GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



supplies, and awaits the demand for it. He 

 knoAvs it is honey, and that is the limit of 

 his knowledge I'egarding it. The patrons 

 who buy it know very little more, and rec- 

 ognize it merely as a sweet. These are the 

 conditions that have existed for many years ; 

 but a rapid change is now going on, and this 

 is due to the progressive city beekeeper. 



The best advertisement he has is his bees, 

 and he can make a great deal more by work- 

 ing them to create a demand for bees and 

 honey than he can by producing honey. 

 There is better matei'ial for him to work on 

 than thei'e is for his bees. Almost any one 

 living in the city becomes deeply interested 

 when told some of the Avonderful habits of 

 the bee, and will appreciate an invitation to 

 the city beekeeiDer's yard where the latter 

 explains every thing about the bees, and also 

 about the honey — the way it is gathered, the 

 process it is put through which makes it 

 easily digested, etc. The beekeeper in this 

 way creates a desire for honey that never 

 before existed; and since the bees are shown 



to be not " savage little creatures," he is apt 

 to make a beekeeper, a honey-eater, or at 

 least a good advertiser out of each visitor. 

 He will then find a demand for his honey. 



A good grade of honey in the homes of 

 the people he has educated to its food value 

 is highly appreciated, and the honey-eating 

 habit is encouraged. It is wonderful t'O note 

 how much such homes will consume, as it 

 proves both economical and healthful; and 

 the city beekeeper will be making sales to 

 many he has been recommended to ; and be- 

 fore he realizes it he will find himself in a 

 ])rofitable indej^endent business as a side 

 issue. 



No doubt many beekeepers in cities have 

 never realized these opportunities that are 

 open to them. Others will think it too good 

 to be true; but it is being worked out suc- 

 cessfully by the writer, who feels that the 

 city offers greater opportunities for bee- 

 keeping as a side issue than the country 

 does as a larofession. 



Cleveland, Ohio. 



FROM ONE COLONY IN A CITY TO A SERIES OF THREE APIARIES 



BY J. P. MARTINE 



In 1904 my health was such that my 

 |)hysician advised me to give up my court 

 work — ^official court reporter — for a time, 

 and take a complete rest, which I did. After 

 a rest of four months he told me I could 

 take up my court work if I would get in- 

 terested in something that would give me 

 outdoor exercise and take my mind com- 

 pletely off my court work each day after 

 leaving my office. Following a friend's ad- 

 vice I purchased a colony of bees ; but hav- 

 ing no yard space I placed the hive upon a 

 shed. The part of the city in which I live 

 is thickly populated. My bees swarmed 

 within two weeks after I got them; but I 

 hived them, and they gave me between thirty 

 and forty jiounds of honey that season. I 

 spent considerable of my spare time watch- 

 ing and studying the bees, and my health 

 improved from the time I got them. 



My bees continued to increase each year 

 until I had eight colonies on the shed, and 

 they never failed to give me considerable 

 lioney each season. In 1910 I had had such 

 success in getting and disposing of my hon- 

 ey that I concluded to increase my bees 

 enough so that I could devote my entire 

 time to the bee and honey business. I there- 

 fore increased and purchased bees until I 

 had 35 colonies in an outyard I had started 

 12 miles above the city. In 1911 I made 

 arrangements to handle bee-supplies, and in 

 1913 mv business had grown to such an 



extent that 1 resigned my position as offi- 

 cial court reporter, rented a store in the 

 central business portion of the city, and am 

 now devoting my entire time and attention 

 to the supply business and bees and honey. 



I now have three beeyards, and handle the 

 three-banded Italians exclusively. Every 

 Saturday during the summer I have from 

 fifteen to twenty-five persons at jny middle 

 yard — just inside the city limits — and dem- 

 onstrate to them the manner in which the 

 bees are handled and how the honey is pro- 

 duced, taken from the hives and extracted, 

 and I never fail to have an appreciative 

 audience. I have also taken out whole classes 

 of schoolchildren. I still keep bees on my 

 shed, and while they have to go quite a 

 distance to get to the clovers, when it comes 

 to gathering honey they hold their own with 

 bees in either of my outyards. 



Louisville claims a population of 275,000; 

 and I am personally acquainted with quite 

 a number of persons who keep bees — some 

 of them in the very center of the city — and 

 their bees will average as much honey as the 

 colonies in the country. They are kept in 

 attics, stable-lofts, on sheds, and in yards, 

 by professional men, merchants, and me- 

 chanics, and seem, to do about as well in one 

 place as another. I have completely recov- 

 ered my health, and my physician says it is 

 principally due to my working with the bees. 



Louisville, Ky. 



