GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1917 



Sideline apiary of G B. Mays, Champaign, 111., a " mainline " railroad man who knows the value of a side line 



possibly profit, entirely separate from that 

 being' hauled in by our main line of work. 



Switching back now to Mr. Mays, you 

 can see in the picture his long side line 

 of bees, and also glimpses of his garden 

 and fruits. He enjoys that garden, too, 

 and thoroly appreciates all the good things 

 that it yields. He keeps his bees chiefly for 

 pleasure, tho of course he turns many a 

 pretty section into cash. By keeping only 

 the gentlest of be'CS, he has no trouble with 

 his neighbors; and anyway they are gener- 

 ally each presented with a nice section of 

 honey when the crop is taken off. 



Doubtless his success is due largely to his 

 enthusiastic interest and study and care. 

 Yet he claims he has an excellent location, 

 and he does mention a good succession of 

 flora — dandelion and fruit bloom, white 

 clo^'er and sweet clover, with smartweed 

 and aster in the autumn lasting till killed 

 by frost. 



AS TO LOCALITY. 



This matter of locality and the flora 

 thereof is necessarily one of prime impor- 

 tance. Take our own bees here in West Nash- 

 ville; they have practically no fruit-bloom, 

 and almost nothing after white clover fails 

 — a little honeydew in late July, a very little 

 smartweed in Augmst, some Htterweed. 

 Fall feeding, if not unavoidable, is at least 

 the rule. This year we extracted more con- 

 servatively than ever before, yet we shall 

 have to feed some of the precious sugar we 

 are all trying to save, as there is consider- 

 ably less honey in the hives at present writ- 

 ing, early in October, than when we extract- 

 ed in the middle of July. 



A few days ago a pleasant errand took 

 me two or three miles from home, still with- 

 in the city limits, tho where they go ram- 

 bling ofT in another direction into the coun- 

 try. Leaving the trolley at a point where I 

 had never been before, I looked around a bit 



while walking leisurely uj) the street. A 

 honeybee went sailing by, and right there 

 wliere I passed her a vacant lot was riotous 

 with heartsease and white aster ! And it cer- 

 tainly looked as tho all the open spaces 

 around there were far more friendly to the 

 bea needs of autumn than our own stretches 

 of rag'weed and sweet anise. 



" Sow sweet clover," quoth Mr. Bartholo- 

 mew, when he noticecl our roadsides and va- 

 cant places recently. Well, may be we will 

 if we have any money left after buying 

 sugar and winter cases. 



And speaking of flora, here is a sugges- 

 tion for this winter — study botany a bit as 

 well as beekeeping — beginners, and any 

 other sideliners who have not already done 

 so, not because we need to be deeply versed 

 in botany to keep bees, but because it is such 

 a .natural and lovely companion study to 

 beekeeping, and practical, too, withal. By 

 becoming somewhat familiar with some 

 chosen text-book during the winter we shall 

 be so much more alert and eager when the 

 spring miracle opens Nature's own book 

 again. Then the printed page should take 

 strictly second place, as all the beautiful 

 blossoming lives tell their own stories one 

 after another. A walk along a country 

 roadside takes on added charm when you 

 can greet the growing things by name, and 

 know their wa^'s and their manner and their 

 kin, as does a tramp thru the woods when 

 you know the trees. The pleasure begins 

 with the first interest, there is such great 

 delight in the learning of things. Further- 

 more it is of real value, of such practical 

 use to the beekeeper. Did you read what 

 Mr. Doolittle said, page 764, October, about 

 a beeman he once visited? Planning on 

 basswood he was, and how his bees would 

 work it, when basswood bloom had already 

 come and gone-! And the bees had not had 

 enough room for the honey. 



