite 

 vFith bee-keeping, as so much depends 

 upon how a man is situated, and also 

 somewhat as to his tastes. To the bee- 

 keeper living in the sulnirbs of cities, 

 I would say, raise poultry, or he might 

 find the raising of small fruit and 

 garden-truck more profitable. To the 

 bee-keeper on the farm, I have not 

 much to say, as there are various ways 

 open to him, in which he can turn an 

 honest dollar. 



In the meantime, do not neglect to 

 give proper care to what bees you 

 have. It would be " penny wise and 

 pound foolish " to allow them to 

 starve, when a few pounds of sugar 

 syrup or honey would bring them 

 through nicely. 



I think that bee-keeping has reached 

 "bed-rock." In fact I feel convinced 

 that now is the best time to give bee- 

 keeping our most careful attention. 

 The past two or three failures in the 

 honey crop have driven the slovenly 

 and careless bee-keepers from our 

 ranks. It is the same in our pursuit 

 as it is in other lines of business — the 

 man who is the most carefid, prudent 

 and thorough, will succeed the best, 

 while the man who does things by 

 halves will fail, no matter what occu- 

 pation he follows. If a thing is worth 

 doing at all, it is wortli doing well. 



The convention then adjourned. 

 H. L. Rouse, Sec. 



TOADS AND BEES. 



Will 



Toads Destroy tlie Bees ?- 

 Experiments. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY E. STRONG. 



That toads will eat bees has often 

 been asserted and never disputed ; but 

 the published proof has been wonder- 

 fully slim. The same can be said of 

 the indictment against the king-bird. 

 When a boy, I was offered five cents 

 for each bird that I shot, the bee- 

 keeper claiming that they eat the bees. 

 This, father could not allow without 

 proof. We thoughl that we found in 

 the bird's stomach some pieces of the 

 bees, and in some publication an arti- 

 cle stated that the king-bird possessed 

 a hard cushion on the top of the bill, 

 placed tliere purposely to receive the 

 sling of a bee and wasp. So, sentence 

 was passed, to tlie great dcliglit of the 

 executioner but 1 never found any 



