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Vol. Xll. 



JAN. 1, 1884. 



No. I. 



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NOTES FROI?I THE BANNER APIAKY. 



No. 50. 



THE "OTHER SIDE " OF BEIf-KEEPlNG, ONCE MORE. 



J MAY as well own up, that in compnrlng bpp 

 papers with other j<>urnnls I forg t the agricul- 

 — tural papers. Tosome thismayapp' ar strHiig-e; 

 but It Is strictly true, and I h"pe no one will rl'ulit 

 my word. I am also forced to admit, thai the aj^ri- 

 cultural papers do contain accounts of extraordina- 

 ry yields trom small pieces of land; but it does seem 

 to me that they do not go at it in such a glowing, 

 bubhling, booming, enthusiastic, all-carried-away, 

 never-know-a-lailure manner, as do the bee-journals ; 

 besides, they tell us that we must not expect such 

 large" yields from whole farms. I believe that the 

 bee-journals also mention the same thing, ^ome'imes, 

 but they never se< m to dwell upon it with anyereat 

 degree of lervency. All I ask is, that both iside'< of 

 bee-keeping he faithfully pictured. After 1 engaged 

 In bee-keeping, so many friends said to me, "Why 

 don't you go Into the poultry business, too?" that at 

 last I began to think quite seriously of doing so. and 

 I finally sent for a book upon the subject. Well, 

 this book pictured both sides of the buslnes" so 

 faithfully, that I not only decided not to go into the 

 business, but I sold what few hens I did have, and I 

 have been thankful ever since. 1 haven't the slight- 

 est doubt but that money has been made in the 

 poultry business; but I am also just as certain that 

 It has a dark side, and I do feel grateful toward, and 

 I respect, the man who had the courage and good 

 sense to write upon the subject without" puffing " it. 



When we think of the poor seasons; of the winter- 

 ing l)S-es: of the eruptions and bwils, the partial 

 paialysis of the nerves of motion, the iiiHammHtlon 

 of the breathing-iuhes, eyes, ears, and throat, that 

 Come upon some of us as the result of taking into 

 our systems so much bee pnison; of how, evf n >et, 

 mauy of us, in order to sell our honey, are obliged to 

 go "hawking" It about; we can not load up and 

 drive into any large town and sell our honey, at a 

 regulir market price, for "cash down," as we can 

 butier, rggs, wool, grain, hay, potatoes, beef, pork, 

 or almost any othei impHri-hHble product; and last, 

 but by ?!') mcrt 8 /east, when we think of hwthat 

 dire scouigf, foul t)rood, is developing and spread- 

 ing in many parts of the country; when we think of 

 all this, even the most sanguine bee-keeper must ad- 

 mit that there is a dark side to the shield, and a de- 

 cidedly dark one: and all that I ask is, that when 

 the dark side begins to show itself, no hand be raised 

 to turn it back again. 



Perhaps I may as well right here explain the " con- 

 cluding thought " of my report of the Chicago con- 

 vention, as given on page 747. The idea that Mr. 

 Langstroth meant to convey was, that with box 

 hives and primitive methods, no skill nor knowledge 

 was required; all that was necessary was to hive the 

 swarms, and, in the fall, brimstone the lightest and 

 heaviest stocks. With improvements in hives came 

 improvements in methods and implements; and 

 with these came the need of extensive knowledge 

 upon the subject. Without this knowl' dge, these 

 improvements were worse than useless — they were 

 detrimental; while to the man who knew how to 

 properly use them, they were an advantage, en- 



