TiiK A.\n:i,-ir.\\ bee-keeper 



4?. 



him to experiment, to study the habits 

 of bees by working with them; but he 

 should confine his researches to the 

 dividends (ot bees) accruing from his 

 first investment. Why should he be told 

 that first he must break up that big. 

 strong colony and crowd its combs into 

 a little frame hive, making anything 

 but a success of the job? If let alone it 

 will in all likelihood send forth a big 

 swarm every year very early in the 

 season; then if the young bee-keeper 

 succeeds in tinkering to death his first 

 swarm and possibly his second and third 

 also, he still has his principle — the par- 

 ent hives — to fall back upon. This is the 

 kind of transferring I recommend for 

 the consideration of the beginner. 



We cannot get big crops of honey 

 unless we have big colonies of bees. 

 Every one who has had experience 

 with bees will. I think, be willing to 

 concede this point. But the strangest 

 part about the matter is, that almost 

 with one accord, bee-keepers denounce 

 the hive which gives the best results in 

 bees for gathering the early harvest. 

 How often we see these box-hives 

 standing in some out-of-the-w-ay place, 

 wholly exposed to the vicissitudes of 

 the weather, presenting a hopelessness 

 that breeds a sickening sense of dis- 

 couragement in the mind and heart of 

 the enthusiast; yet when the warm, 

 sunny days come again these big hives 

 literally boil over with bees. What a 

 delight it is to the veteran to make a 

 "drive" from such at the commence- 

 ment of the honey harvest, hiving the 

 swarm in a properly adjusted frame- 

 hive! Then when the season is over, 

 the swarms may be taken up or return- 

 ed to the parent hives, thus reaping the 

 benefits without the loss of the old col- 

 ony. Or, if one wishes to keep the 

 swarm he may by using full sheets of 

 comb foundation in the brood frames, 

 establish the swarm very quickly. Let 

 us not condemn the box-hive too se- 

 verely, for in the one purpose of win- 

 tering a colony of bees it possesses ad- 

 vantages over the orthodox frame 

 hives, which cannot be disputed. 



Wheelersburg. O., Feb. 5. 1902. 



A man feels like a boy again when 

 he imprisons a bee in a trumpet flower; 

 but he knows he is the same old fool 

 when the insect gets in its work. 



OPPORTUNITIES. 



.\HK WK .NOT MISSIM; SUMK WHICir OUU 

 lilSINES!? .\FKOKI)' 



•By John M. Rankin.) 



OUR ANCESTORS who tilled the 

 soil worried but little about its 

 fertility. All that was necessary 

 to secure a crop was to rid the land of 

 the timber, sow the seed, and the har- 

 vest came as certain as did the autumn. 

 That time has passed. The forest no 

 longer stands in the way of the plow, 

 but the available plant food is limited. 

 The agriculturist must study conditions 

 and solutions of unfavorable conditions. 

 So it is with the apiarist. 



The time has passed when a colony of 

 bees in a soap box or a nail keg is a 

 profitable colony. There is no demand 

 for the product of a colony under such 

 conditions. Owing to the present 

 prices of other sweets honey has ceased 

 to be a necessity and has become a lux- 

 ury. The condition, therefore, must be 

 such that it will be possible for a coi- 

 onv to produce an article that will be 

 in demand by the class of people who 

 consume luxuries. Hence the nail keg 

 and soap box, so far as practical pur- 

 poses are concerned, are bee hives of 

 the past. The world is today making 

 more rapid progress than at any prev- 

 ious period, and the honey industry 

 must also progress or be outdone in the 

 race. 



How is this to be accomplished ■•" In 

 the first place, we, as apiarists, must 

 use all the intelligence that we have, 

 and do our duty toward ourselves and 

 our profession by keeping informed, 

 and then having done this to put our 

 ideas into practice, and, under our cir- 

 cumstances, do the best we can. 



How man\- of us who are practical 

 apiarists do our duty by ourselves in re- 

 gard to the former? Do we keep in 

 touch with all the modern ideas, care- 

 fully turn them over in our minds, and 

 then give the seemingly practical ones 

 a fair trial? Do we read carefully the 

 article written by some before unheard- 

 of man, and give it the weight and 

 thought it deserves? Many of these 

 articles contain points, although prob- 

 ably not well brought out, that are of 

 prime importance. Then, what is of 

 more consequence: do we always do the 



