THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



2D 



would be like the man who, finding he 

 had to retrench in his expenses at 

 home, because his pay was somewhat 

 reduced, concluded he would not eat 

 in the future and thus save his butch- 

 er and baker bills, and yon know full 

 well what was the result. 



The next thing is to buy your bees — 

 either obtain them from some reliable 

 dealer or from some one in your 

 neighborhood. See that they are in 

 movable frames of some size, such as 

 can be bought on the market, so that 

 you may buy a hive and move them 

 into it. 



A movable frame is a rectangular 

 frame of wood, inside of which is built 

 one of the honey combs of the hive ; 

 these combs are, as a rule, ^ of an inch 

 thick. A full hive should contain 

 eight of these frames full of comb. 



Buy a stock or two of native bees 

 (Blacks) as your first investment. A 

 stock or colony consists of the queen 

 and about thirty thousand workers. 

 There may be also a few hundred 

 drones. Our reason for advising the 

 purchase or black bees instead of Ital- 

 ians, is because they can be obtained 

 much cheaper, and thus the first out- 

 lay will be less— -85 per colony on eight 

 movable frames delivered early in the 

 month of May would be about the 

 correct price for this latitude. Of 

 course if you are further south you 

 must get your bees earlier. Dealers 

 ship colonies of bees by express in 

 shipping boxes, and guarantee their 

 safe arrival at your nearest depot. Do 

 not ask the dealer to ship them in a 

 hive, particularly if it, is heavy, as the 

 consequent heavy jars in handling will 

 break the combs. Leave the dealer to 



use his best judgment, seeing he guar- 

 antees safe arrival ! 



The colony has for its principal per- 

 sonage the queen. This bee is the 

 mother of all in the hive, and the only 

 perfect female in it ; she lays all the 

 eggs. This monarch has very restrict- 

 ed powers, so far as government goes. 

 The old idea that she governed the 

 colony like a true despot, is one only 

 remarkable for its antiquity. The bee 

 hive is a very limited monarchy ; in 

 fact it is a republic, the office of whose 

 head is, as ex-President Cleveland apt- 

 ly remarked of his own position, a pure- 

 ly executive one. The worker's govern 

 the colony in truth. These workers* 

 are females whose ovaries (egg laying, 

 apparatus) are undeveloped. They 

 sometimes do lay eggs, as will be- 

 spoken of later, but in that case they 

 become a hindrance instead of help- 

 These workers do the honey gather- 

 ing, comb building, and are in fact 

 the life of the hive. Upon their en- 

 ergy depends, to a great extent, the 

 prosperity of the colony. — B. K. M. 



SPRAYING FRUIT TREES. 



Recent census statistics rhow that 

 the ravages of our insect pests cost the 

 farmers and fruit growers of the 

 United States the enormous sum of 

 8200,000,000 annually. And recent 

 experiments by our leading entomolo- 

 gists and horticulturalists show that 

 75 per cent, of this loss can be pre- 

 vented by the proper use of insectci- 

 des. Valuable information on the 

 above subject furnished free by P, C. 

 Lewis, Catskill, N. Y. Mr. Lewis i» 

 an extensive manufacturer of spray- 

 ing outfits. Write him for further 

 information at the above address. 



See his advertisement in another 

 column. 



