52 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



March 



common black or brown be(!S, makes 

 the best bees for all purposes that can 

 be found. Of course I have not tried 

 all the new kinds of bees, nor do I 

 want to, for the reason that I know 

 better than to try them, T don't have 

 to put my finger in the fire in order to 

 know that burning will hurt it. Nor 

 would I have to sow Canada thistles 

 on my farm to prove whether I could 

 afterward exterminate it. Common 

 sense would teach in both cases, so 

 too in the case with bees. When I 

 find as I surely have that a cross be- 

 tween black bees and Italian are as 

 good as I can get, or as I think I can 

 get, then I think it is time to let good 

 enough alone. If a person is v/ell does 

 he need physic ? I think not. I think 

 the great trouble is that some have no 

 rule to go by. They seem to try this 

 or that just for the s^ake of trying it. 

 Perhaps if there were ten thousand 

 varieties of bees, then bee keepers 

 would be like the old lady buying a 

 calico dress at a wholesale store, and 

 gets a piece of everything just to see 

 if it would wash. This same restless 

 spirit is perhaps what has brought to 

 the front the many patent bee hives 

 which perhaps on the whole have 

 helped to make confusion more con- 

 founded. I have known st)me bee 

 keepers to almost go wild over some 

 new patent hive and invest heavily in 

 them, but when questioned with re- 

 gard to their supposed merits, they 

 could give no reason for their action, 

 except that they wanted them, and was 

 going to have them. When people 

 follow their " want to" somebody is 

 always on hand to supply them, and 

 can they be blamed for it ? But when 

 the man has satisfied his " want to " 

 and his bees are all dead, and his hives 



piled in the fence corner, it is pretty 

 hard to scrape up cash to pay the debt 

 that he generally has before him ? Is 

 it not better to go a little slow in such 

 matters? There is always some one 

 that likes to raise queens and fuss with 

 small matters, and see their advertise- 

 ments in journals and take pride in 

 it. They are built that way and are 

 not to blame for it. In order to carry 

 on such a business they must have 

 something peculiar and attractive, and 

 they have always managed to find it, 

 and perhaps always will. I don't like 

 to think that people love to be fooled, 

 but it seems that some do. They love 

 a white elephant and swallow it at 

 first sight, and seem to call it " licking 

 good." The white elephant now seems 

 to be those very wonderful, very yel- 

 low bees, and why should it not be? 

 Breeders should have a white elephant 

 of some kind or their business is at an 

 end, and if they can induce people to 

 take stock in it, whose business is it, 

 as long as it is not an open fraud, or 

 as long as the parties concerned appear 

 to be honest? The sooner they burn 

 their fingers, the quicker they will 

 know how it feels. If tliey want very 

 yellow bees,then they must want honey 

 that looks as tliough it was water- 

 soaked, and it't ihem have it. If they 

 want beautiful honey, capped over as 

 white as snow, then they must want 

 brown b> os with just a little Italian 

 blood in their veins, and let them have 

 it, and if they don't know that such 

 hybrids aie the most profitable, and 

 will gather as much honey as any bet-s 

 possible can, then let them look into 

 the subject and estimate how much 

 honey, bees ought to gather. Perhaps 

 they can find something better, who 

 knows ? 

 Ovid, Pa. 



