October, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



So what I am especially urging' this 

 iiioiitli is study, improvement, skill. I 

 don't care bow good a be?keeper you are, 

 nor how poor, you can be a better one. 

 Tf Ihere is any one at all who ought to 

 keep bees right, it is we who have small 

 yards, and who, for the most part anyway, 

 keej) bees partly for pleasure. We are 

 the amateurs of the industry, the lovers of 

 it. Let us live up to our name. And let 

 us measure up to the first part of the defi- 

 nition as well as to the last. 



Skill in this work can be attained by 

 thi'ee methods, and no one of the three 

 alone will sufifice. We must read about 

 bees, we must observe bees, we must work 

 with be?s. Read, observe, work — these 

 three; but the greatest of these is work. 

 No progressive man would ever neglsct any 

 one of them; no amateur could. 



If you have an unoccupied hour one of 

 these wonder days of autumn, go out and 

 watch the bees at the entrances. Are 

 they bringing in pollen? Ai'e young bees 

 playing;? Are there many spread out over 

 the alighting-board? AVhat are they doing? 

 Why? You may find, or you might have 

 found a little earlier, as I did last June 

 and this August, the bees of certain colo- 

 nies tugging and pulling at one another, 

 hopping around or climbing spears of grass. 

 You will remember having read about the 

 Isle of Wight disease, paralysis, the dis- 

 appearing disease, and you will jiromptly 

 begin reading more and observing more. 

 Imagine your chagrin if Miss lona Fowls 

 should come looking over your yard and 

 find your colonies affected, when you hadn't 

 noticed it yourself! Or pick up a few 

 bees and release them at arm's leng-th in 

 front of the hive. Do they fly, or drop to 

 the ground? I picked up fifty-five in suc- 

 cession from one hive the other day, and 

 less than ten of them flew. The others 

 dropped, or fluttered, to the grass. Why? 

 (That is not a rhetorical question. I don't 

 know, but I wish I did.) In the middle 

 of the night it occurred to me to wonder 

 if they might be starving, tho I couldn't 

 tliink why they should be. However, the 

 next morning I went out in the rain with 

 a bucket of honey to administer first aid: 

 but as they had a rea.sonable amount of 

 honey on hand, they didn't need it. 



Then, no matter where you live, you 

 will have to winter your bees. If you are 

 just a beginner-amateur you will doubtless 

 follow the custom of your neighbors. But 

 you will find a world of printed testimony 

 and instruction on the subject, and can put 

 in some profitaljle hours studying the mat- 

 ter. Will it be better to winter outside. 



or in a cellar? If tlu' latter, have you a 

 cellar of the proper temperature and venti- 

 lation? If outside, will it be wiser to leave 

 them as they are or pack them in winter 

 cases? If in cases, how will you make 

 them, or where buy them? And how about 

 stores? And queens? 



Surely it is very much worth while to 

 study, observe, and work ; study, ob.-erve, 

 and work; for if you are ambitious these 

 things will bring you success. If you are 



A " Yard " of Bees. — Photographed by E. JI. Eshel- 

 man, Takoina I'ark, D. C. 



a true amateur they will bring you the skill 

 you so deeply desire. 



" Don't extract the last drop and then 

 feed sugar," page 69."]. And, what is equal- 

 ly important advice to some beekeeix'rs, 

 " Don't extract the last drop and then fall 

 to feed sugar." 



SURE ENOUGH AMATEURS 



Tlie lady who rendered the solo 

 Loves music thru and thru, 



And I who rendered the beeswax 

 Am stuck on my job too ! 



