MARCH 1, 1914 



185 



there \o put theiii I'itilit into their new Iiome. 

 Our hist hive, after being reqiieened with 

 an Italian, has grown to fourteen, and last 

 season we took off one thousand jjounds of 

 very fine comb honey, and the clover secre- 

 tion was as white as any we have ever seen 

 produced in the country. 



The bees are kept in tlie double-walled 

 Huckeye hive, and are wintered out of 

 doors. They are on the side of a hill that 

 is covered with some timber overlooking a 

 stream, facing the southeast, and in the rear 

 of our home. The little workers come and 

 go all day* long without our neighbors ever 

 knowing they are there, unless we by chance 

 present them with a toothsome bit of honey, 

 or invite them over to inspect the busy 

 homes. 



To the city man or woman who loves 

 nature, and who has but a small back yard, 

 the bee offers many advantages over any 



other form of outdoor amusement or recrea- 

 tion for profit. We know of no occupation 

 better adapted as a diversion to any one who 

 deals in the abstract. The little bits of wis- 

 dom picked up from the insect world, the 

 messages they bring as their tired little 

 wings carry them in from the fields laden 

 with lioney, the lessons they teach us in their 

 patience and perseverance, all tend to create 

 a stronger feeling and a better love for our 

 fellow-man, to say nothing of the dividends 

 received in golden nectar. 



We have learned many things from the 

 bees, and look forward to the time when we 

 shall understand them better; for we long 

 ago gave up hope of ever getting them to 

 understand us. But the knowledge we have 

 already acquired is far greater than we ex- 

 jiected to attain in one small back lot in the 

 city. 



Cleveland, Ohio. 



BEEKEEPING A SIDE LINE AND FOR THE FUN OF THE THING 



Read before the Second Annual Convention of the Iowa Beekecpcvs' Association at Des Moines, Iowa, 

 December 11, 1913, by Hamlin B. Miller, MarshalUown, Iowa* 



My subject to-day is of such a nature, 

 and my beekeeping experience of so short a 

 duration, that 1 must confine myself to per- 

 sonal experiences more or less, in order to 

 make my remarks of sufificient length and 

 interest. I don't presume in this effort to 

 teach you old-time beekeepers any thing. I 

 am just going to be satisfied if I can only 

 entertain you a little, and jDerhaps take you 

 back to your beekeeping youth. 



It tickles me every time I think of the 

 funny thing's I have read in Dr. Miller's 

 " Fifty Years Among the Bees." I am not 

 related to Dr. Miller, the pioneer beeman, 

 that I know of; but I have experienced 

 some of his early and peculiar symptoms of 

 bee troubles in my own bee-work infancy. 

 I often congTatulate myself upon the for- 

 tunate escapes I several times have already 

 made, and fully appreciate the many hints 

 and experiences that others have given in 

 the bee-journals that have helped me to 

 avoid many pitfalls and needless humilia- 

 tions that I otherwise would have fallen heir 

 (o in spite of my already fast accumulating 

 experiences in bee culture or " bee smart- 

 ness." Right here I do not wish to forget 

 to mention that I OAve the greater part of 

 my bee knowledge to the bright, up-to-date, 

 and resourceful bee-journals. 



After I really started, I was going some. 

 I couldn't stop long enough to eat my meals. 

 IMv physician had ordeied me to go on a 

 diet. I even overworked that. T fasted. I 



didn't eat at all, seemingly, and soon lost 

 thirly-hve pounds of flesh with my fasting 

 and " bee fever." But then, it did me good 

 — have regained part of my flesh, but have 

 never been able to break the fever. 



Now, every man has (or at least should 

 have) a hobby. Some think a hobby means 

 chasing a golf-ball for hours over a forty- 

 acre field. Others think it is to travel on 

 foot twenty miles or more over the roughest 

 localities, carrying a heavy gun and ammu- 

 nition, just to get a chance to see a fiock of 

 ducks too far away even to hear a gun. 



My physician having ordered me to stay 

 out of the printing-office, adding that I 

 must rest from the nervous strain I was 

 carrying, I immediately landed on my neg- 

 lected lawn with a lawn-mower, a rake, and 

 a spade. It was fun — never had really en- 

 joyed it before, because I did not know I 

 I^ossessed another talent besides the acquired 

 printing-office habit. Then my wife also 

 landed on me for fiower-beds and various 

 other yard improvements. It just seemed as 

 though she would sidetrack my hobby for 

 hers, she was so industrious about it; but I 

 was too far gone to lose out on the bees. 



While all these new-found pleasures were 

 becoming settled upon me, a new neighbor in 

 the meantime had moved in next to me, and 

 lie had two colonies of bees. I was just a 



* On afro'int nf our tack of ppa'-p in this special 

 niunljer we have not lieen able tu n^.e (|uite all of the 

 paper. — Ed. 



