52 



Tttfi BEE-KEEPERS' I^EVIEW, 



would ill some instances. If a man 

 must drive a long- ways, feed himself 

 and team at the hotel, buy paint and 

 brushes, etc., all to g-et half a dozen 

 hives, he might better buy them al- 

 ready made, but I think I am safe in 

 saying that I have received more than 

 100 letters from men who have had 

 hives cut out at a planing mill, and 

 then nailed up and painted the hives 

 themselves, who had saved money, and 

 felt well-satisfied with their venture. 

 I recall one just now, from a man liv- 

 at St. Louis, this State, who had 

 2,000 feet of lumber planed and cut up 

 at a mill, he working at the mill him- 

 self wliile the lumber was being 

 worked up into hives. He spent five 

 days of time, and his bill at the mill 

 was $15.00. He said that the freight 

 on that number of hives would have 

 amounted to $15.00. According to his 

 estimate, he had saved $50.00 over 

 what it would have cost him to have 

 bought hives at the factory. 



It is true, Bro. Ponder, that the 

 supply-dealers have helped to support 

 the Review, and still help to support 

 it, and to say that such help is not 

 appreciated would be untrue. On the 

 other hand, advertisements in the 

 Review, and in other journals, have 

 brought trade to the supply dealers, 

 hence it is prett}'^ nearlj' a case of one 

 hand washing the other. All of the 

 manufacturers and dealers are good 

 friends of mine, and we certainly wish 

 one another success, but I doubt if 

 there is a manufacturer or dealer who 

 would wish me to urge bee-keepers to 

 patronize them unless it was to the 

 advantage of the bee-keepers to do so. 

 After all has been said, there will 

 still be a large volvmie of busines go 

 to the factory. 



THE NEW BEE-KEEPING. 

 (Read at Wisconsin State Convention.) 

 Comrades — let us take one quick, 

 backward glance at bee-keeping. Bees 

 once lived in hollow trees, clefts in 



rocks, and holes in the ground. Then 

 man began ptitting them into straw 

 "skeps," log "gums," and boxes. 

 After toiling through the long summer 

 to lay up a store of sweets, the cold 

 days of Autumn saw the bees consign- 

 ed to the sulphur pit, while their 

 combs of honey were mashed up and 

 hung in a muslin bag before the fire to 

 drip. "Strained" honej'^ was a result 

 — and sometimes there was a decided 

 flavor of bee-bread and brimstone. 

 The interior of a bee hive was a sealed 

 book until about 50 years ago — when 

 Langstroth broke the seal, and allow- 

 ed man to scan the wonderful pages. 

 This was the first, the revolutionary 

 step of modern bee culture — the foun- 

 dation of all subsequent improvements. 

 Aside from the invention of the mov- 

 able comb hive, many of us have wit- 

 nessed all of the wonderful growth 

 that has made modern bee culture 

 what it now is. Comb foundation, the 

 honey extractor, the bee smoker, the 

 section honey box, the wax extractor — 

 all these have sprung up before our 

 very eyes. Men were not slow in prof- 

 iting by these inventions, and apiaries 

 and bee-keepers sprang up as by 

 magic, all over this fair' land. With 

 few exceptions, however, one man did 

 not attempt the management of more 

 than one apiary — swarming was the 

 one stumbling block in the way of suc- 

 cess upon a broad scale, by which one 

 man might manage several apiaries 

 scattered about in the most desirable 

 locations. "Shook-swarming" has 

 removed this last obstacle to suc- 

 cessful bee-keeping upon a large scale, 

 and with possibilities of which we 

 have never dreamed. Examples of 

 success in this line are not wanting. 

 Look, for instance, at Bro. Gill, of 

 Colorado, who, last year, with his 

 wife and one helper, cared for 1,100 

 colonies and secured 75,000 pounds of 

 comb honey. Perhaps you will say: 

 "Oh, but that is in Colorado!" Look at 

 your own State. See what your 



