330 



TUE AMERICAN DEE KEEPER. 



November 



that will be a revelation to him, He 

 can briug his wheel, and ride every- 

 where, and he will find that he has 

 many friends here as everywhere. 

 Linstead, Jamaica, 



BEES AS AGRIOULfURISTS. 



When one thinks of the important 

 part played by bees in agriculture one 

 cannot help wondering why the ex- 

 periment stations of the United States 

 pay so little attention to beekeeping. 

 We do not recall a single station 

 where beekeeping is carried on at all. 

 The Rhode Island station had a depart- 

 ment devoted to poultry and bees, but 

 if memory serves, that has been aband- 

 oned. 



Honey bees and the bumble bees are 

 expert in some lines of agricultural 

 work that men do not very well unders- 

 tand, and could not succeed in if they 

 tried ever so hard- They do a very 

 important work, and do it for nothing, 

 boarding themselves in the meantime. 



If it were not for bees we would 

 not have large fruit crops, if we did 

 not experience failures. At the time 

 when fruit trees are in bloom there 

 are but few insects abroad and if the 

 bees did not visit the blossoms in 

 search of honey the fruit would never 

 mature, as it would not be pollenized. 



If it were not for the work of bees 

 we could not grow clover and this im- 

 portant crop would be unknown. So 

 important is this that large sums of 

 money have beent spent to import 

 bees into Australia in order that clover 

 might be grown there. 



Honey bees follow civilation and 

 are unknown where civilized man has 

 not taken up his residence. They are 

 colaborers with the pioneer and help 



him to conquer the wilderness and in 

 the introduction of improved fruits 

 and crops. 



Every home owner, from villager 

 to the bonanza farmer, should keep 

 bees, for the help they are to agricul- 

 ture alone. The business of bee-keep- 

 ing is not well understood even by ex- 

 perts, and is a great opportunity for 

 good work from the experiment station 

 in promoting a wider knowledge and 

 a greater interest in bee-keeping, an 

 industry that might be indefinitely ex- 

 tended with profit to those who keep 

 them, and to those whose field they 

 roam over in search of honey. — Ex- 

 change. 



(From Gleanings). 



SMOKER FUEL. 



Some New and Valuable Kinks in Hand- 

 ling Bees. 



BY N. E. BOOMHOWER. 



About every apiarist has his own 

 whims and ideas; and among them 

 are some who would rather use a thing 

 of their own originating than to use 

 one they knew was better, but decline 

 simply because some one else got it 

 up, and say it is "no good." 



I will give a few points that per- 

 haps will do some one some good if 

 he will try it. One of them is, fuel 

 for the smoker. "We use old phosphate- 

 sacks that have been laid out in the 

 rain, and washed out, or burlap of the 

 same nature, which can be had in al- 

 most any quantities at the junk-shops 

 for one-fourth cent a pound. This 

 fuel has been used by a good many, 

 but perhaps not in the same shape we 

 use it. We take a phosphate-sack 

 and roll it up lengthwise as tight as 

 we can handily with the hands; then 



