.IlNK, 1917 



G Ti K A N T N G S IN BE V. C U L T TT K R 



EEKEEP- 



D ang' as a 

 side line is 

 a curse to the in- 

 dustry " — page 

 2 6 4, April 

 Gleanings. Yes, 

 that is really 

 ■what it says. I 

 read it several times to make sure 



I do 



hope Mr. Bales smiled as he wrote it. I 

 didn't smile a bit when I first read it, nor 

 while I wrote a long and si^irited reply. 

 But when my bump of humor woke up 

 (bumps do go to sleep occasionally you 

 know), I tossed the " retort courteous " into 

 the fire, and smiled across to Mr. Bales, clear 

 from Tennessee to California! 



Now if ignorance had been labeled the 

 curse to the industry, there would have been 

 a 'Complete unanimity of opinion, for all 

 reading beefolk, mainliners and sideliners 

 alike, would agree heartily. Of course we 

 sideliners all admit frankly that there is a 

 great deal of ignorance and unprogi'essive- 

 ness among the non-professionals. Why, 

 haven't we oiri'selves a neighbor Avho recent- 

 ly boasted to his neighbors, " I tell you 

 what — beekeeping is the thing! Now I've 

 got just two hives — well, I've reely got 

 three, but one didn't do no good — 'n I didn't 

 do a single thing to 'em last year, 'n I got 

 ten full pounds of honey"? But shall the 

 efificiency of all sideliners be judged by that 

 of our neighbor? 



Seriously, it is true that in the ranks 

 of the non-professional is a high degree of 

 intelligence and skill and success. We have 

 the honor of including men of education 

 and intelligence among our number — college 

 men and ministers, lawyers and doctors and 

 editors, and men of trained business grasp. 

 And some women ! And many a man has 

 reached the mainline only by first follow- 

 ing patiently and perhaps stumblingly the 

 humble tracks of the side line. Some bee- 

 keepers may have been born professionals, 

 as it were, because their fathers were that 

 before them ; but surely most of them — I re- 

 call some gTeat and famous names — have 

 achieved their present dignified and sub- 

 stantial positions by the old and honored 

 route of beekeeping as a side line. 



In this department we want to record, 

 one after another, the successes of non-pro- 

 fessional beekeepers, and shall be glad to 

 have a generous supply of these interesting 

 stories. But we are also going to look at 

 the other side of the shield, and admit the 

 failures and mistakes and countless prob- 

 lems. In ]914 ]\rr. N. Person of San 

 Fi-aneisco, caught a swarm of bees and then 

 bought four colonies from a neighbor for 



455 



$5.00— tlu-ee in 

 old hives, one in 

 a box. He fed 

 1 hem to bring 

 them t li r u the 

 winter. They all 

 died, except the 

 one in the box. 

 This one he 

 transferred late in February, smoking and 

 handling " according to the books." " The 

 contents, probably a handful," writes Mr. 

 Person, "left thru a crack, but the queen 

 came back in about fifteen minutes and 

 settled on my hand. I put her on the 

 frames I had fixed up, and the poor fel- 

 lows tried to start housekeeping again. 

 I realized I ought to help them, so I gave 

 a frame of bees and brood from my other 

 colony which was very strong." Most 

 of this brood died from chilling, so he gave 

 another frame, and the next day found the 

 queen outside, dead. Later he bought a 

 queen and started a nucleus. This queen 

 cast three swarms, all of which wintered 

 successfully and stored surplus next season. 

 One swarm was hived on drawn combs and 

 "put on a stand a couple of hundred feet 

 from the mother hive. In about forty-five 

 minutes they were going in a steady stream 

 back and forth to the old hive, robbing, 

 and carrying away everything." 



By 1916 he had ten colonies. He got a 

 good honey crop and left each hive with 

 plenty of stores. Early in Februai*y of this 

 year they started breeding " to beat the 

 band." But then came storms and cold 

 weather, queens stopped laying, and brood 

 was thrown out. Not till April did laying 

 begin again, and by that time three queens 

 had died, one had swarmed, entered the 

 wrong hive and been killed, and most of the 

 old bees were dead. So now " I am buying 

 bees to build them up again," he writes, 

 " and all this with plenty of sealed and un- 

 sealed stores." 



Now, that is a chapter of accidents and 

 mishaps, but he will win out yet. 



In our own yard this spring I had to kill 

 a queen because not one of her eggs hatched 

 into larva. We bought her last year in 

 late August, and, after finding her laying 

 early in September, I had left her alone 

 except to see that there were enough stores, 

 and so had not discovered this unexpected 

 no-goodness. The first examination thSs 

 spring made me realize she was backward, 

 as there were eggs only, in only one comb. 

 The second examination, about two Aveeks 

 later, still showed only eggs, tho by that 

 time in three combs — not a larva in the hive. 

 Of course (hat sealed her fate, and T killed 

 her. 



