1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



helps the farmer to bring the land to such a 

 state of cultivation and fertility as will insure 

 good crops for several years. I will now give 

 some directions in regard to the cultivation of 

 rape seed for those who are not acquainted with 

 it. The time for sowing it is from the middle 

 to the end of June. This gives the farmer time 

 to prepare his land, after the rest of the sowing 

 is done. The harvest falls from the beginning 

 to the end of Sejjtember, a time when all the 

 other harvesting is finished. It may be cut 

 with cradle or reaper; then raked into bundles, 

 but not bound. After ten or twelve days it 

 can be thrashed either in a barn or on a floor 

 made of boards in the field. May be trodden 

 out by oxen or horses, or thrashed witli a flail. 

 It can be cleaned in an ordinary fanning-mill. 

 To make sure of a good crop, put on 100 to 150 

 pounds of plaster to the acre. The plaster can 

 be soAved with tlie seed and dragged in. A 

 piece of land producing rape seed one year, 

 will certainly yield the following year, from 

 five to eight bushels more of wheat to the acre 

 than it will after any other kind of grain. Two 

 quarts of seed is sufficient for an acre. Rape 

 seed can be had at Hamilton & Foster's Oil 

 Works in Fond du Lac. The oil is valuable for 

 machinery, and can be used in woolen and 

 cotton mills. The oil-cake makes a splendid 

 food for cattle. Claus Oesau. 



iVVw Molstein, Calumet Co., Jan. 1870. 



[For the AmericMi Bee Journal.] 



Mr. Editor. — So much has beefi said by the 

 bee-keeping fraternity about cheap hives, cheap 

 b?e-houses, wintering cheaply, etc., that we 

 propose, with your permission, to give our 

 views. 



We think bee keepers make a mistake in try- 

 ing to get something out of nothing, or in other 

 words, they wish to make money out of bees, 

 and liave nothing invested in them. They 

 seem to think because the bees are supposed 

 to steal their living, that we should steal a 

 march on them by giving them cheap bouses to 

 live in, cheap winter quarters, and cheap food 

 to live on. Right here is the secret of bee- 

 keeping. On the one hand they say it costs 

 nothing to keep bees, on the other it is the most 

 profitable business extant, and we are apt to get 

 as far along on these two extremes as possible. 

 It has been said there is no royal road to wealth, 

 and if we try to get too much for nothing, we 

 loose sight of the many small things that go to 

 make up the one great one. 



Nowhere else does a man expect to get as 

 much for as little expended as does the bee- 

 keeper. The farmer if he is successful, expends 

 double the amount for food and lodging. The 

 merchant builds costly blocks and surroundings 

 to make his goods attractive. The professional 

 spends years of time which is money, in fitting 

 up his store house ; and so in every department 



a person must have some principal invested to 

 be able to get interest. 



Of what use is a hive that can be had for 

 nothing, if we can make nothing out of it ? We 

 claim that more than one-half of the bees that 

 are lost are lost on account of the hives they 

 are put into, one-fourth on account of their win- 

 ter repository, and the remainder by careless- 

 ness, except a few perhaps by foul brood disease. 



To i^rove the above assertion, we will show 

 that in order to get hives up as cheap as possi- 

 ble, they are made as small as possible. That 

 they are made tight and warm we have no 

 doubt, too much so. The hive being no pro- 

 tection in itself for out door wintering, we 

 must have a repository for wintering them in, 

 which of course must be cheap too. Then the 

 bees are crowded into it, providing there were 

 enough left from last winter's stock ; and as 

 great loss necessitates great gain the season 

 following, so a part are weak because^ of so many 

 divisions. The consequences are the weak must 

 either freeze, or the strong become overheated. 



Now would it not be better to use the same 

 reason in the case of bees as in every thing 

 else? "The laborer is worthy of his hire." 

 Would it not be better and cheaper to pay five 

 dollars for a hive that will winter a stock through 

 or pay five dollars for five hives and loose two 

 or three stocks out of the number? would it 

 not be better and cheajjer to pay one hundred 

 dollars to build a good repository that would 

 winter say fifty stocks, than to have one fur- 

 nished gratis and loose twenty-five during the 

 winter? 



We believe that with a suitable hive and bee- 

 house, bees can be wnntered as safely as any 

 other stock. Further, we believe that the loss 

 of the past two winters in bees, can be accounted 

 for, notwithstanding so many conflicting opin- 

 ions. The fact is, they are all right, but no one in 

 particular, but unite all of their theories and 

 make one grand theory, and we have the answer, 

 "What is the matter with the bees?" One 

 gives the old age theory, and adds a unit. 

 In the natural order of things, bees will die 

 like every thing else. Another sajs, "honey 

 dew." In some sections that too might tend 

 to debilitate. One has too much ventilation. 

 Another not enough ; — both partly right. 

 Dampness is given as a cause ; and epidemic 

 comes in for a claim. 



Now there is not one of these theories that 

 can be applied universally as the cause of so 

 many bees dying the jjast tw^o winters, and yet 

 all have helped to make up a cause, each in its 

 own section, and according to circumstances. 

 Now you can all see that we have a theory, or 

 we Avould not try to knock aside yours. So w^e 

 will give it, although it may not be new, it may 

 be to some, and if it is not right it may sei-ve to 

 get on the right course. We will give it all in a 

 "bunch" and each one can pick out his favorite 

 theory, and there will be nothing left. 



