1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



655 



dun pejiEg. 



We know that all thins's work together for good 

 to them that love God —Rom. 8:28. 



A TALK IN REGAKD TO THK FAILUKK OF THE HON- 

 EY crop; AND SOMETHING EI-SE THAT IS NOT 

 EXACTLY ABOUT BEK8 AND HONEY. 



9 EAR friends, perhaps you tliink that we 

 here at the Ilome of the Honey- Bees 

 are taking tlie matter very easily and 

 very coolly in regard to this our third 

 season without any honey to speak of — 

 at least, such is the state of affairs here, and 

 to a greater or less extent in most localities. 

 I know that many of you have been working 

 hard, and watching expectantly for a reward 

 for your labors, or some good evidence that 

 there is to be a reward not very far off ; and 

 yet the summer of 18SS is almost gone by. 

 Clover is gone, basswood is gone, and in 

 some localities buckwheat is nearly gone, 

 and no such yield of honey as we used to 

 have a few years ago. Some of you have 

 scraped up money, and may be borrowed it, 

 to get supplies on the strength of what the 

 ABC and Gleanings have taught; and 

 may be you have made investments. You 

 have had a good deal of faith in your humble 

 servant A. I. Root ; and now in this crisis, 

 when this third summer has come and gone, 

 and no such yield of honey as you have been 

 told of has come to pass, what is to be done ? 

 What has your old friend and teacher to say 

 under the circumstances V Is he going to 

 evade the question, or pass over it lightly, 

 and go off on to something else — may be tell 

 you of some new trap or arrangement he has 

 to sell you ? God forbid ! To tell the truth, 

 I not only feel little like buying any thing 

 myself, but I hesitate in advising any of the 

 rest of you to make purchases — at least, I do 

 not feel like advising you to buy bee-hives 

 or section boxes just now, even if they are 

 extra nice or extra cheap. There may be 

 localities where this state of affairs has not 

 come to pass. I know there are a few, and 

 I trust there are many more where they 

 are getting plentiful crops of honey that I 

 have not heard of. But there is certainly a 

 large part of our country (and when I speak 

 of our country I mean Canada too, where 

 the folks are toorse off if any thing than they 

 are here) where there is little or no honey. 

 The question comes up, What is the reason 

 that honey does not come in as it did once ? 

 In many localities it may be a good deal ow- 

 ing to tlie fact that we have chopped down 

 our basswood-trees ; but this does not ex- 

 plain the absence of clover honey. Why is 

 it, that, with such a profusion of blossoms, 

 we do not get honey as we used to get it V 

 Candidly, I do not know. I do feel sure that 

 we are going to have honey again— at least 

 clover honey — in such large quautities as 

 we have had it in the past ; although were it 

 not for these repeated failures, I should say 

 probably next year would be a good one. It 

 may not, however. Perhaps we had better 

 base our plans to a large extent on the belief 

 that we are not to have honey in such quan- 

 tities as it used to come, say five years ago. 

 I do not know what the matter is, and I do 

 not know that the future will be any better ; 



but, may the Lord be praised ! I do know 

 that all things shall woi-k together for good 

 to those that love him. 



A great many of you, perhaps, have plenty 

 to do, and quite a number, very likely, do 

 not feel much troubled or cast down by the 

 failures in honey-getting; but I do know 

 that a good many of the friends of Glean- 

 ings feel discouraged, and would like my 

 opinion in the uuxtter, given fairly and 

 frankly. In giving this opinion we shall 

 have to consider this matter which has re- 

 cently been discussed, as to what other busi- 

 ness a bee-keeper should have. 1 do think 

 it is best to have some other business, and 

 have thought so for some time. What shall 

 the business l)e ? We can not purchase tools 

 and outfits for a gieat many industries. We 

 have not capital, neither do we want so 

 many different things gathered about us. 

 It is a misfortune to have a great lot of useless 

 stuff lumbering up the premises. When I 

 say we I mean to include ourselves here at 

 the Home of the IIoney-Bees. We shall, 

 perhaps, for the next three or four months, 

 stop our machinery, and let the greater part 

 of our hands stop woik ; and this is the first 

 time such a thing has happened in fifteen or 

 twenty years. We shall want to be busy 

 about something We may hire out and work 

 for wages— at least, a part of us ; but unless 

 we have extra ability, or are skilled work- 

 men in some department of mechanics, it 

 may be hard to find work to do. Many of 

 the bee-keeping friends have positions al- 

 ready, and have taken up bee-keeping only 

 during their odd moments. If there is noth- 

 ing to be done with beos for the next three 

 or four months, what shall we do during 

 these odd moments V What would the great 

 Father be pleased to see us busy ourselves 

 in doing — he who g;ive us the little text I 

 have just quoted—'' All things shall work 

 together for good." etc.? I told you in our 

 last issue that I had felt of late as if God 

 were indicating to me what sort of advice I 

 should give you. I have prayed to him over 

 and over, dear friends, that he might enable 

 me to give wise counsel, especially to those 

 who want my advice and opinion. Well, 

 you know in what direction my mind turns; 

 you know what advice friend Terry has giv- 

 en in his strong earnest way. Just last 

 evening I found something in the American 

 Garden, from the pen of Charles Barnard, 

 that seems to me to be on the right track. 



Kvery time we have a lull in business it 

 gives us an opportunity of fixing up things — 

 ot looking up the odds and ends— the refuse 

 and rubbish; of utilizing the things that 

 would go to waste were we not obliged to 

 get down and save the pennies. Well, I 

 feel so happy over making a regular house- 

 cleaning of all our available effects, that I 

 rather enjoy it. There is surely no comfort 

 or happiness in waste, and any thing that 

 causes ns 1 o economize and save is a blessing. 

 May be some of us think we have been econ- 

 omizing and saving already ; but I believe 

 there are rich lessons to be learned yet in 

 this liu"; in fact, I have, sometimes thought 

 that, when God sees we have gatliered up 

 the things going to waste, and utilized every 

 little item, then he can consistently send us 



