Tbe (§ee-)\eepeps' 



e^' 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tlqe Interests of Hoqey Prodj^ er 



$L00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HDTCHiMSON, Editor and ProDrletor. 



VOL, XI, FLINT, MICHIGAN, DECEMBER 10, 1898, NO 1.2 



BEAUTY AND NEATNESS. 



They are of Considerable Importance in the 

 Apiary. 



EI.MER H. HUNT. 



If eyes were made for seeing, 



Then beauty is its own excuse for being. 



KMKRSOX. 



M' 



ANY people 

 "^i have the idea 

 that a man who is 

 not fitted for any 

 other vocation, 

 has talent enough 

 to be a farm e r. 

 The time was 

 once, too, w h c n 

 anv one who h;id 

 sutlficient moral 

 courage, could be 

 a bee-keeper. Happily, thanks to science, 

 that time is past. Farmer or bee keeper, 

 he must read, study, and experiment in 

 order to be successful. The man who is 

 contented to keep bees in the old-fash- 

 ioned way, because that is the way he 

 learned, can not compete with his wide- 

 awake neighbor, who makes use of the 

 experience of others. New methods and 

 new inventions are constantly being 



brought before his attention, which he 

 must either accept or reject. This is 

 where his judgement and past experi- 

 ence will be of use to him. But there are 

 other points to be remembered that play 

 a prominent part in his business. I will 

 refer particularly to beauty and neatness 

 in the apiary. 



Neatness is tact dressed in its working 

 clothes, and is a fairly accurate barom- 

 eter of a man's usefulness. Work done 

 carelessly is never done right; but if a 

 man takes pains to do his work neatly, 

 he is quite sure to do it well. If the 

 arrangement of his hives is slipshod with- 

 out any idea of symmetry, you are led to 

 suspect that he is careless in his care of 

 the bees through the honey-season. 

 Beautv and neatness may not seem, at 

 first thought, a source of profit, financial- 

 ly at least. But have you tried it ? The 

 bee-keeper that lets the gra-ss grow up in 

 front of his hives is leaving hindrance 

 sufficient to strip him of several pounds 

 of honey every year. His honey-house, 

 unless constant care is exercised, will be 

 made unsightly by leaky sections, broken 

 combs and propolis. Neatness will pay 

 here in the wax it will save. Every bee- 

 keeper should, as far as he is able, create 

 a market in his own vicinity for his hon- 

 ey. Neatness and cleanliness are the two 



