AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



145 



bee-culture as Father Langstroth did 

 when he gave us the movable frame. 



About the same time that our Creator 

 gave ihe command to living things to 

 " be fruitful and multiply," He also said 

 to man, "subdue and have dominion 

 over every living thing that moveth 

 upon the earth." If I understand this, 

 it means to breed out undesirable in- 

 stincts and breed in desirable ones, so 

 that all these creatures shall better serve 

 him and contribute to his well-being and 

 happiness. 



Englewood, Ills. 



SomeMni Alioul Beiinnini Bee-Keepini 



WHtten Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY MRS. B. J. LIVINGSTON. 



" I wish to make some money that my 

 husband will have no business with ; 

 think bee-keeping will be just the thing. 

 Please tell me how you began." This 

 and more like unto it. 



Dear Madam, I judge from your 

 whole letter that you are inclined to 

 flaunt the red garment they use in Spain 

 to stir up the animals. Don't do it. 

 Bee-keeping needs the cheerful co-opera- 

 tion of the whole family more than any 

 other business I can think of. With a 

 little indiscretion on your - part, your 

 men folks would soon regard every bee 

 that passed them on the wing, or lit 

 upon their watering-trough, as a natural- 

 born enemy. 



Another thing puzzles me — how are 

 you going to separate yoi^r own interests 

 from those of your family '? If you can 

 do it, you have a better head for arith- 

 metic than I have. No one could'have 

 a stronger desire than I had, to do it all 

 myself. Not from a selfish motive, but 

 because my family had care enough on 

 their hands. When my first and only 

 pure Italian swarm came out and settled 

 40 feet from the ground on a limb of a 

 giant oak, that projected out over our 

 heads, I was helpless, and would joon 

 have been pure-queen-less, had it not 

 been for the harvest hands. 



I'll not tell how many of them were 

 how long in trying to throw stones to 

 hit the limb to jar or unsettle those bees. 

 Finally, one shot a bullet through the 

 limb between the bees and the tree. 

 Soon another threw an iron with a cord 

 attached, over the limb, when a rope 

 was drawn over, and the limb violently 

 agitated until it broke where the ball 

 had weakened it. Thus we often get 



left if we try to be too independent. 

 1^^ We saved that swarm. 



Bees are liable to do very unexpected 

 things, especially with a novice. 



As to how I began, is it not all written 

 in the books. One thing was in my 

 favor — I had nothing to unlearn. One 

 could not have been more ignorant of 

 bees than I was six years ago. I never 

 saw a section of honey until I took it off 

 my own hives. I wonder how many 

 could sympathize with the feeling that 

 prompted me to go to the room again 

 and again to look at that honey, It was 

 not its financial value I thought of, for 

 the extent of my ambition at that time 

 was to have honey enough for the 

 family, and perhaps a few pounds to 

 present to friends to whom I was in- 

 debted for many kindnesses. 



My beginning is too long a story to 

 write here, only to say that I read up, 

 just as a lawyer or doctor would, before 

 setting out to practice. You really can- 

 not succeed if you depend alone upon 

 what you can pick up from mouth to 

 mouth. You would soon be in a worse 

 fix than the man who had a bad cold, 

 and concluded to try every remedy that 

 syrapatizing friends offered. 



Buy at least one good standard bee- 

 book, and subscribe for at least two bee- 

 papers. Of course you will need two 

 colonies of bees to stir up once in 

 awhile, so as to learn to bear bee-stings 

 with equanimity. 



Centre Chain, Minn. 



Lonieyity Of Bees— PiiUeil Queens. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



In reading Mr. Bellamy's article on 

 page 755 of the Bee Journal for 

 1893, I thought I would give a little of 

 my experience in regard to longevity of 

 bees. 



I noticed this a number of years ago. 

 My attention was first called to a colony 

 that at all times contained but little 

 brood. At that time I reared queens for 

 my own use only, consequently I was 

 not so particular in keeping a record of 

 their age. Of course I thought she was 

 failing, and my intention was to soon re- 

 place her ; but as the honey-flow was 

 poor, I lost a little interest in the bees 

 for the time being, consequently I neg- 

 lected to re-queen this colony. 



But when the time came to prepare 

 them for winter, this colony was the 

 the strongest in my apiary of some 100 



