736 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1.5. 



the old queen. I have no doubt all would have 

 been lovely. 



The Peach Tomato, sent out by the Agricul- 

 tural Department at Washington, has a decid- 

 ed individuality. It doesn't look shiny, like 

 other tomatoes, doesn't feel smooth, has the 

 shape and size of a not very large peach, and 

 might easily be mistaken for one at a little dis- 

 tance. It seems ripe inside before fully colored, 

 and drops from the stem when quite ripe. It 

 didn't rot on my ground, while Ignotum and 

 Mikado did. 



ARE WE DRIFTING FROM OUR MOORINGS 1 



A WARNING NOTE FKOM DOOLITTLE. 



I have read with interest what has been said 

 ■during the present summer about hives and 

 their manipulation, as against the manipula- 

 tion of frames, as has been the custom of the 

 past: and, unless I am greatly mistaken, there 

 is not in this idea all the pecuniary benefit to 

 the bee-keeper that a superficial view of the 

 matter would lead him to expect. The idea 

 embodies, in all of its bearings, unless I am 

 blind in this matter, two things which will be 

 an expensive luxury to the one who adopts this 

 idea of "handling hives instead of frames:" 

 and these two things are, first, a radical change 

 in most of the hives now in use: and, second, 

 the placing of a greater number of colonies in 

 the field, both of which are against us; the 

 latter for all time, and the former for the near 

 future. This changing of hives and fixtures, to 

 the extent to which it has been carried in the 

 past, has been somewhat against us, and the 

 outlook for the future shows no sign of im- 

 provement. The changing of hives and fixtures 

 in an apiary that numbers fifty means quite an 

 expense— an expense that will take many good 

 years of production to pay it, over and above 

 what might have been secured with the old 

 fixtures, even should the new prove better than 

 the old. Not long ago a "new" hive came out, 

 the claim for which was that it was going to 

 cheapen honey production; for surely the pro- 

 ducer must produce his crop at a less expense 

 than he was now doing if he was to be enabled 

 to keep his head above water, in these times of 

 low prices. Have we seen these great things 

 accomplished? Let friend Gravenhorst answer: 

 "I found out something by this new method 

 that did not satisfy me in contrast with the old 

 one. In the course of several years I always 

 got more honey and wax in the old-fashioned 

 way." While "friend G. was not speaking of 

 this particular hive as "the new method." yet 

 he but voices what many another has found 

 out. To illustrate more fully just what I mean 

 I will let the reader into a little bit of my past 

 history, together with that of another whose 

 name I will not mention. When I first began 

 keeping bees it was with the <>xpress under- 

 standing that, after the first outlay (S3.5.00) on 

 them, not another cent should be paid out un- 

 less they brought it in, and that I would not 

 pay out for new fixtures a cent of what they 

 brought in unless I could see that some pecun- 

 iary benefit was coming back in the near 

 future to more than balance what I would pay 

 out, and that I would use up, as far as might 

 be, all of the old, without throwing away that 

 which had cost me a cash outlay. This under- 

 standing has been carried out all of these years; 

 and to-day, instead of having only .S.VJO as my 

 worldly possessions, as I had in that spring of 

 1869. and living in a tenant house, with my 

 small apiary on somebody's possessions besides 

 my own. I have a comfortable home, consisting 



of 30 acres of land and the necessary byildings; 

 have enough laid aside to carry me and mine 

 through life, unless something extraordinary 

 should happen to us. besides being enabled of 

 later year? to do something to advance the 

 Master's interests in the woi'ld. and that which 

 tends to uplift humanity; all having come from 

 the bees over and above what I have paid out 

 for them, and I still use the same old Gallup 

 hive with which I started, and see no reason for 

 wanting or desiring a change. 



In 1869, the " another " spoken of above, 

 counted his worldly possessions far above mine, 

 pioduced much more honey each year than I 

 did, as a rule obtained better prices, but laid 

 out each year all or more than wbat the bees 

 produced in "something new," throwing away 

 that of the past which did not suit, and pur- 

 chasing new again, till a short time ago found 

 him bor'rowing money that he might still pur- 

 chase something new in the "bee line," while 

 there were wagonloads of stuff, representing 

 thousands of dollars, to be found strewn about 

 the premises, that had accumulated by this 

 great desii-e to keep "abreast of the times" and 

 "secure the greatest amount of income with 

 the least capital and labor." 



Did any one who reads this ever say to the 

 "good wife," "Can't you wear the old bonnet 

 another year, or get along without that new 

 dress we talked about, so that I can get that 

 hew hive. ortJiat foundation-mill, or some other 

 thing about bee culture, that I may succeed 

 better in my pursuit"? And hasn't the baby 

 gone with holes in the toes of its shoes, the 

 children gone with ragged and patched clothes, 

 the wife set up long after the rest wei'e abed, to 

 patch these clothes, and the whole family suf- 

 fered, that a change for the better (?) might be 

 made in the bee-business, when, as friend G. 

 says, the old in the end would give the best 

 results? 



Now, don't understand me as "butting" 

 against improvements, for no one rejoices more 

 over real improvements than I do; but if I am 

 to rejoice, the thing offered must be an im- 

 provement when viewed fi'om all of its many 

 sides. Talk about handling hives instead of 

 frames I The old hive, as given us by father 

 Langstroth, with a movable bottom-board and 

 no portico, can be handled just as you please 

 after the bees have been in it (on this plan) 

 one year; and yet how many of the bee-papers 

 of to-day are recommending it as the hive f To 

 be of real value, unless a radical change is 

 necessary it is better to tell us how to secure 

 the same results with what we now have, rath- 

 er than advise something new to secure these 

 same results. The "stone that keeps rolling 

 gathers no moss." I may have been too severe 

 in this, but I have felt for some time that we 

 should call a halt, so I have written what I 

 have. G. M. Dooeittle. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Concluded in next issue. 



[I am glad, friend D.. that you have taken up 

 the other side of the question; and whether or 

 not we are "drifting from our moorings" your 

 caution will not come amiss, especially to that 

 class of bee-keepers who are over-enthusiastic. 

 It were better, far better, that they stick to the 

 old-fashioned things that have done good ser- 

 vice than to waste their profits on new things. 

 But. why go to either extreme? Is there not a 

 golden mean somewhere here ? You have done 

 well with the fixtures you adopted in 1869; but 

 this does not argue that you would not have 

 done better with something else. Father Quin- 

 by made bees pay, and pay well, with only />ox 

 hives: but because he did so, would it have 

 been better If ive had never adopted the Lang- 



