THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



has the best of it ; but, I submit, 

 friend Doolittle, you have put the 

 most ''brains" on the smaller farm, 

 to make it yield as much as, or even 

 more than, the one twice as large, 

 contrary to the natural course of 

 events. Now admitting that an 

 outla}' in muscle pays better than 

 an investment in soil, I still think, 

 that to be fair, you ought to allow 

 the man on the 200 acre farm at 

 least one-half more income than 

 the other. Now remembering that 

 labor is a heavier expense than 

 interest on capital, tell us, which 

 is doing the better business? But 

 suppose, the one, a stickler for 

 the "most thorough cultivation," 

 should employ his expensive labor 

 in trenching his land with a spade, 

 to get a larger crop per acre, as he 

 certainly would ; while the ether 

 uses only cheap labor, but depends 

 upon his own thorough knowledge 

 of his business, to manage them so 

 as to get the full benefit of their 

 muscle, and works with steam 

 ploughs and alUabor-saving contriv- 

 ances ; do you not see that the 

 smaller farmer would be distanced 

 immediately ? Now, I believe that 

 we should stud}' to do less work 

 ourselves, and let the bees do 

 more — everything that they can do 

 as well or even better than we — that 

 we may be able to employ more of 

 them to our greater profit. 



What, then, are some of the 

 things which we can with advan- 

 tage turn over to the bees to do? 



1. Hunting queens — especial 1}^ 

 in full stocks. Many of the systems 

 of dividing and artificial swarming 

 still sriven necessitate finding the 



queen, and I believe much time is 

 yet wasted by beekeepers in hunt- 

 ing for queens for various other 

 purposes. This is an operation in 

 which the bees can beat us, and we 

 are losing whenever we try to run 

 opposition to them. 



2. I do not believe we can suc- 

 cessfully compete with them in ar- 

 ranging their brood in spring. I 

 have practised "spreading" their 

 brood for them in the spring, and 

 I have been "cautious" about it 

 too, as the advocates of that oper- 

 ation advise, and while I can do 

 it, I think, without damaging them 

 speciall^s I find that a colony, sit- 

 ting right by the side of the one I 

 manage with superior wisdom, if 

 allowed to have its own way, if it is 

 in good condition, and has plenty 

 of honey, will come out at the 

 clover harvest just as strong and 

 prosperous as the other. So I 

 have concluded that they are just 

 as good autiiority on how much 

 brood it is safe to start and wdiere 

 to put it, as I am ; and I propose 

 to let them run that part of my bus- 

 iness hereafter. The queen is gen- 

 erally ready and waiting to lay 

 just as many eggs as are safe, and 

 the only thing that retards her is 

 want of warm weather, and as that 

 is a matter over which I have no 

 control, I have concluded I can't 

 help her. 



3. They can manage the matter 

 of swarming more cheaply, and, 

 I am inclined to believe more ju- 

 diciousl}', than the most expert bee- 

 keeper can do it, bj^ any plan I 3'et 

 know of. Where there are tall 

 trees near the apiar}', it is neces- 



