January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



35 



:-3i:~5 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



spring". This would depend somewhat upon 

 the strength of the colony. 



We know of no law in your state com- 

 pelling you to keep the bees a certain dis- 

 tance from the highway. In some of the 

 states there are laws having such provision, 

 but they are not enforced. — Ed.] 



If Langstroth Were Alive 



At one of our short courses I met an old 

 beekeeper who attended a gathering of bee- 

 keepers for the first time. Being one of 

 the old settlers his struggles and financial 

 difficulties would not allow him to treat 

 himself to a pleasant vacation, for he had 

 to come one hundred and lifty miles. When 

 the course was over he said to me : " It is 

 wortli all the time and money I si'.ent com- 

 ing here to learn how to hive a swarm by 

 putting it on the old stand and moving the 

 jiarent colony to a new stand to prevent 

 after-swarming." It was a pleasure to 

 look into the smiling face of the old man, 

 and to feel his warm handshake. It was 

 a lesson to me to see and hear him; and, 

 bless his soul, I have learned from him 

 more than he learned from me. 



At the same course I also met anothei* 

 man who explained to me how he manages 

 his bees. He increased four colonies to 

 twentj'-eight in one spring, and obtained a 

 surplus of 800 pounds of comb honey for 

 the market. From him also I learned a les- 

 son of gTeat value to me. Both men were 

 of the every-day kind of beekeepers as w'e 

 meet them everywhere, and both lessons 

 were to me worth more than time and 

 money spent at the short course. There 

 is no beekeeper from whom we may not 

 I'.'arn something that will be of great benefit 

 to us, no matter how simple and unknown. 

 Field davs, slioi't courses, state and county 

 conventions, and faiis, are occasions for. a 

 mental treat to any beekeeper who has ears 

 to hear and eyes to see. 



But the treat of all treats is the chance 

 to meet the great minds of the beekeeping- 

 world — these men whom we know from 

 their book and magazine articles, whose 

 success lias been a silent inspiration to the 

 Ijeekeeping fraternity of the land. Now 

 these men, whose names are so familiar at 

 all beekeepers' firesides, do not live in a 

 bunch together, that we might undertake a 

 pilgi-image to their homes. They aie scat- 

 tered over this whole immense continent. 



There is no question in my mind, that, 

 given an opportunity to meet these men all 

 at one place, the beekeepers for hundreds 

 of miles around would leave their bees and 

 their shops to go and shake hands with 

 them. 



If father Langstroth would come back 

 to life and invite the beekeepers of the land 

 to come and see him and shake hands with 

 him, and hear him lecture on bees and 

 beekeeping, the crowds would travel to his 

 town from all over the Union to enjoy the 

 rare treat. 



We have just as great beekeepers living 

 in our midst now as Langstroth has been. 

 They are ready to meet the beekeepei-s of 

 the land, not once in a lifetime, but once 

 a year. They do not wish them to travel 

 thousands of miles to see them, but they go 

 to them. Year after year they gather in 

 another part of the sfates. The National 

 Beekeepers' Association is the occasion 

 which brings them together. 



It is worth all your time and money to 

 go and see and hear these men. They are 

 going to be there. They enjoy these 

 gathering's, and look upon them as a vaca- 

 tion and a treat. 



The National Beekeepers' Association 

 will meet in February at Madison, Wis., 

 with Mr. N. E. France as host. No true 

 beekeeper can afford to miss it. For 

 membersloip in the National and other in- 

 formation, write to F. Eric Millen, Sec, 

 East Lansing, Michigan. 



Francis Jager. 

 President N. B. K. A. 



Selling Honey in England 



In England beekeepers may be rougidy 

 divided into two classes — those who raise 

 more honey than they can sell, and thos-j 

 who sell more than they can produw. 

 Happily the former class are rapidly grow- 

 ing less as the increased demand for lioney 

 absorbs the season's jiroduce much quicker 

 than it used to do; while the prevalence of 

 disease of itself reduces considerably the 

 honey crop of many districts. Therefore 

 the j)roblem of overproduction at the pres- 

 ent time causes little distress among Eng- 

 lish beekeepers. 



There is no denying the fact that people 

 eat more honey than they formerly did. A 

 greater efficiency among bee - appliances, 

 and better methods of harvesting honey, 



