102 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



too large for us; nevertheless, we shall en- 

 deavor to faithfully watch over every one 

 of our twenty-five colonies, for, at least, 

 another year. Ctula Linswik. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 The Old System vs. the New. 



It has become the custom, of late, to fig- 

 ure up the results of apiculture, on a very 

 small scale. Upon this plan I will give 

 the result of a colony of bees, or rather, of 

 H farmer's experience in the bee business, 

 near here, just as he recently gave it to 

 me. He worked on the old system. "While 

 plowing in his garden last June, a very 

 large ( probably double ) swarm lit on a 

 bush in said garden. Farmer ran for a 

 barrel, and hived them in it. In the fall 

 he had good sense enough to "take up" 

 aforesaid barrel, etc., which was over half 

 full of honey, etc., particularly the etc. 

 To say the least, he got 100 lbs. oj honey, 

 worth say, 15 cents per lb. Here are the 

 figures : 



Big swarm lit on a bush $00 00 



Barrel (second-hand, salt), 00 20 



Time spent hiving '00 20 



" "taking up," 00 30 



Sulphur 00 05 



Total 00000 75 



Receipts $15 00 



Net profits $14 75 



Gentle reader, what per cent is that? 

 Please tell. I am a poor scholar and can't 

 work out very profitable problems. Whose 

 "patent Gum" will beat the "old sys- 

 tem," after all ! 



This neighbor will probably trade his 

 farm for 10 colonies of black bees in salt 

 barrels; then run up to 10,000 colonies 

 (all in salt barrels ), — but hold on! these 

 second-hand salt-barrels will cost $2,000, 

 and what bee-man can show $2,000 ? 



A LETTER 



from a bee-keeper reads as follows: 



" Dear Sir. — I see^n the Journal 

 that ^ou take a^|jflEMr^^ourse from most 

 apiarists, and iror f|& of praising the 

 business, you ' throw cold water' upon it. 

 I am informed, by good authority, that 

 you have made, and laid up, monej' at it, 

 which is plain to be seen — the reason you 

 discourage it. A California honey pro- 

 ducer is doing precisely the same thing: 

 He has also been successful. 



***** 



Yours etc., " 



Everything is etil. 



I wish my friend would get this " good 

 authority," and come here and help me 

 find the money that I have " laid up." 

 It must have done up higher since I " laid 

 it," for I could not reach it if I needed it 

 to buy bread. Why could not our brother 



imagine that those who have met with 

 even partial success, know by what hard 

 work and untiring energy it has been 

 reached, and thus know better than to 

 credit it to the business. But for argu- 

 ment's sake we will suppose that our 

 friend's views are correct, and that the 

 " successful" ones cry " poor business." 

 Then it naturally follows, that the ones 

 who cry, " very profitable and neglected 

 pursuit." — " splendidly adapted to women 

 and invalids." — "very little work about 

 it," and all such nonsense, are not success- 

 ful, or that they have some other reason for 

 " praising" the pursuit. ' I have never 

 thought that apiculture could not be made 

 a business as paying and respectable as 

 many other lines of production ; but that 

 " anybody" who can pay for a patent hive, 

 queen bee, bee-feeder, moth-trap, non- 

 swarming attachment, queen cage, queen 

 nursery,tin corners, and one thousand more 

 traps, too numerous to mention, can set 

 down a few bees " most anywhere," and 

 SUCCEED, I do most emphatically deny. 



Very many conditions must be present, 

 or success is only one of the things that is 

 going to be. 



These conditions are only known to 

 those who have "been through the mill." 

 The verj^ requisites to succeed are the last 

 to be imagined by the novice. 



James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Mar. 6, 1876. 



For tTie American Bee Journal. 

 How to Ship Box-Honey. 



We make large crates that will hold 

 two hundred pounds. They are high 

 enough for two tiers of honey-boxes, and 

 the crates have a three-inch strip nailed 

 on each side, near the top, with clinch 

 nails. These strips are long enough to 

 extend past the ends of the crates three or 

 four inches, forming handles to carry 

 them with. 



We put in a tier of honey-boxes, pack- 

 ing them tight together with the bottoms 

 up, then a layer of heavy paper to pre- 

 vent the upper tier from leaking on the 

 lower. After the crates are packed full, 

 we nail some strips across the top, so that 

 the boxes cannot be lifted out, yet can bo 

 readily seen. We haul the crates to the 

 depot in a light spring wagon, and re- 

 quire the parties to whom we ship to, to 

 furnish the same to haul them to their 

 place of business. All the express wag- 

 ons and drays in the cities have such 

 heavy springs, and the pavement is so 

 rough that it is almost impossible to draw 

 honey on them, even a short distance, 

 without breaking it. I hauled one thou- 

 sand pounds of honey on a two-horse 

 spring wagon sixty-five miles in a day 

 and a half, without injuring it, and had 

 the same badly broken by an express- 



