204 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



many applications from those who 

 wished to spend a season with me. Be- 

 sides my labor with the bees, I take care 

 of my garden and small farm (29 acres); 

 have charge of my father's estate, run 

 my own shop and steam engine, sawing 

 sections, hives, honey-crates, etc., for 

 myself and my neighbors ; write for 

 seven different papers, and answer a 

 host of correspondence." 



Mr. D. works for comb honey, and 

 also makes quite a business of rearing 

 queens for sale. Although a prolific 

 writer, his fund of information never 

 seems exhausted, and h>e is uniformly 

 practical and interesting. His writings 

 give evidence of the close and careful 

 thinker. In personal appearance Mr. 

 D. is of commanding presence,being large 

 (275 pounds) and well formed, of sandy 

 complexion, and in manner he is a genial 

 Christian gentleman. 



fxxxxxxT«xxx««Trxxzzzxzzxxxzzrxxx3 



CONDUCTED BY 



Biff®. Jemmfe Mi^&ley, 

 Greenville. Texas. 



Our School in Bee-Keeping. 



Dear readers, I will now begin bee- 

 keeping with you " from the stump," 

 and will go'through almost all the details 

 connected with successful Southern bee- 

 culture. As promised, I do this for the 

 benefit of beginners, and as some of our 

 readers have asked me to tell them how 

 to rear queens, I will go with you 

 through this branch of bee-keeping, be- 

 fore I am done. These articles I will 

 call "Our School in Bee-Keeping," and 

 the larger the class the better the school, 

 or the more there are of us the happier 

 we will be. 



All the tuition fee that I will charge 

 is $1.00 to pay for the Amekican Bee 

 Journal for a year, and you can have 

 the book, "Bees and Honey," besides. 

 Should you fail to start in with us, we 

 will send you all the back numbers, let- 

 ting your subscription begin with the 



school. Those of my bee-keeping friends 

 in the South, who take the Bee Joub- 

 NAL, will confer a great favor if they 

 will send to me the names of their neigh- 

 bor bee-keepers that do not take it, and 

 tell them that this little' school will be 

 worth to them twice the price of the 

 paper, and encourage them to send in 

 their subscriptions. 



Now, I am desirous of doing more for 

 bee-keeping in the South, in the next 

 few years, than has been done in the 

 last ten ; and to do this, I must get the 

 bee-keepers to read the Bee Journal, 

 and trust that all my friends in the 

 South will help me out in this, by send- 

 ing in all the names and subscribers you 

 can. 



Now I will close this preface, by again 

 asking all to lend a helping hand, and 

 let's bring forward bee-keeping in this 

 Sunny Southland of ours — the paradise 

 of the honey-bee. 



THE FIRST lesson. 



First, let me ask if you have a book (a 

 colony of bees), if not, you* had better 

 get one by the next lesson, as we cannot 

 learn as well without books. I will take 

 the ones with box-hives as the ABC 

 class, so you that bought your bees in a 

 frame hive just wait a little until I show 

 the others how to transfer their bees 

 and combs to a frame hive, then we will 

 all start together. 



The best time to buy a colony of bees 

 is in the spring, about fruit-bloom time, 

 and the best time to transfer it will be 

 as soon as you get it home. Yes, and I 

 had better tell you how to get your hive 

 home. 



Go over to the nearest neighbor that 

 has bees, and tell him you want a colony 

 of bees, and that you are not particular 

 whether they are black or yellow, but 

 you would like to buy a thrifty colony. 

 They should cost you about $2.50, or if 

 the hive is real heavy, and a good colony 

 of bees, do not grumble if he asks you 

 $3.00 for them. 



Now, light a smoker well, and get a 

 sack that is large enough to slip over 

 the hive, slip the hive into the sack, and 

 lay it in your wagon. 



Ah, hold on, you are doing wrong right 

 on the start ; that is just why so many 

 people fail in working with bees — they 

 go right on without asking permission 

 from the bees ; that is, never touch the 

 hive until you have smoked the bees 

 well. Now you have smoked long 

 enough ; In four or five minutes they 

 will all be filled with honey, then you 

 can do what you please with them — they 

 have given you permission. 



