1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



417 



THE ROSY HUES OF APICULTURE. 



DH. Mn>I.KR THIXK.S WE PUT THAT SIDE TOO 



MUCH bp:foke the people. 



Is there .^Joniething inherent in tiie business 

 of bee-k(>eping that makes it so common a 

 means of misleadins? Is any other business so 

 generally painted in rosy hues? and is tliere 

 any other business that knaves in its track so 

 many wrecked hopes? Bee-keepers, as a class, 

 are not a set of sharpers and cheats. Outside 

 of the ministry it is hard to find a cleaner set of 

 miMi. Why, then, is there so much misrepre- 

 sentation?" A great deal of it is no doubt due 

 to thoughtlessness, some of it to ignorance, and 

 perhaps most of it to the natural desire to tell 

 as big a story as possible. 



A noteworthy example is before my eyes— not 

 sodiffercMit from many others, hut noteworthy 

 on account of its medium, the Lddie-^' Hoinc 

 JoumdJ. As is well known, this is a paper of 

 immense influence— its editor, besides being one 

 of the most bi'illiant of men, being one who 

 shows in ev(M-y number of the paper that he is 

 sincerely dcsinms to do all in his power to ad- 

 vance the best intei-ests of woman. With a cir- 

 culation of (')0t),000. it is easy to believe that 

 each number is read by two million women, for 

 each paper is probably read by three or four 

 women. Now let me give you the gist of an ar- 

 ticle on bee-keeping for women in the last L. 

 H.J.: 



To begin bee-keeping, buy tw<i colonies in 

 spring. Divide one on arrival, equally, putting 

 one half in a new hive. '" Later in the season, 

 when the half-colonies have become whole col- 

 onies, they are divided again. Supi)Osing that 

 the Other colony will cast a swarm, tliei'e will be 

 six colonies in the fall with which to begin in the 

 spring. The swarm cast by the standard colo- 

 ny may be divided, also, if "desired, giving seven 

 in all. Of course, the divided colonies will store 

 no surplus honey — only honey for thi'ir own use. 

 . . . . In the spring the six or seven coloni(^s 

 may be increased to 12 or 14. and that numbe)' 

 will be enough to manage in the first year of 



actual work In an ordinary season. 



a colony of bees, by the non-swarming, double- 

 hive system, will produce not less than M 

 pounds of honey, often 7.5 and 100 pounds. This 

 honey, if properly marketed, will bring the pro- 

 ducei' r.'0 cents a pound. By the system referred 

 to, one person, with occasional help, may attend 

 to one hundred colonies if comb honey be the 

 product." 



Let us now see what may be reasonably ex- 

 pected from this. Here we, are. a year "from 

 starting, with 12 or 14 colonies, each one to pro- 

 duce on the average not less than ."iO pounds at 

 20 cents per pound, or SIO per colony — Sl^O to 

 *140 from till' whole. Pretty good for the sec- 

 ond year. Third yeai- gives s;24o to &'80 from 24 

 to 28 colonies. Fourth year .S480 to §.560 from 48 

 to .56 colonies. Guess we can give up teaching 

 school now. and wear a little better dresses. 

 Next year 91) to 112 colonies; but as 100 are 

 enough for one person, we'll stop at that and 

 have a clean siOfX). Or we might do as the 

 schoolteacher mentioned in the same article, 

 and hire several women, thus going on to 

 enough colonies to clear .several thousands. 



Is it at all unreasonable to suppose that, on 

 seeing such a statement in a joui'iial in which 

 she has so much confidence, one woman in each 

 thousand will be tempted to embark in the bus- 

 iness? Set it at the half of that, and we shall 

 find a thousand started by that one article. 

 Need I say that, out of that number, an even 

 thousand will be disappointed, some so bitterly 

 that they will wish they had never seen that 

 <'xcellent ijajjer. the Ladles' Home JoiiDKd/ 



Now. I know nothing of the writer. Julia 

 Allyn. It is not necessai-y to suppose that there 

 wa'^ any intention to deceive. All the same, tlu^ 

 mischief is ther.'. Not tosay any thing about 

 the instruction given, which no practical bee- 

 keeper \\ould bi' likely to suggest or follow, the 

 chief mischief is in representing the business in 

 such golden hues — not less than 810 per colony 

 — that heads are turned: and later, hearts ai'e — 

 well, not broken, but somewhat damaged. 



The practical question arises. "Are bee-keep- 

 ers themselves at all ri'sponsible for the trou- 

 ble?" To some extent, yes. In general con- 

 versation they are too apt to speak of thefr suc- 

 cesses, and be silent as to their failures. The 

 same is ti'ue as to their reports to the bee- 

 journals. With no recognized intent to deceive, 

 the deception is none the less there. The pub- 

 lic is taught to believe that the chief bee-keep- 

 er in their neighborhood is coining money, 

 when perhajjs the poor fellow is skirmishing 

 around to lind some other work by which he 

 can earn enough to buy his bee-supplies for the 

 season. 



Nor are our editors entirely guiltless of the 

 I'ose-tinting business. Yes. I know the editors 

 of Gleanings, as well as other bee-journals, 

 publish bad as well as good reports, and really 

 mean to be entirely fair: but, do they treat 

 both kinds of reports alike ? I may say, in pass- 

 ing, that misrepresentation in the bee-journals 

 is by no means so mhschievous as in other pa- 

 ])ers. for they are read by those who have al- 

 ready been smitten by the bee-fever. But, to 

 return to the question whether there is no bias 

 on the part of editors. Let us put the editors 

 of Gleanings on the stand. Do they always 

 make the same kind of comments on bad as on 

 good reports? Looking thi'ough the last num- 

 ber of Gleanings I find only a single item 

 bearing on the subject. On page 221. after 

 friend Freeborn's recital of discouragements, I 

 find. •• We are glad to have you give us plain 

 hard facts; hnt. oven if true, bee culture does 

 not diflfei' very much from most other rural 

 industries." Then follows a quarter of a col- 

 umn, enforcing and illustrating this. Now. to 

 be entirely fair, if a report should come in from 

 some one who had taken an enormous crop, we 

 should lind a foot-note saying. "We are very 

 glad you have been so fortunate: hut, even if 

 true, bee culture does not differ very much from 

 most other rural industries. Just as often we 

 hear of enormous yields of strawberi'ies, apples, 

 potatoes, etc..'' and then follow with details of a 

 case where a man made at the rate of $2000 per 

 acre from a small orchard of pear-trees. Let 

 us see how it is. Opening to page 78(5 of last 

 year, then- is found a list of reports encourag- 

 ing. A man from Utah sends a good report: 

 "Well, friend B., that is pretty good for this 

 season," etc. Another from Pennsylvania: 

 "Well, friend E.. that is a pretty good report." 

 etc. Another from Missouri: "Why, friend T., 

 you are an old wheel-horse,'" etc. In no case is 

 there a hut. 



Now, friend Root, I am sure you don't mean 

 to be unfair, and you didn't know you were 

 leaning so much to one side, did you? Well, 

 since you own up like a man, I may as well 

 confess that the case is not so bad as I suppos- 

 ed, for I had to leaf over a good many jjages to 

 make my point, and I thought I had struck 

 quite a bonanza when I found page 780. 



Well, the moral of all this is: Let us all be 

 careful, as fiiend Freeborn says, to report both 

 sides faithfully, in all oiu' writings and in all 

 our talk. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo. 111.. March 24. 



[Friend M., I have noticed in other periodi- 

 cals these verv same things in regard to bee 



