232 



*]tmm Mvmmmi^Mm mmm j@^mb«miu. 



had your choice ; aud Pat says, leanin' 

 heavy on his spade, ' Well, Moike, for 

 a nice, clane, aisy job, I'd loike to be a 

 Bishop ?' Now that's my ticket exactly, 

 only I'd like to be a Banker. 



" I tell you there's nothin' so sooth- 

 in' to the feelin's of the honest and 

 hard-workin' bee-keeper, when the 

 clover blossoms don't give down, and 

 he goes about weepin' and mournin' — 

 like Rachel of old — for the basswood 

 bloom because it is not, as to know 

 that his bank account is in a healthy 

 condition, and will stand the wear and 

 tear of a year's hard times, without 

 patchin'. 



"If a fellow carries on the chicken 

 business, he has got to get up in the 

 mornin' when the old rooster calls 

 him, or his Plymouth Rocks won't 

 catch the early Avorm we hear so much 

 about. If he is farmin', the calves will 

 want their breakfast before 8 o'clock, 

 and the dew on the corn leaves has 

 got to be knocked off or he won't get 

 a boomin' crop. If he raises berries 

 for a livin', he'll have to be astir before 

 sun-up, or he'll get left ; but with the 

 bankin' business, he don't have to open 

 shop before eight in the mornin', and 

 he can shut up at five, count his cash, 

 and go home and see if the woman 

 and boys have tended the bees all 

 right. 



" If a drouth kills the clover crop, 

 all he has to do to make both ends 

 meet, is to loan a little more money at 

 a little bigger rate of interest. If an 

 early frost nips his buckwheat before 

 the bees get their hives full, he can 

 call it a stringency in the money market, 

 and tax his customers a little more for 

 an accommodation. 



"You say 'everybody can't be 

 bankers ?' Of course not. If they 

 was, there would be no one to furnish 

 business for them ; neither can everj- 

 body be bee-keepers, because if thej' 

 was, there would Ije nobody to buy our 

 honey ; and I reckon about as many 

 folks can be bankers as can be a suc- 

 cess at bee-keepin'. 



" The next best thing to bankin' is 

 keepin' supplies to sell to other bee- 

 keepers. In fact I don't know but 

 this is the best thing after all, for tliey 

 call these men specialisls. That's a 

 big name now-a-days. If a man is 

 only a ' specialist,' he must be awful 

 smai-t ; and if he produces honey, and 

 sells queens, and makes bee-hives and 

 other fixin's,and prints a circular every 

 year to coax every other fellow into 

 the business, he'll get his name in the 

 paper (aud may be he prints one him- 

 self), and most always gets his picture 

 in, too. Of course that don't advertise 

 his business any, but it makes him feel 

 awful good to be called the "King- 

 bee." Its better to be a big toad in a 

 little puddle, than to be a tadpole in a 



mill-pond ; and the big toads are the 

 fellows that make bee-keepin' a speci- 

 alty, in order to get their names in 

 print, while at the sametime they run 

 a carpenter shop, or buy and sell a 

 hundred things a bee-keeper don't 

 need, only to be in fashion. 



"I hain't made nothin' keepin' bees 

 for two years, and if I could make 

 somethin' sellin' contraptions to my 

 neighbors, it would go a long way 

 toward helpin' the clover crop out. 

 These newfangled things for the apiary 

 take first-rate before people get their 

 eye-teeth cut. They are bound to 

 have 'em you know, and if I sell 'em 

 to 'em, I'll be a specialist, and get my 

 name in the papers as the ' great king- 

 bee of Puckertown.' 



"It would tickle Mirandy awfully to 

 have folks writin' to me askin' me 

 questions, and callin' on me every day 

 but Sundav, to cany home some of 

 them beautiful hives and fixin's, that'll 

 git honey whether there's any in the 

 flowers or not. 



And then I'd invent some great bee- 

 savin' fodder that would link my name 

 to posterity as the only original Smith 

 genius the world ever produced, and 

 all the tribes of Smith will rise up and 

 call me blessed. 



" You may, if you like, follow bee- 

 keepin', and break your back over the 

 strawberrj- patch, but I'll be a speci- 

 alist and sell goods to the rest of the 

 world." 



Forest City, Iowa. 



APRII^ TEARS. 



Oh ! April, bonnv April, why shed such show'rs of 



tears 

 When the Rreen, green grass is springing over all 



the waking earth. 

 And many a fraKranl flower the wood and meadow 



cheers. 

 And many a bird from budding trees sings songs 



ot love and mirth. 

 Oh ! April, bonny April, why shed such show'ra of 



tears? 



"My tears are not of sorrow. They are happv, 

 happy tears, 

 The golden sunshine makes of each a sparkling 

 rainbowed gem ; 

 I am so glad as each sweet flower and joyous bird 

 appears, 

 To think that back to our dear land my voice has 

 suniniuned tlu'iii. 

 My tears are not ot sorrow. They are happy, 

 happy tears !'* 



—Vick's Magazine for April. 



LINDEN HONEY. 



inovins Bees to Seeure Honey 

 from Basswood. 



Written for the American Rural Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent wishes me to answer 

 the following questions : 



"1. I am thinking of moving my 

 bees, the coming summer, a few miles 

 to where there is an abundance of bass- 

 wood, hoping to seoure a greater yield 

 of honey than I at present receive, as I 



have no basswood near me. What do 

 you think of the idea ? 



" 2. Are not the blossom-buds formed 

 on the basswood-trees a few weeks pre- 

 vious to the time of their opening, so 

 that I can know by this whether there 

 is a prospect of honey from that source, 

 in time to make preparations for mov- 

 ing ? 



"3. Are there any seasons when bass- 

 wood blooms in profusion, when there 

 is no honey-yield from it ?" 



In answering the first question, I 

 would say that the plan is a good one, 

 and I can see nothing against it, ex- 

 cept the expense. I believe basswood 

 to be the greatest honey-producer in 

 the world. In fact no report has ever 

 been given (if I am correct) of an aver- 

 age yield of 20 pounds per day from a 

 single colony for 30 days in succession, 

 except from basswood. Mr. Gallup 

 had a colony do this. I had one which 

 stored that for about 10 days, the best 

 yield being 6B pounds in 3 days. 



Now, if the questioner can move his 

 bees to the basswood, and return them 

 at an expense of $1 per colony, it will 

 be seen that 10 pounds of honey from 

 each colony will pay the cost, count- 

 ing honey at a very low figure, if he 

 should get that much surplus ; and if 

 the cost should oven come up to $2 

 each, 20 pounds would make it good. 



By going back over my account with 

 my bees for the past Iti years, I find 

 that from basswood alone, my yield of 

 honey has not been far from 60 pounds, 

 on an average, from each colony, each 

 year ; the lightest jield being about 35 

 pounds, and the heaviest 120 pounds. 

 This is the average yield of the yard, 

 not the yield of an individual colony. 



Now, if you call GO pounds what we 

 can expect one year with another from 

 basswood, and that it will cost 20 

 pounds of that honey for moving the 

 bees to the basswood, we shall have 40 

 pounds left for profit ; or, if honey sells 

 at 15 cents per pound, as it does at 

 present, that when sold will give us 

 $(5 per colony as clear money on each 

 colony, over what we sliould have had 

 if we had not moved them. So if 100 

 colonies are moved, we have ftiOO over 

 all the expense for onr undertaking. 



In answering the second question, I 

 will sa3' that the fruit-buds aud leaflets 

 of all trees with which I am familiar, 

 are formed in June and July of the 

 preceding year, so that the results of 

 the next season's honey-yield, as far as 

 buds and flowers are concerned, are 

 already formed in embryo, on the ap- 

 parently bare and lifeless branches of 

 the basswood trees. Tliey wait only 

 for the warmth of spring, to bring 

 this dormant life into growtli. 



As soon as these buds unfold (the 

 latter part of May) then we can see 

 and know whether to make prepara- 



