52 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



of itself, and if a man will only find a 

 good location, stock it with a good 

 strain of bees, and adopt methods that 

 will allow him to keep bees in large 

 numbers, there is no reasonable doubt 

 of success. 



*«^Krf»jr»*^i>rf« 



A Modern Bee Farm. 



My friend, S. Simmins, of England, 

 the inventor of "Direct Introduction of 

 Queens" and "'Simmins' Non-Swarm- 

 ing System," has gotten out a new 

 edition of his book "A Modern Bee 

 Farm." He has added a sub-title, or, 

 to be exact, he has, on his title page, 

 made "A Modern Bee Farm" the sub- 

 title. The whole title on the title page 

 is "£300 per Annum from 30 Acres, or 

 a Modern Bee Farm." One feature of 

 this book is to show how advantageous 

 it is to combine bee-keeping with 

 poultry raising, stock growing, fruit 

 culture, etc., or, rather show how these 

 pursuits may be combined to advan- 

 tage, and how he has made the above 

 mentioned sum out of such a combina- 

 tion. It is possible that, with his 

 environments, he is doing the best 

 that he can do, but the conditions are 

 different here in many parts of the 

 United States. For instance, in his 

 preface he says he can hold out no 

 hopes that bee-keeping alone will sup- 

 port a family, at least in that countr3\ 

 I am not acquainted with all of the 

 conditions in England, but in this 

 country, if the right location is secured, 

 there is no difficulty in supporting a 

 family on bee-keeping, and making 

 some money besides. I will not, how- 

 ever, discuss this point at length here, 

 but begin at the beginning of the book 

 and notice those things that seem to me 

 to be of particular interest to bee-keep- 

 ers in this country. 



HOW TO LEARN BEE-KEEPING. 



In learning bee-keeping Mr. Sim- 

 mins urges most earnestly that the be- 

 ginner work at least two years in some 

 established apiary. Time and money 



are thus saved, and the solid experi- 

 ence gained is far more certain to put 

 the young bee-keeper upon the right 

 road than half a dozen years spent in 

 building up a small apiary. 



HOT WATER APPLICATIONS IN CASES OF 

 SEVERE STINGING. 



The use of cold water should be 

 avoided in the treatment of bee stings. 

 On the contrary, warm applications, 

 as hot as can be borne, will reduce the 

 swelling and irritation in a natural 

 manner by relieving the congested 

 blood, and sending it coursing through 

 the veins; thus diftusing and thinning 

 the poison; while, at the same time, 

 the pores of the skin are fully opened, 

 which aids in giving relief. Cold 

 causes congestion, inactivity and death 

 — warmth causes movement, circula- 

 tion and life. In cases of severe sting- 

 ing it is well to remember this. 



HOW YOUNG BEES HELP IN SECURING A 

 HARVEST. 



It has been argued, sometimes, that 

 bees hatching out so late as not to be 

 old enough to take part in gathering 

 the harvest are of no value, but Mr. 

 Simmins calls attention to the fact that 

 they do the work of the hive, thus re- 

 leasing for outside labor bees that 

 would otherwise be compelled to re- 

 main at home. 



ONE SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL HONEY 

 PRODUCTION. 



I doubt if our author calls attention 

 to anything of greater importance than 

 that of always maintaining the proper 

 proportion of adult bees to the quantity 

 of brood and young bees. Of course this 

 idea is not new, but it is not sufficient- 

 ly recognized and acted upon. If the 

 conditions are such that the queen is 

 able to produce the full working force 

 before the honey harvest begins, then 

 there will be a good harvest gathered. 

 If she is unable to breed up to her full 

 capacity until after the harvest has 

 commenced, the working force is unable 



