246 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



easily and cheaply than by poison ; try 

 it and be convinced. 



Whenever rats burrow under corn- 

 cribs, out-buildings or in cellars having 

 no outside outlet, the carbon can be ap- 

 plied most effectively, and no stench will 

 be created. 



If, however, skunks are numerous in 

 Mrs. Atchley's neighborhood, it may re- 

 quire united effort on the part of her 

 neighbors to destroy the animals ; but if 

 they burrow on her premises, she can 

 soon put an end to their depredations. 



Madison, Neb. 



WlnterlnE tlie Bee-Keeiiers, Not Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY ED. .TOLLEY. 



Other winters the problem of winter- 

 ing the bees appeared to be uppermost 

 in the minds of the bee-keepers, but now 

 it is the wintering of the bee-keepers 

 themselves, or, rather, what the bee- 

 keeper can profitably take up in connec- 

 tion with bee-keeping, so as to have win- 

 ter employment as well as in summer. 



As bee-keepers are of different tastes, 

 different classes, and different localities. 

 It makes it necessary to air out a lot of 

 odds and ends that will work with bee- 

 keeping. As to bee-keepers, we will 

 have to make about three classes. 



The first class will take in the bee- 

 keepers of the learned professions, such 

 as doctors, lawyers, ministers, etc., who 

 keep a few colonies of bees for pleasure 

 or recreation ; others, with a desire to 

 study their natural history, and as they 

 keep only a few colonies their work is 

 from a scientific up-to-the-times object. 

 It is this class who have carried the light 

 into mysteries of bee-keeping, and have 

 marked out the paths we are all trying 

 to follow. Their experiences have been 

 very valuable to the bee-keeper, and as 

 they could spare the time from their 

 professions in the summer to keep the 

 bees, if they have as much time to spare 

 in the winter how could they better 

 spend it than by giving us a few good 

 articles on bee-keeping, and its different 

 branches ? 



The second class is composed of people 

 (lady bee-keepers are included in this 

 class) of nearly every avocation. They 

 keep anywhere from two to twenty colo- 

 nies, because they think they "work for 

 nothing and board themselves." It was 

 an unlucky day for the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity when this class joined them. 



They never have enough honey to sell to 

 be of much advantage to themselves, but 

 enough to be to the everlasting disad- 

 vantage of the specialist who is trying 

 to make his living by bee-keeping. They 

 occasionally have a few sections full of 

 honey travel-stained inside, and liberal 

 daubs of propolis outside. They spend 

 little or no time with the bees, and the 

 cost of producing this honey is very 

 small, and they can afford to take a very 

 small price for it and still have more 

 profit than the systematic bee-keeper ; 

 thus not only establishing the low prices 

 that are everywhere crippling the pur- 

 suit, but disgusting the public against 

 honey. 



To the above class I would say, by all 

 means subscribe for one- or more bee- 

 papers, and get some good standard work 

 on bee-keeping, and post up yourselves 

 a little. If you are going to be a bee- 

 keeper, get into line, keep up with the 

 procession, or abandon the business. If 

 it was not for this class, the specialist 

 would not be so much in need of some 

 other employment to help him out. 



In the third class, I would include all 

 not included in the others ; that is, all 

 those who make bee-keeping their main 

 business, other things being a side issue. 

 To this class I would say, your tastes, 

 location and means of taking advantage 

 of what may turn up for you, ought to 

 guide you in this matter. There are 

 many things that work nicely with bee- 

 keeping. Poultry-raising goes very 

 nicely with bee-keeping, and where they 

 are properly taken care of in the winter, 

 there is money in the business. I notice 

 that writers in the Progressive Bee-Keep- 

 er advocate horticulture and small fruits. 

 That is a very nice business, but, like 

 bee-keeping, it is rather a sleepy job in 

 the winter. We have a man in our 

 neighborhood who does an extensive 

 nursery business, and keeps about 100 

 colonies of bees. 



Another bee-keeper, who is a plasterer, 

 and your humble servant is employed at 

 an oil-refinery, but is going to adopt 

 bee-keeping as his life-long job. But I 

 think the majority of bee-keepers have 

 about all they can do to dispose of their 

 last year's crop, and get ready for anoth- 

 er year. 



The winter is the proper time to order 

 your supplies, put hives together, fold 

 sections and fill them with foundation ; 

 fill crates and get everything ready that 

 you can for summer work. Repair every- 

 thing about the place that is in need of 

 repair, and then, if you have any time 

 left, do anything that turns up, and do 



