244 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[November, 



A CURMUDGEON'S COMMENTS. 



JNO. R. RAGLE. 



IF you are going to call bee-keep- 

 ers "bee-men," Mr. Editor, then 

 how will you refer to women bee- 

 keepers? Shall we call them bee-wo- 

 meiT, or bee-ladies, or, perhaps, bee- 

 mistresses? It seems to me like the 

 good women bee-keepers, if none 

 others, would help me in "kicking" 

 about the use of that abominable 

 word "bee-man." 



As much as I admire W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, I can never become reconciled 

 to his fool contraction plan of comb 

 honey production. That it will suc- 

 ceed in Michigan and parallel lati- 

 tudes I have not the slightest doubt, 

 simply because he says so. But the 

 world is large, and "Hutch" himself 

 could never make the plan work in 

 our "glorious climate" of California 

 And that's why I say the field of bee 

 papers is limited. 



And the 8-frame hive which Eastern 

 supply men so industriously are try- 

 ing to foist upon bee-keepers every- 

 where, will never go in any locality 

 in California. Those miserably thin, 

 grooved bottom boards, used for 

 wintering in the East, are a total fail- 

 ure here. Good Lord, deliver us from 

 our Eastern friends and send an en- 

 terprising man to California to do 

 business with bee-keepers according 

 to California's needs. There is not 

 a man here now who meets the need. 



California is blessed in many big 

 things, and among them, in the bee- 

 keeping world, looms Prof. A. J. 

 Cook. Next to the classical Lang- 

 stroth book (due, I believe, to the 

 Dadants), Prof. Cook's "Manual of 

 the Apiary" stands prominent. In 

 fecundity of information it is greater 

 than any of the books. More than 

 his apiarian teachings, the worth of 

 the man is great, and if all Califor- 

 nians were morally and mentally 

 modeled as he is modeled, then in- 

 deed would this land flow with honey 

 and the milk of human kindness. 



I never use quilts on hives. I've 

 tried it, and they are harborers of 

 ants, roaches, ticks and other insects. 

 The double cover is also a failure 

 on that account. I want a single 

 board cover and a broad shade board 

 over it at all times, as a protection 



from sun in summer and rain in 

 in winter. 



For smoker fuel I use oily waste 

 gathered from the machine shops at 

 the mines. As "a coal from the fire" 

 cannot always be had in this warm 

 climate, and as matches do not readi- 

 ly ignite it, I sometimes hold a light- 

 ed candle to the waste till it gets 

 to burning well, after which it is not 

 apt to go out. If you should try it, 

 do not drop the grease on your 

 clothes, and look out that you do not 

 set the dry grass on fire. 



I have recently read Dr. Miller's 

 little 40-year book, and I wish the 

 young fellow would hurry and write 

 two or three more, as this one is 

 entirely too short; or perhaps it is 

 so interesting that one reaches the 

 end too soon. Well, I shall read it 

 over again, anyway, and more slowly, 

 next time. 



Selling honey has been the least 

 of my troubles. It has been fun; I 

 have enjoyed it. I know of no quick- 

 er or pleasanter way to make a good 

 day's wage than to take out and sell 

 for ready coin those full, white-cap- 

 ped sections that my bees have given 

 me in a season of abundant bloom. 

 "Easy got," you say? No; there has 

 been much anxiety, watchfulness and 

 painstaking care on the bee-keeper's 

 part. The bees have done well; but 

 not all has depended on them alone. 

 There has been some hard human 

 toil to get in perfection those golden 

 heaps of honey. 



How many of you "prominent and 

 well-known" bee-keepers, leaders, in- 

 structors and writers have your 

 apiaries in order? Suppose I should 

 come snooping around, some day, to 

 get closer to nature with your meth- 

 ods, just as an old acquaintance who 

 has read your pages and pages of 

 verbosity in bee papers and else- 

 where. Would you be prepared for 

 the judgment, Mr. Prominent? 



There is another thing I don't like, 

 and that is the Easterners' style of 

 abbreviation for California. They 

 generally get it "Calif." That is 

 wrong. The official abbreviation is 

 "Cal." A good reason for our tole- 

 rating it, however, is that it may not 



