36 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



February 



although I do not see how I can add 

 more to the subject, and to answer 

 the questions as propounded would be 

 too much. I think if I explain the 

 principle as well as I can it will cover 

 the ground. The majority of bee 

 keepers are not experts, and they have 

 a hard time with their ups and downs 

 in bee-keeping, and to this class was 

 my article directed. Although Dr. 

 Miller and others in the front rank 

 have written to me favorably on the 

 subject, I don't expect the world to 

 fall over itself in an effort to adopt 

 the plan, yet the plan is a good one I 

 think, and will bring delight when in 

 spring you see those long sheds open 

 only to the east, full of tall hives, 

 strong with bees, heavy with honey, 

 and roaring with delight as the bees 

 crowd and push in a mad rush to se- 

 cure the early pollen, and with large 

 parts of the combs filled with hatching 

 brood, and ah ! sad fate, they have 

 gathered unto themselves several doz- 

 en swarms that were weak and belong- 

 ed to some[ expert but thought they 

 needed hovering. Of course you are 

 sorry for that, and can well afford to 

 make it right, for you aren't slipping 

 two steps back at every one taken 

 forward, and that is the principle or 

 idea of the whole theory, simply that 

 farmers and all who care to keep bees 

 can have a substantial income every 

 year if pursued on this plan with no 

 worry about their bees dying, and they 

 skip all the work and fuss attending 

 the keeping of them in small hives. 

 Because a small hive if good to put a 

 large swarm in and compel them to 

 store section honey in good shape, it is 

 not always prudent to winter them in 

 such small hives. Because you salt 

 down a pig in a barrel after he is kill- 



ed, it isn't very prudent to winter him 

 in a barrel when alive. You see we 

 can't run live stock by machinery. 

 We must conform to the natural if we 

 would have success. I don't hate 

 patent hives, I simply try to find 

 something better for wintering bees, 

 and have found it. 1 think the 

 winter problem^ will never be solved 

 by the majority of those who winter 

 in frame hives, and this very uncer- 

 tainty keeps our supply dealers be- 

 wildered as to their chances for the 

 next season. It is hardly thus with 

 any other branch of farming, which 

 is pursued on a more natural basis. 

 I think supply dealers would reap a 

 greater harvest under the new method, 

 and be far more regular in their out- 

 puts of supplies. But I'm off the 

 subject of this article, and repeating 

 some of which I have already said in 

 others. You can read in previous 

 articles of the beautiful unstained 

 honey taken from those large swarms 

 which come off just at the right time, 

 and are put in as small hives as possible, 

 and run for all they are worth, and 

 then in the fall done with as you wish, 

 it matters little what, for sure haven't 

 you got an acre or two of those solid 

 old breeders with which to do the 

 same thing over again next year. 

 Certainly you have, and the way 

 people fall oyer themselves in an 

 effort to see which will be able to 

 purchase your spotless honey is amus- 

 ing. Now friends, by your questions 

 you seem to think I have got some 

 peculiar patent hive for breeders, or 

 perhaps you half suspect that I am 

 almost ready to launch it in the sea of 

 credulity, and that with a good head 

 of steaaa I will plow the already over 

 burdened waves of misery, and make 



