02 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



distinction, individuality and catches the eye of the consumer. There 

 are almost untold possibilities for making" the products of the apiary 

 attractive. This is the secret of the success of many of the products 

 in the gTOcerv stock. 



FEBRUARY— Southern States. 

 By J. J. Wilder. 



There are three blunders a beginner in bee culture is apt to 

 make about the beginning of the season, and either one of wdiich 

 will cause discouragement sooner or later. At this season of the 

 year he has a few leisure hours, and he will try his hand at hive- 

 making'. He has an idea about this feature of his new line of busi- 

 ness, and he must carry it out, and the result will be that he will 

 find himself far in the wrong after he has spent some hard-earned 

 dollars and much of his leisure time at it. Well, if he don't get too 

 badly "balled up" later he will order him some factor}^ made sup- 

 plies and delight himself setting them up because they are so per- 

 fectly cut out. 



Then he is a negligent fellow, but he and his family love honey 

 and they are interested in their bees and often remark that he must 

 order some necessary supplies for them, but somehow he fails to do 

 it, until after the bees need supers and swarms are issuing. 

 W^ell it is too late then, but he wonders if he could not get a few 

 ready hives through the parcel post at once for the new swarms. 

 He will remark perhaps that he was not expecting the bees to swarm 

 or gather much honey this year. 



Then, too, he does not like to "fool" with the bees much, and in 

 fact he hasn't the time, and is awfully afraid one will sting him, so 

 he keeps his distance, but likes to see them working. To send in a 

 little smoke at the entrance and raise the covers about one-eighth of 

 an inch and send in smoke on the bees, then remove it and smoke 

 the bees down from the top bars and lift out the frames one by one 

 and look them over, would be a task impossible for him. But after 

 the "caterpillars' have eaten up several colonies and he hasn't "been 

 stung while hiving swarms and doing some little work about the 

 bees, he concludes to go through a colony and examine it, using 

 plenty of smoke, and my! my! \\^hat a wonder he has performed, 

 and how interesting it is, and he goes through all his colonies and 

 finds it only a small task to do so every two or three weeks during 

 the bees' working season. A wise beginner will make no such blun- 

 ders, but will buy the best supplies obtainable for his bees and orders 

 them in time to set them up and have them in readiness before they 

 are needed. And he has been a bee student during the winter and 

 learned from literature on bee culture how bees are handled by oth- 

 ers and is anxiously waiting for a warm sunny da}^ in February to 



