JUNE 15, 1914 



tliero is a disposition all over the land to 

 trade in "nickels" and avoid fussing with 

 pennies. Five cents for something that costs 

 four cents, or perhaps a little more, unless 

 the demand is enormous (like Uneeda bis- 

 cuit, say) would be risky. You see the cost 

 of handling a five-cent deal is just as great 

 as a 25 or 50 cent one. 



479 



are, of all living creatures on the farm, the most able 

 to take care of themselves, especially in a genial 

 climate, and there is no more certain crop than that 

 of the hives. 



BEES WANTED FOR ORANGE GROVES AS WELL 

 AS APPLE OECHARDS. 



We clip the following from the Florida 

 Times-Union. While the substance of it has 

 aj^l^eared recently in these columns we re- 

 l)roduce it as showing how rapidly the gen- 

 eral press is disseminating the truth con- 

 cerning bees as pollenizers of fruit. 



bees: their value not appreciated. 

 If the office of bees in increasing the yield from 

 plants vj'ere fully understood, there would be many 

 more apiaries in Florida than there are at present. 

 It is said that encouragement of beekeeping in a 

 certain district of Nebraska, where much alfalfa is 

 grown, resulted in the addition of more than 200 

 per cent to the yield of good seed of high germinative 

 powers in the field of that valuable legume and hay 

 plant. We have heard of a citrus grove in South 

 Florida which bore well for some years. Year before 

 last some one discovered a bee-tree near this grove, 

 cut it down, and thus dispersed its inhabitants. The 

 following year there was almost no crop from that 

 grove. 



Not only fruit-growers but observant truckers are 

 aware that they are much indebted to the bees. The 

 little honey-gatherer dives into the depths of a blossom 

 in search of nectar, and, emerging, carries off much 

 pollen on its fuzzy coat. Within the next blossom of 

 the same ispecies it visits it rubs much of this pollen 

 on the pistils, securing the fertilization of the ovules 

 and the consequent formation of fruit. Cross-fertili- 

 zation, so essential to the stamina of plants and ani- 

 mals, is made more certain by the visits of the bees. 

 So well is the useful agency of the bees understood 

 in many parts of the North that fruit-growers main- 

 tain bee colonies in their orchards — not so much for 

 the honey, which is regarded rather as a by-product, 

 but for the sake of increasing the yield of the trees. 

 If the bee is so useful in a climate so cold that 

 the hives must be protected most of the winter, and 

 the bees must be fed after a severe season in order 

 to preserve them, how much more should the busy 

 denizen of the hive be encouraged to thrive and 

 multiply in a climate in which it can gather honey 

 practically all the year, and in a land where fruit 

 and vegetable growing is so great an industry 1 There 

 is practically not a day in most of our years when 

 the bee cannot find some blossom from which to 

 gather honey — in a large part of Florida not a single 

 day. This, therefore, should be a land of honey. 

 Apiculture is so much ea-sier a following in Florida 

 than in more northerly latitudes — should be so much 

 more remunerative — that we should have hundreds 

 making it a livelihood. 



Some fear stings: but there are breeds that are 

 gentle in disposition, not easily aroused to attack. 

 Experienced beekeepers often dispense with protec- 

 tion while working among their bees, having learned 

 how to avoid alarming, or rousing the resentment of 

 their charges. Apiculture does not call for a large 

 expenditure of money to begin it, nor a large area 

 in which to conduct it. There are instances of prof- 

 itable bee colonies being maintained on house roofs 

 in large cities. It makes no great draft upon one's 

 time nor large drain upon one's pocketbook. Bees 



" SEED BEES.' 



The expression, " seed bees," caught my 

 attention wliile glancing over a copy of the 

 Farm and Fireside. 



A POUND OF SEED BEES. 



By buying bees in pound packages one is able to 

 get a start in beekeeping at the least cost, and the 

 system is economical for those who have lost consid- 

 erably during winter or in early spring. 



The middle of last April I ordered three one-pound 

 packages of bees, each pound to be supplied with a 

 laying queen. The price per pound for bee« was 

 $1.50, and the queens $1.25 each. These came from 

 Fitzpatrick, Alabama. They arrived on my Wiscon- 

 sin place on the 18th of April in good condition. On 

 arrival each pound was put on four drawn-out Hoff- 

 man frames, in double-walled hives. An extracted 

 super was put on top. 



Tliey were fed daily on a syrup composed of equal 

 parts of sugar and water. They immediately started 

 brood-rearing, but one of the queens turned out to 

 be a drone-layer. The other two packages increased. 



These two pounds were increased to five rousing 

 colonies; and, besides, over 100 pounds of honey 

 were extracted. 



The expressage on these three packages was $1.20. 

 This brought the total up to $9.40, or $1.89 per 

 colony. 



The cages were six by seven, and eight inches 

 high. They arrived as one package, being arranged 

 one on top of another, two inches of space between 

 each. Each was enclosed with netting, except two 

 sides where a board was used. 



I am sure it would not have been possible to get 

 the above results if I had used single-walled hives, 

 because the atmospheric changes would have been 

 felt too keenly. — Oscar Eazmeier. 



Two important points are brought out in 

 the above — first, that it is possible to pur- 

 chase bees by the pound and have them 

 shipped as far as from Alabama to Wiscon- 

 sin, and still prove to be a profitable trans- 

 action — so much so that two pounds may 

 increase to five and give over 100 pounds of 

 extracted honey besides; and I am strongly 

 impressed with the fact that young bees at 

 the proper tim.e in the spring may be ship- 

 ped from Florida and other southern States 

 to points here in the North so as to be a 

 paying investment all around; and it may 

 result in a great and growing industry. 



THE "hope FARM MAN" OF THE RURAL NEW- 

 YORKER, AND BEE CULTURE. 



Our readers who are conveisant Avith the 

 Rural New-Yorker will b? pleased to hear, 

 I am sure, that the Hope Farm Man is get- 

 ting interested in bee culture. He recently 

 wrote the A. I. Root Co., asking some ques- 

 tions about the case of bees. After getting 

 a reply from E. R. Root he writes as fol- 

 lows : 



Mr. E. R. Boot : — I am very much pleased with 

 your letter, and thank you heartily for seo<Jiog it. 



