SOS 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Oct. 



so soon after they had given a good crop of 

 honey that I decided they were too short- 

 lived to b3 allowed to occnpy very much 

 space where land is as expensive as our own. 



WHERE IS OUR GOAL? 



THE COMING BEF. 



I OR the last few daj's I have been thinking 

 over and over again of a wonderful sermon 

 that T heard from the pulpit a short time ago. 

 The preacher— a very earnest man— tried to 

 impress as forcibly as possible this thought 

 upon his audience: That all people, in order to 

 grow, to unfold, to ripen into perfect characters, 

 must have a model— one that they must reach up 

 to, and that a perfect one— even Christ Jesus. 

 Ah, how true this is! Just show me the man or 

 woman who is content to let things slip along in 

 the same old rut, year after year, and I will show 

 you a person whose growth can not be seen. 

 Why? Because such persons have no model. 

 These people have no ambition— no goal. If they 

 had a goal which they were aiming to reach, then, 

 when they compai-ed their progress side by side 

 with this sample, they could see their gain, or loss 

 and profit thereby. 



I do not wonder that you or Ernest exclaimed, in 

 Our Homes of Aug. 15, relative to the indolent 

 shop-keepers, "Why can't they jump up and push 

 something?" But, again, the pastor said we 

 should be acquainted, or familiar, with our model 

 or sample, that we might compare or measure 

 ourselves and our woi'k by it, and thus see when 

 we have attained perfection, or how near we have 

 come to it. It was this phrase that led me to see 

 how well the sermon could be applied to our voca- 

 tion—bee culture— as well as to our lives, and in 

 this manner: 



Have we a goal? If so, what is it? We talk and 

 write of the coming bee— what is it? Who can de- 

 scribe it? If we do not know exactly what we 

 want in our ideal bee, or if we are not familiar, 

 either through writings or our thoughts and ideas 

 respecting it, then how can we tell when we have 

 procured a perfect bee? and would any two bee- 

 keepers agree as to its worth? 



Map out the bee we all want; discuss each peculi- 

 arity, each merit that it must possess, then let us 

 compare each race or strain by this model and see 

 just what is now lacking. Let bee-keepers work 

 together for this end. " United we stand, divided 

 we fall." Combine traits that we think will im- 

 prove our existing races, and how long would it be 

 before we should see a wonderful improvement? 



And how is it with hives and fixtures? See the 

 variety of hives, etc, in use to-day; their names 

 are legion, and the evil seems to grow instead of 

 diminishing. Is this the way in which we are to 

 gain rapidly in apicultural science? No. As with 

 bees, we must find what wc need; what ends are 

 to bo accomplished, then all work for them. 

 Have our energies concentrated; oup ideas culled, 

 and then just imagine the progression we should 

 make, and see if all this could come to pass. 



To be sure, we are progressing rapidly, even 

 now; but each of us seems to be struggling on for 

 some tmknown or indefinite end. If I should ask 

 such men as Messrs. Doojittle, Cook, Root, Hutch- 

 inson, Heddon, and a host of other leading men 



of the science, to just what height apiculture is 

 tending, what means are being used to get there; 

 and if they are familiar with the goal we are striv- 

 ing to roach, so that they could tell when it was 

 gained, or compare our yearlj' progi-ess by this 

 perfect sample, what would be their answer? 

 I certainij' could not begin to answer the questions, 

 but probably thej' could. 



I have always been eager to adopt new ideas 

 or inventions, and have prided myself on my 

 progression; yet I realize that I am at a loss to 

 know just v.'hat I really want. Of course, I can 

 see, as can all bee-keepers, wherein gain could 

 have been made in certain points; but one or two, 

 or even a score of men and women, are not to ac- 

 complish, though they may work hard, what will 

 require the combined cfi'orts of the whole bee- 

 keeping fraternity. 



It has always seemed to me, that if Heddon, 

 Langrtroth, Quinby, and Root, or all of our prom- 

 inent inventors, could have come together and 

 worked together on things needed, that more 

 could have been accomplished than is now on rec- 

 ord; although, mark you, I would not in the least 

 underrate the immense knowledge they have al- 

 ready given us. C. H. Smith. 



Pittsfleld, Mass. 



Friend S., I agree with you in regard to 

 having a goal and a model ; and I think, 

 also, that it would be a very excellent idea 

 to map out, as far as we can, just what we 

 do want. I should like bees that gather 

 honey when ordinary stocks such as we 

 now have get nothing. But perhaps when 

 we get this we may tind that we have got, 

 along with it, a great propensity to rob; so 

 the matter is going to be somewhat com- 

 plicated before we get through. The 

 thought expressed in your last paragraph is 

 what we propose to accomplish by bee-keep- 

 ers' conventions. 



LETTER FROM INDIAN TERRITORY. 



A SWAHM OF BEES FOUND FIVE MILES FROM 

 ANY TIMBER, ON THE OPEN PRAIRIE. 



HILE driving in an adjoining country, 

 some 33 miles from home, I captured a 

 runaway swarm on a large prairie, five 

 miles from the nearest timber in the di- 

 rection from which it came. I chased 

 them nearly a mile, and succeeded in getting them 

 into a flour - sack, and brought them home the 

 same day and hived them in a new hive, as de-: 

 scribed by Dr. Tinker, and illustrated in Gleant 

 INGS for Mar. 15. They have done well, and are 

 now storing honey rapidly from Spanish needle. 



A FAVORABLE REPORT FROM HIVES USED 

 HEDDON FASHION. 



In regard to the hive recommended by Dr. 

 Tinker, I will say that I made half a dozen, and 

 hived prime swarms in them, using two sectional 

 parts for brooding and alternating, placing sec- 

 tions in the case on top of same, with no kind of 

 honey-board between. In each case, where I used 

 the 4}% x 414 sections they were nicely filled and 

 sealed. Upon one where I used sections i^^, x 8'/2, 

 the queen went above. For comb honey I very 

 mucli like said hive; but from the description, I 

 am of the opinion that the new Heddon hive is 

 superior. 



