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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[April, 



corn. When Merino sheep were bringing fancy 

 prices, everybody was crazy'to go into them. Not 

 long since the rural passion was for hops. Just 

 now, perhaps, the inclination sets toward stock- 

 raising and dairying. But we contend that the 

 wiser plan is to pursue a miscellaneous, general 

 system of farming, except in those cases in which 

 some peculiarity of soil or location dictates a spe- 

 cialty. Farmers should avoid as much as possible 

 putting all into a single venture. They should try 

 all expedients to increase their gains, and if one 

 source of profit fails another will succeed. Nor 

 should they despise littles, for, according to the old 

 proverb, " many a little makes a mickle." 



Bee-keeping well deserves a place among the 

 lesser industries of the farm. As it is wise to keep 

 poultry to pick up the waste grain and stray seeds, 

 so it is wise to keep bees to gather the nectar of 

 clover, orchard blossoms and wild flowers that 

 would otherwise go to waste. It costs but little 

 more to make a start in bee-keeping than it does to 

 make a start in poultry-keeping, and season for 

 season we will match the bees against the chickens, 

 with large odds in favor of the bees. 



Bee-keeping used to be a very crude affair. It 

 was carried on with gums or straw hives, inside of 

 which everything was fastly fixed and all a realm 

 of mystery. The bees were left pretty much to 

 themselves, until the close of the honey season, 

 when they were brutally smothered with brimstone 

 fumes ; and the colony being thus exterminated, its 

 stores were appropriated to the use and luxury of 

 the owner. Now we have the movable frame hive, 

 which gives the bee-keeper access to the interior of 

 the colony, perfect control over it, and liberty to 

 take the surplus honey without killing the bees. 

 With this form of hive the loss of swarms by their 

 going off to the woods can be prevented, queens 

 can be given to stocks that become destitute of 

 them, and weak colonies can be strengthened by 

 giving them comb, bees, or honey. 



The invention of the honey extractor, or as some 

 American apiarians prefer to call it, the melipult, is 

 another great step in advance. By the use of this 

 contrivance the yield of honey, in a single season, 

 can often be doubled, and even trebled. By the 

 application of centrifugal force, the honey is thrown 

 out of the combs, almost to the last drop, and on 

 replacing the empty combs in the hive, the bees, as 

 in duty bound, at once proceed to refill them. 

 Often when they wholly suspend work, and will not 

 put a drop of honey into a surplus box, though 

 there is plenty of it in the field, they will replace 

 the honey of which the extractor or melipult has 

 deprived them. The reason of this is obvious. 



Instinct teaches them to fill the body of a hive with 

 a store of sweet, but when that is done their task is 

 accomplished, and they are not covetous, like man, 

 who goes on laboriously accumulating even after he 

 has enough. They have not only a craving instinct 

 but an instinct of satisfaction. The well-filled hive 

 appeals to this latter instinct. They know how to 

 "rest and be thankful." Take away a portion of 

 their stores and the craving instinct comes into 

 play again, and drives them forth as busy workers 

 to the fields for fresh supplies. 



Another modern improvement in apiculture is the 

 importation and breeding of superior bees. Bees, 

 like larger stock, deteriorate by in-and-in breed- 

 ing, and may be improved by crosses. There are 

 inferior and superior breeds of bees, just as there 

 are of poultry, swine, sheep, cattle, and horses. 

 For a few years past Italian bees have been largely 

 imported, and though it may seem an extravagant 

 thing to give five or ten dollars for a queen bee — a 

 little insect only about an inch long, it is no more 

 so than to give a hundred dollars for a superior 

 bull calf or ram lamb. The Italian cross has 

 greatly improved common black bees, by giving 

 them "a dash of fresh blood," as stock-breeders 

 would express it, and by imparting to them desir- 

 able qualities. The Italians are a hardier race ; 

 busier than ''the little busy bee" we have known 

 from childhood ; more prolific, more beautiful in 

 appearance, and less inclined to sting. 



Under the crude appliances of old-time bee-keep- 

 ing it was a fairly remunerative business. "Bee 

 profits" have figured in the balance sheets of old- 

 world farming side by side with "poultry profits," 

 from time immemorial. Much more then is it 

 worthy of attention with the aid of modern improve- 

 ments. Further progress may reasonably be ex- 

 pected. Science and skill are busy experimenting, 

 and many wise heads are thinking out the subject 

 n its various aspects. It is, therefore, only natural 

 to expect that before many years apiculture will take 

 a much higher rank than it now does among rural 

 industries. Honey and beeswax are marketable ar- 

 ticles for which there is a well-nigh limitless demand, 

 a demand which, like that for fruit, increases with 

 the supply. Honey forage is abundant everywhere. 

 In wooded localities the maple, which when tapped, 

 yields the sweet sap which we boil into sugar, fur- 

 nishes honey in its earlier blossoms. In swamp 

 regions there are various plants that supply bee-food 

 with the first opening of spring. The willow yields 

 pollen, propolis, and some say honey. Our early 

 wild flowers and fruit-blooms give the bees some- 

 thing to do ; and when white clover spangles the 

 fields and roadsides, the honey harvest is in all its 



