AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



817 



successful, and my colonies are all now 

 vigorous, powerful colonies, and I think 

 that I can easily manage them without 

 the issue of a single swarm. Too much 

 swarming means very little honey, un- 

 less they secure a large fall crop. 

 Grizzly Flats, Calif., May 20, 1893. 



■^-•--^ 



Why Farmer§ and Horticultur- 

 ists Siiouid be Bee-Keepers. 



Head at the Illinois Utate Gmwention 

 BY C. P. DADAHT. 



In order to succeed in apiculture, it is 

 not altogether necessary to. be a special- 

 ist, and a farmer can keep a few hives 

 of bees as well as he can successfully 

 grow a small orchard or cultivate a 

 truck-garden. The fact is, we usually 

 find that the most successful farmers do 

 not neglect any of the smaller branches 

 of their industry, though some are more 

 proficient in one line than in another. 



The greatest draw-back to the keep- 

 ing of bees by farmers, horticulturists, 

 and country people in general, is the 

 fear of stings. The majority of them 

 imagine that the handling of bees is a 

 difficult feat, and can only be performed 

 by those who have a special gift in that 

 direction. The recent progress in -the 

 management and handling of bees is un- 

 known to the masses. Yet it is a fact 

 that with all the latest improvements at 

 our command — improved bee-smokers, 

 bee-veils, movable frames, and the latest 

 implement, the bee-escape — there is so 

 little danger of being stung that it takes 

 only a little determination to success- 

 fully handle a limited number of colo- 

 nies. 



Instead of saying, Why should farmers 

 keep bees, we ought to say, Why should 

 they not keep bees ? There is probably 

 not one farmer's family in fifty that get 

 all the honey they can consume, and on 

 every farm there are thousands of 

 pounds of honey going to waste annually 

 for want of bees to harvest it. Ten col- 

 onies of bees and an outlay of imple- 

 ments not exceeding $25.00, with 

 ordinary management, will be sufficient 

 to gather all the honey a family can 

 consume. According to our own experi- 

 ence, the product of 10 colonies of bees 

 in this State, is, on an average, 50 

 pounds each annually. 



Very little time is required for the 

 manipulations of this number of hives. 

 With large hives, and the extracting 

 method, the actual labor is reduced to a 

 few hours. When the bees have been 



properly put into winter quarters, they 

 need no attention till the first days of 

 March. Then one short visit, each 

 month, during the Spring, to ascertain 

 whether they have queens, and whether 

 the stores are sufficient to permit them 

 to rear brood plentifully, and they will 

 be safely carried to the time of harvest. 



With extracting supers, the job of 

 putting on the honey-boxes is a matter 

 of less than an hour. Then the extrac- 

 tion of the crop will require perhaps 

 a half day. The rest of the manipula- 

 tion, including putting the hives in 

 proper shape for winter, need not re- 

 quire more than a couple of hours at 

 every visit. 



The labor is indeed very light. To 

 know what is wanted, and to do it in 

 time, is the secret of success. To this 

 we might add that the bee-business is a 

 business of details, and that he who suc- 

 ceeds best is he who studies it most, and 

 does not rely more on his own ideas than 

 on the advice of experienced writers. 

 More blunders have been made by ig- 

 norance, or by too much self-reliance, in 

 this business, than in any branch of 

 farming that I know of. 



It is perhaps well to add that the bees 

 are a useful factor in the fertilization of 

 many blossoms. Their help is invalu- 

 able to the horticulturist, and it is a 

 known fact to all observers that the 

 season in which the fruit-trees bear the 

 most plentiful harvest, are those in 

 which the bees have worked on them 

 with the most diligence. The fact is 

 easily explained, and is in accordance 

 with what the naturalists tell us of the 

 structure of the blossoms, and of the 

 fertilization of the pistils. To fertilize 

 the flowers and make them bear fruit it 

 is necessary that a little of the pollen be 

 scattered on the pistil, and it is proven 

 that this pollen is more efficient when 

 not furnished by the same blossom or 

 even by the same tree. So the bee is a 

 natural agent in the reproduction of 

 many trees and plants, and prevents in- 

 and-in breeding from being carried to 

 excess in all the blossoms on which it 

 works. 



The assertion of many people, that 

 the bees are injurious to sound fruit is a 

 gross error, and if more people kept 

 bees they would soon ascertain that the 

 bees feed on fruit only when it is already 

 damaged, and when no other and better 

 sweet is to be found. They aim to save 

 that which goes to waste, but always 

 save the best first. 



The location of an apiary, on a farm, 

 is an easily solved problem. There is 

 always some corner, in which stock does 



