GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIjTURE 



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360 



THE wonder 

 days of 

 spring- 

 here again, 

 the heart 

 eveiy man 

 wioman not 

 t e r ly crusted 

 over with the 



life of cities thrills as the in answer to a 

 call. The farmer starts his big Avork, 

 shoulder to shoulder with nature herself. 

 And even the man of the shop or the office, 

 who has his own bit of earth and loves it, 

 goes hunting out his fork or spade from be- 

 hind the shed door and starts his garden. 

 Women tend flocks of fluffy baby chicks, 

 and trim up their rose-bushes and plant 

 their poppies and sweet peas. Beauty has 

 come back to earth like a queen, bringing 

 her gifts of leaf and blossom and growing 

 things. 



This, then, is a good time to put a beau- 

 tifying touch or two on our beeyards. We 

 who keep bees partly for the delight of it 

 have an opportunity to make a wonderfully 

 attractive spot of the corner of the yard 

 where the hives are. Low trees and flower- 

 ing shrubs are particularly desirable; but 

 it is better to set most of these out in the 

 fall, or very early in the spring while they 

 are still dormant. But castor beans and 

 sunflowers and hollyhocks can be started 

 at this time and will quickly add great 

 beauty to the apiary. Well-trimmed grass 

 is beautiful of itself; quick-growing vines 

 can be trained over the fences, and beds can 

 be made of cheery annuals — nasturtiums, 

 petunias, poppies — provided, of course, that 

 there are no chickens to interfere. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEW SIDELINERS. 



Unless you have reason to think some 

 colonies are short of stores, better not open 

 the hiA^es before fruit-bloom. Then the 

 bees will be busy; there will be little like- 

 lihood of robbing, the weather will probably 

 be warm, and you can make your spring 

 inspection with pleasure, and with that 

 deliberateness that the amateur loves. That 

 is the time, too, to hunt queens for clipping. 



Don't wait till the bees swarm to get 

 lyour new hives. Plan ahead and have 

 things ready. 



A FEW SUCCESSFUL ONES. 



Everybody loves pictures, and Gleanings 

 is so generous about giving them to us that 

 I hope we may show thruout the summer 

 some choice pictures of attractive apiaries. 



We all love stories too. Isn't it good to 

 be children all our lives, forever under the 

 spell of story and picture? To bee-lovei'S, 

 therefore, there is both pleasure and profit 

 in the tales of the experiences and final 



May, 1917 



success of other 

 keepers of bees. 

 So these, too, we 

 are glad to offer 

 from time to 

 time. Here, for 

 instance, is one 

 that shows the 

 splendid possi- 

 bilities in taking up beekeeping as a side 

 line. Sometimes one is compelled, because 

 of advancing j-ears or declining health, or 

 some unexpected turn of affairs, to give up 

 his main line of work, and then what a 

 comfort to have a well-established side line 

 to help fill the hours and the interest and 

 the pocketbook! Take the case of Mr. H. 

 C. Cook, of Omaha, Nebraska. 



Seventeen years ago, while Mr. Cook 

 was a police patrolman in Omaha, he cap- 

 tured one of those stray swarms that give 

 some of our beekeepers such picturesque 

 starts in their careers. He followed this 

 good fortune with equally good judgment 

 by promptly purchasing the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, and thru its study and the ap- 

 plication of the ideas thus gained he has 

 been able to make the bees pay their own 

 way, while he realized his great ambition 

 of ten colonies, then twenty, and then fifty. 

 Fifty is a good comfortable number, and is 

 practically his limit now, as he usually sells 

 off any increase beyond that, making from 

 $75 to $125 a year from these sales alone. 

 While beekeeping was still only a side line, 

 the yearly profits gTadually increased, 

 ranging as high as $500 a year. Mr. Cook 

 has now retired from the police force, and, 

 giving his attention especially to the bees, 

 has averaged $1000 profits each year for the 

 past five years. Now, hasn't that side line 

 worked out ideally? And isn't his little 

 yard interesting' and attractive? 



Mr. H. B. Allen, of Cozad, Nebraska, 

 declares that bees are no small thing, even 

 on a farm like his, that raises ]iure-bred 

 Holsteins and lambs by the carload. Last 

 season, from 45 colonies he got 1500 pounds 

 of fine comb honey and 4000 pounds of 

 extracted. He has now 57 colonies, having 

 increased from four colonies in four years 

 by the Alexander method and the assistance 

 of Gleanings and ABC. 



It was with the idea of letting the bees 

 help educate his six children that Mr. D. F. 

 Rankin, of Brownstown, Indiana, started 

 with bees six years ago. Last season, from 

 23 colonies the family had all the honey 

 they wanted, gave generously to the neigh- 

 bors, and sold $285 worth. Then they 

 packed 27 colonies snugly away for winter, 

 and sent the oldest boy off to college. 



