1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



347 



walked down to the hut in which he had lived, and 

 found there the only relative, a nephew. They had 

 been in very straitened circumstances, and the 

 nephew had not money to pay for the cheapest 

 kind of a burial. We asked three Christians who 

 had come with us what they would do. One gave 

 5(X) cash, another 300 cash, and another 100, about 

 the same as 50 cts., 30 cts., and 10 cts.; but 10 cts. is 

 as much to them as one dollar is to us. Then we 

 contributed $3.00, with which sum a cheap coffin 

 was bought and other expenses provided for. We 

 had to wait over till Tuesilay for the funeral. Now, 

 the Chinese sing miserably, and I always try to 

 nave some instrument to help me lead the singing; 

 and for going off to country places I have found a 

 flutina or accordion a great convenience. I took it 

 with me to the funeral, carrying it under my arm. 

 Wegavetheold man-agood Christian burial, and I 

 trust he was worthy of it; for in all his extreme 

 poverty he had never asked us to give or lend him a 

 cent. As we were walking along back, and had 

 reached the village where we had been holding 

 services, a man demanded of me what that was 

 under my arm, and wished to look at it. As 1 had 

 repeatedly played on it not fifty steps from his 

 door, and was then in a hurry, I merely replied, 

 "A musical instrument." and hurried on. I had 

 forgotten about a miserable slander, widely circu- 

 lated in all China, that, when Christians die, we dig 

 out their eyes and teeth, cut out their vitals, etc., 

 and use them to make medicine. That man at once 

 went to asserting the truth of this slander, declar- 

 ing to his neighbors that that flutina under my arm 

 was a box in which I was carrying otf the above- 

 mentioned parts of the old man. We plan to live 

 so open to inspection as to leave no room for such 

 slanders, but one little slip may spoil it all. 

 Shaowu, China, Feb. Vi, 1888. J. E. Walker. 



BEE-KEEPING AND POULTRY-KEEP- 

 ING A SUCCESSrUL COMBINATION. 



SOMETHING FROM OUR FRIEND 

 THE MATTER. 



H. DUFF UN 



fRlEND ROOT:— There is one question in your 

 Question-Jiox that, you may be aware, I feel 

 (juite interested in; and the array of testi- 

 mony set forth to this question in this case 

 seems to be all one-sided. It also seems to me 

 that the reas(m of this is, that not one of those lead- 

 ing apiarists has ever experimented in poultry- 

 keeping. I have quite an extended knowledge of 

 poultry-keepers, but I know those friends' names 

 only as bee-keepers who have furnished this array 

 of testimony. It seems to me, however, I saw 

 somewhere that our friend Mrs. L. Harrison is a 

 lover of line poultry, and her reply in the Question- 

 Box goes to substantiate my belief in the matter. 

 Now, 1 do not doubt in the least that any one of 

 these friends answering this question has any time 

 outside of beeology to tinker with poultry or any 

 thing else; but how about the hundreds and thou- 

 sands of minor bee-keepers struggling to secure a 

 livelihood by bee-keeping exclusively':' And how 

 many of this number have not time to combine 

 something else with this pursuit to make a more 

 profitable advancement'? As I said in starting out, 

 I feel interested in the question, because I have 

 actually experimented in the matter, first, as to 

 bee-keeping exclusively; and, second, as to com- 



bining poultry and bee keeping, one and both of 

 which have been my exclusive business for twelve 

 years. I have given each subject the necessary 

 thought and study to acquire a knowledge equal to 

 that which is ordinarily obtained at least. Although 

 I have studied bees much longer than poultry, I will 

 say that I am totally wrapped up in bothpursuitsasa 

 pi-ofltable combination working together harmoni- 

 ously. I have given both pursuits the same show 

 in bringing them before the public, and make them 

 both specialties alike. 



So far as my experience goes, I find poultry-keep- 

 ing as profitable as bee-keeping, and the two make 

 a profitable combination. T have just turned to my 

 ledger, and I find that, since the 10th day of Janu- 

 arj', 1888, up to this present writing, March ;K, which 

 is two months and 13 days, I have sold 106 fo'wls, 

 bringing me in cash .fl74.50. Now, it will be re- 

 membered that this is at a time when the general bee- 

 keeper has no emplo.vment whatever, and must 

 await, in a great measure, the winter's doze of his 

 bees from fall to spring when his time may be 

 taken in reaping the poultry-men's harvest, which 

 occurs during this time. Now, I wish it to be dis- 

 tinctly understood that I am speaking of thoroiigh- 

 hred poultry as being the poultry demanding at- 

 tention, although there is not a bit of doubt that a 

 fair profit is obtained from market poultry and 

 eggs. If you put thoroughbred poultry and thor- 

 oughbred bees on an equal basis in the agricultural 

 press, and before the agricultural masses, you will 

 find that poultry predominates ten to one. 



To convince you that I am in real earnest, I will 

 say that I have recently purchased a breeding-pen 

 of si.x.hens and one cock, for which I paid $38.35 in 

 cash; and from past experience I feel confident that 

 this investment will pay me a larger per cent than 

 any thing I have heretofore invested in either pur- 

 suits. If bee-keeping and poultry-keeping can bo 

 profitably combined, where is the consistency in 

 saying that, when these pursuits are developed into 

 a large business, one or the other of them will be 

 dropped? Suppose we cite, for proof of this matter, 

 the "Home of the Honey-Bees." Would we ever 

 have heard of this great manufactory of bee-fix- 

 tures combined with " household conveniences," 

 poultry-netting, etc., at Medina, if friend Koot had 

 adhered to such opinions as he gives in the foot- 

 notes of this Question-Box'!* We are inclined to 

 think it would never have reached even the " wind- 

 mill " stage of proceedings. I hope Mrs. L. Hai-ri- 

 son will not allow me to be totally devoured on the 

 biddie question. A. H. Duff. 



Creighton, O., March, 1888. 



Friend I)., your last point is a clincher. I 

 thought I would not say a word, for there 

 did not seem to be much to be said ; but I 

 want to add this : I commenced keeping 

 bees for the fun of it. Finally it got to be 

 my regular business to such an extent that I 

 wanted something else for play. I should 

 lie afraid, however, to have the poultry and 

 the carp and the garden stuff grow to such 

 proportions as the bee-business has. I fre- 

 quently have orders for poultry, but I tell 

 them I have none to sell. In fact, 1 don't 

 want orders ; neither do 1 want orders for 

 carp. Some say, " Why, couldn't you make 

 it pay?" But I don't want it to pay. I 

 want to have some recreation that has no 

 dollars and cents about it. 



