1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



181 



well have had the benefit of the teach- 

 ings of some from the multitudes which 

 have had no need of such literature for 

 decades of years. 



The man who thoroughly mastered the 

 art and science of bee-keeping during a 

 three weeks' visit to his grandfather's 

 farm forty-seven years ago, is yet with 

 us. I met him last week while making 

 an overland journey of a hundred miles 

 on horseback. He has to-day nine colo- 

 nies in the back yard, and informed the 

 writer that he "got nigh onto three 

 buckets of the nicest honey I ever seen 

 last year; and could just as well o' had 

 twict that much" only for the necessity 

 of having had to attend a funeral, dur- 

 ing which time the moths took advant- 

 age of his absence to get in and destroy 

 •'two of the best skaps." 



He had not read a bee-paper since 

 '•along in eighty or eighty-one," and has 

 "been pretty well disgusted with bee- 

 papers ever since.'" At that time some 

 one sent him a sample copy, but he 

 "couldn't see any sense to it ; " and it is 

 now his expressed opinion that "anybody 

 that hasn't sense enough to have bees 

 without signing for a paper on bees 

 ought to be sent to the state legislature 

 or go to preaching." 



Think for a moment what it would 

 mean to the fraternity to have this foun- 

 tain of knowledge tapped at Buffalo next 

 September. Why should not the Secre- 

 tary of the United States Bee-keepers" 

 Association profit by the oversight on 

 the part of the management of the Pan- 

 American, and secure this drawing card 

 for the Convention '? 



The man who has no need to read is 

 too many to be enumerated; I met sev- 

 eral of him during my few days' ride. 

 There would, however, be no necessity 

 for having more than one of him present 

 at the Convention, as a natural conse- 

 quence of his unlimited wisdom. Let us, 

 though, endeavor to induce one of this 

 prodigy of learning to grace the occasion 

 with his presence. Place the question- 

 box in his charge, and hear him proceed 



with the confidence and force of a West- 

 ern cyclone to elucidate his method of 

 swarming his bees; and tell of the as- 

 tounding fearlessness of his first, second, 

 or third son in kicking the skeps, and 

 taking the bees in his bear hands with 

 the serene composure of a magician 

 about to enjoy a feast of fire and ancient 

 weapons of warfare. Hear him tell of 

 the snowy whiteness of the wax his bees 

 get in "some years," and how straining 

 through five thicknesses of cloth fails to 

 make that white which is gathered 

 "other years." What he will tell of the 

 construction of patent hives, so as to 

 exclude the moth-miller, will revolution- 

 ize the products of our hive factories. 

 His failure to see that the bees liked 

 starters of foundation any better than 

 they did empty frames or empty boxes, 

 will probably start a new chain of 

 thought among those yet reading the 

 papers. His method of wiring founda- 

 tion in pound-sections, he might not be 

 induced to disclose: but that would ren- 

 der us none the less appreciative of the 

 great amount of othc^r information, 

 equtiUy (is valuable, which would flow 

 from his unselfish mind with tlie freedom 

 and grace of an April shower, upon the 

 famished fields of American beedom. 



"Only by painstaking observation and a 

 careful recording of wliat we see, can we 

 advance." 



PLANTING FOR HONEY 



Not Profitable; yet Abundant Opportuni- 

 ties to Profitably Increase our Bee 

 Pasturage. 



BY H.\KKY L. S.MITH. 



WE often see the question in our 

 bee-journals: "Can we in- 

 crease the available pasturage 

 of our bees at a profit by the cultivation 

 of honey-plants ? " and in answer we 

 find all sorts of opinions, although the 

 majority seem to agree that it is not 

 profitable. Now, I will not attempt to 

 prove that the cultivation of a plant can 

 be made profitable only for what honey 



