344 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



cided to move out more bees and start 

 another apiary; but before I had my 

 arrang-ements completed, several new 

 apiaries were started in my immediate 

 neighborhood. It seemed like poor 

 business policj' to move m}' bees out to 

 let them come in, so I kept all my bees 

 at home, with the exception of the one 

 apiary of 60 colonies which I had been 

 obliged to move nearer home, so that it 

 was now only 1^:^ miles away, though 

 I felt pretty sure that the home loca- 

 tion was badly overstocked. Now for 

 results. The out-apiary, though well 

 within the field of the home apiary, ac- 

 cording to most authoritfes, and having 

 the same stock of bees in the same 

 hives, and with exactly' the same man- 

 agement, averaged nearly double the 

 5'ield of honey per liive that those at 

 home gave. This experience taught 

 me several things. First, that the prof- 

 itable range of bee-flight ma.3' be mucli 

 less than is commonly supposed. 

 Second, it was very evident that the 

 home location had more bees than it 

 could profitably support. Now accord- 

 ing to many who have written on the 

 subject, these people had a perfect 

 right to bring more bees into this 

 locality. 



All the bee-keepers in the neighbor- 

 hood own their homes, and none of the 

 apiaries lately established have been 

 large ones. There is no question as to 

 the legal rights of all, and yet the 

 number of colonies in the neighborhood 

 must be reduced or nobody can make 

 as much money from bees as he ought 

 to. Let's hear from Dr. Miller. 



Mr. Alexander began the present 

 season with about 550 colonies, built 

 them up to between 700 and 800 and 

 received 75,000 pounds of honey. He 

 does not consider his location an ex- 

 traordinary one, and feels that he is 

 justified in his views about overstock- 

 ing. It must not be forgotten, how- 

 ever, that he feeds the bees in times of 

 scarcity. 



THE CAMERA. 



And Some of the Advantages that may 

 Come from its Possession and Use. 



I have often wished that more 

 readers of the Review owned and 

 knew how to use the camera. No des- 

 cription equals a picture, and if more 



of our leading bee-keepers were the 

 owners of cameras, and knew how to 

 use them skillfully, how their contri- 

 butions to the bee journals could be 

 brightened and improved. I have often 

 thought of this, and been inclined to 

 write upon it, but now I have found 

 my ideas all very nicely expressed by 

 a writer in the American Amateur 

 Photographer. In the September issue 

 he says: 



The greatest aid in literature is the 

 camera. 



To some, who have given the subject 

 no thought, this may seem a very bold 

 and sweeping statement. But its truth 

 has been established, nevertheless, by 

 that dearest and most expensive of 

 teachers — experience. The camera can- 

 not make an author — he must be born. 

 But it can do more than an}' other 

 one thing towards the happy disposal 

 of a well written, though dry article. 

 How many of 3'ou are there, and count 

 mj'self as one of your number, who 

 when opening the crisp pages of new 

 magazines do not first of all look at, 

 admire and weave a story all your 

 own about the illustrations? 



This branch of magazine and news- 

 paper work has made wonderful strides 

 towards excellence in the past few 

 years. Ten j'ears ago there was one 

 photograph used for illustration where 

 there are probably a dozen in use now. 

 In fact, as far as my knowledge goes 

 there is only one of the high class 

 magazines that does not use illustra- 

 tions. They have come to be consid- 

 ered as an accepted fact. Only two 

 of the prominent New York newspapers 

 accept matter without pictures. These 

 are the exception to the general rule. 

 The majority demand illustrations 

 with the articles. A wordy descrip- 

 tion soon grows tiresome to the reader, 

 but that is all the poor author can do 

 to make one see the picture he is de- 

 scribing. Unless, he is the fortunate 

 owner of a camera, when by simply 

 pressing the button he has captured 

 the whole scene, and given it to you at 

 a glance. Whereas if he had to de- 

 pend entirely on words to make clear 

 his meaning, whole pages would have 

 been covered. - 



You not only catch the author's idea ■ 

 faster by using the camera, but he is ■ 

 also able to give you that touch of 

 local color which it is almost impossi- 

 ble to do in the average descriptive 



