948 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and he got no honey, but made some in- 

 crease. The next season was better, or, 

 perhaps, one colony failed to swarm, for he 

 got about 20 lbs. of honey. The first winter 

 he put them in the cellar, and wintered 

 them; the next winter, having more colonies, 

 and his " fever " beginning to abate, he left 

 them out; and several being late swarms, 

 without enough stores, he lost all but one 

 colony. 



By the third season his "fever" Avas about 

 gone. He seldom asked me, " How's the 

 bees?" but his son told mine that they 

 " put four supers on their one hive and 

 that ought to hold 'em down." The next 

 summer, being with him, and another party 

 or two, some one inquired how the bees had 

 done that summer; and after I had replied 

 " fair," my neighbor said, " I had one hive ; 

 but when I looked at 'em last spring they 

 were dead. I guess they couldn't make 

 enough to keep 'em over winter." His ac- 

 count would stand thus. Two hives of bees 

 and two empty hives, $5.00; supers, sections, 

 and foundation (purchased of me), $5.00; 



time chasing swarms and moving same 

 home, $5.00; total, $15.00. Credit, 20 lbs. 

 honey at 75 cts. per lb., $15.00. I will only 

 add that my neighbor has had no bees for 

 three years, neither has he said "bees" to 

 me in that time. He likes honey, and has 

 bought probably 100 lbs. of me "since ; but 

 on his own motion 1 never try to sell my 

 near neighbors honey, because I feel that 

 they might think I did not wish them to 

 keep bees, in order that I might do so. If 

 my neighbor can keep bees and raise his 

 own honey, no one recognizes his right to do 

 so better than I; but this is my observation 

 of the way it works with nine out of ten 

 farmers. They have enough to do; most of 

 them are not adapted to handling bees; and 

 to fix up for it, take time to learn it, then 

 take time needed in their fields to tend to 

 a few bees, will make their honey cost them 

 more than it would to buj^ it of one fixed to 

 raise honey, which includes the know how, 

 the aptness, and the liking for bees. 

 Dunlap, Iowa. 



BRITISH BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATIONS HAVE TOTAL ENROLLMENT 



BY JOHN SMALLWOOD 



I should like to introduce American bee- 

 keepers to our beekeeping associations, the 

 organizations and men who have made api- 

 culture in England, who have dug it out 

 from fossilage and ignorance, and made it 

 an important auxiliary to apiculture, and 

 given it its proper rank among the minor 

 industries. The parent stem from whom 

 all the offshoots, 46 in number, have sprung, 

 is the Biitish Beekeepers' Association; and, 

 counting its affiliated members, it has a 

 subscribers' roll of over 6000. It is man- 

 aged by a council of 21, elected annually, 

 the president vice-president, and treasurer 

 being ex officio counselors. . To insure that 

 it is representative of all interests, each 

 branch is entitled to send two representa- 

 tives, one of whom votes. Council meetings 

 are held monthly, and there are two general 

 meetings, March and October, in each year. 



It was in May, 1874, that it was founded. 

 I have the old bee journal of that month 

 and year in front of me, and it is very 

 interesting to turn over its pages, for the 

 names I meet there. They who were the 

 founders of the association are as familiar 

 to you as they are to us. " They were 

 giants in those days." 



It was a committee formed to conduct a 

 great bee and honey show at the Crystal 

 Palace in 1874, which was the initiatory 

 council. Among the very first members I 

 notice John Hunter, Frank Cheshire, and 

 Nash Abbott. But the idea had been ven- 

 tilated previously. In the preceding year 

 the British Bee Journal was commenced, 

 and an early correspondent had x^ointed out 

 how impossible it was for apiculture to be 

 encouraged and taught to the multitude 

 unless there was some organized society 

 who could make it their business. 



Their first general meetina' was held at 

 the Crystal Palace, Sept. 20, 1874. The 

 first president was Sir John Lubbock, the 

 great authority on bees and ants. Who has 

 not read his books? Among other vice- 

 presidents were Rev. F. Raynor, T. W. 

 Cowan (we have him still with us), and 

 Frank Chesliiro. The first honorable secre- 

 tary was John Hunter. So you see the 

 right men had got the grip of it. They 

 proclaimed their objects to be " the encour- 

 agement, improvement, and advancement 

 of bee culture in the United Kingdom, par- 

 ticularl}^ as a means of bettering cottagers 

 and the apicultural laboring classes as well 



