6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



lor further protection, make the sides double- 

 walled, with an air space ; it will not interfere 

 with the essential features of the hive. But I 

 have found no difficulty with heat. 

 With the best of feeling, &c, 



W. C. CONDJT. 



Howard Springs, Tenn., Feb., 1872. 



Beekeeping. 



[From The Mail.] 



Bees well deserve to take rank among the live 

 stock of the farm, yet it is a rare thing in this 

 country to see an apiary of any sort or size ; 

 while in Britain a place would hardly be con- 

 sidered properly stocked without at least a few 

 hives. With the exception of wintering, it is as 

 easy to keep bees here as in the old country, 

 and quite as profitable. Nor is the difficulty of 

 wintering by any means insurmountable, if the 

 nature and habits of bees are studied and accom- 

 modated. 



All parts of the country produce honey-yield- 

 ing flowers, and in some localities such flowers 

 are very abundant. Where white clover, bass- 

 wood trees and buckwheat are' plentiful, you 

 have a perfect paradise for bees, and a vast 

 storehouse for honey. Probably there is no lo- 

 cality where bees may not be kept with advan- 

 tage ; while there can be no doubt that, in some 

 places, they would, for the expense and trouble 

 involved, be the most profitable stock a farmer 

 could keep. A fair estimate of the amount of 

 honey that annually goes to waste for want of 

 bees to gather it, would be positively startling. 

 There are probably two bundled thousand occu- 

 pants of land, from a small holding of an acre 

 or two to full-sized farms, in the province of 

 Ontario, and if each of these raised but fifty 

 pounds of honey per annum, it would add a mil- 

 lion dollars to the aggregate value of our pro- 

 vincial products. A single hive of bees, well- 

 managed, may be counted on to yield fifty pounds 

 of honey every year. Indeed, many beekeepers 

 now-a-days would scout that as a very small 

 yield. Single colonies have produced from four 

 to ten times that quantity in a single year. Still, 

 an average of fifty pounds is far beyond what 

 ordinary beekeepers obtain, simply for want of 

 knowledge and skill. In no department of rural 

 affairs has greater progress been made of late 

 years than in beekeeping, though but few com- 

 paratively have kept pace with the onward 

 march of things in agriculture. 



We supposed just now that every occupier of 

 land, from an acre to five hundred acres, kept a 

 single hive of bees. But why should he not keep 

 half-a-dozen or a score? And why should not 

 every person possessed of a garden, however 

 small, have one or more bee-hives in it? We 

 have known bees kept profitably on the roofs of 

 buildings in cities. At present, and for some 

 time to come, there is no clanger of overstocking 

 the country, while it is undeniable that enor- 

 mous waste is going on through neglect of this 

 branch of rural industry. 



Fear of being stung is probably the great hin- 

 drance to beekeeping becoming more general. 

 A bee sting is no joke, it must be acknowledged. 

 It is a rather more serious affair than a mos- 

 quito bite. But there is far less danger of being 

 stung than most people imagine. The common 

 idea, whenever a bee is seen, is that it is very 

 hazardous to be near it. Many think every bee 

 they meet with is intent on stinging them if they 

 can. But the reverse of this is the fact. "The 

 little busy bee" has other and better business 

 on hand than to be stinging people, and rarely 

 if ever, does this without provocation of some 

 sort. If struck at, as it too often is, it will surely 

 retaliate. If interfered with in any way, and 

 particularly if irritated, squeezed, or crushed, it 

 is sure to sting. That good Bible rule, "study 

 to be quiet and to mind your own business," is 

 especially to be observed when among bees. In 

 all operations that expose one to bee-stings,' 

 there are simple precautions by taking which 

 all danger may be avoided. A few puffs of smoke 

 from a bunch of burning rags, a pan of chips, or 

 a bit of rotten wood, will usually quiet a colony 

 of bees, so that it can be handled with impunity. 

 A veil of some sort, and a pair of sheepskin 

 gloves, will completely guard an operator from 

 the much-dreaded stilleto of the little honey 

 gatherer. 



We shall return to this subject ere long. Mean- 

 while, in addition to the advice to all and sundry 

 to Iccep bees, we beg to add a few very needful 

 counsels. 



1. Do not go headlong nor wholesale into this 

 or any other branch of rural industry. Be con- 

 tent with small beginnings, and take time to 

 gather experience. Commence with one stock 

 of bees, and before you buy even one, tret some 

 recent treatise on beekeeping, and "post" your- 

 self, at least in regard to the outlines of api- 

 arian science. 



2. Begin with a movable frame hive of some 

 sort. Bees have been kept advantageously, and 

 may be still, in straw or common box hives ; but 

 to attain the best results, a movable frame hive 

 is necessary. This kind of hive admits of access 

 to the bees, control over tin in, and from one 

 season's observations in such a hive more may 

 be learnt about bees than by keeping them 

 twenty years in straw or box hives. Such a hive 

 as now recommended, can easily be obtained 

 from some of our provincial apiarians, such as 

 Thomas of Brooklin, Mitchell of St. Mary's, 

 Losee of Cobourg, Nicolle of Lindsay, Ac. A 

 single stock in such a hive will cost about ten 

 dollars, inclusive of patent right, and surely this 

 is not an investment, to begin with, that need 

 frigliten anybody. 



3. Do not expect sudden and wonderful pro- 

 fits, nor be discouraged by reverses. There is 

 no speculation in beekeeping, any more than in 

 any other branch of moral economy. But, after 

 some years' experience, we firmly believe there 

 are few directions in which labor and money 

 can be judiciously expended with more satis- 

 factory returns than this. Here, however, as 

 elsewhere, diligence, care, energy, and perseve- 

 rance are essential to success. 



