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G L E A N I N G S I N B !•: E C U L T U R E 



KOVEMB.KR, 1920 



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iM 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



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that person is Mrs. Calkins. Now to the 

 point of my story: 



One of the troubles encountered was the 

 small red ants. Not to be outdone by these 

 • ' pesky things, ' ' Mrs. Calkins devised a 

 very unique scheme for keeping the ants from 

 the hives; for it should bo remembered that 

 this pest in warm climates is a serious one 

 in some localities. It was particularly so in 

 the Calkins yard, two colonies having been 

 killed by tlie worrying they underwent be- 

 fore the "anti-ant" stand was perfected 

 by Mrs, Calkins. 



How did Mrs. Calkins meet the difficultj'? 

 Into the four corners of the regular hive- 

 stand she drove four 20-penny spikes about 

 half their length. Around the portion of 

 the nails sticking out she wound some felt- 

 ing, and this felting was soaked in axle 

 grease. "And now, you pestiferous ants," 

 said she, "if you think you can climb over 

 that axle grease and make more trouble for 

 my pets, I will see what else I can do." 



But they didn't ciimb. The first hive 

 proved the success of her scheme; and it 

 was not long before she had ant-proof hive- 

 stands under every cne of the colonies. 



I asked, "Mrs. Calkins, how did you get 

 those two-and three-stoiy colonies, heavy 

 with honej', off the hive-stand and put them 

 back again after you applied your ant-proof 

 device?" 



"That is easy," she replied. "I waited 

 till Mr. Calkins came home at night ami wc 

 two did the job together." 



Why the two of them? Why did not the 

 man do it all? If you could see Mrs. Calkins 

 you would know she loves to be outdoors, 

 and she shows it in her rugged health. I'll 

 venture the statement that she could lift as 

 much as or more than her other half. She dons 

 her farmerette beesuit, and is ready for any- 

 thing; even accompanying Mr. Calkins to 

 their summer yard in the alfalfa fields, "0 

 miles away, in the San Joaquin Valley. Both 

 of them are real students of beekeeping, 

 wliich accounts for their rapid progress in 

 ai)iculture. Mr. Calkins showed me a file of 

 <i leanings complete to the very first "wina- 

 mill" number, dated January, 1873. They 

 believe in knowing what to do before they 

 try to do it. 



Mr. Calkins' health has been none too 

 good, but work outdoors among their bees is 

 rapidly recovering it for liim. • 



Medina, Ohio. E. E. Root. 



AN AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPER 



Who Decided to Keep the Prop and Let the Farm- 

 ing Go 



George Rich of Enterprise A])i:Hy, Mary- 

 borough, Victoria, .Australia, may be said 

 to have been brought uj) with the bees, for 



his parents, having kept bees in England, 

 always retained a few colonies in box hives. 

 As the boy grew uf) he was considered a 

 wonder at liandling bees, and used to remove 

 a good deal of honey for neighbors. He early 

 formed the opinion that beekeeping is more 

 profitable than general farming, altho until 

 1902 he had never seen a modern apiary. 

 When he did, however, he at once grasped 

 the advantages of movable-frame hives, and 

 the very next day sent for some. Upon their 

 arrival he transferred his bees from the old 

 box hives, and the first season obtained a 

 ton of honey from his 21 colonies of blacks. 



The year following he went to Thomas 

 Bolton to learn the business, and spent three 

 seasons with him, after which time he car- 

 ried on beekeeping along with general farm- 

 ing until he finally gave up the farming to 

 devote his whole time to the bees. This he 

 was largely induced to do by reading Hutch- 

 inson's "Advanced Beekeeping," in which 

 the latter wrote that if beekeeping had to be 

 propped up by something else, better throw 

 the bees away and keep the prop. Mr. Rich 

 had been using the bees to prop up the farm- 

 ing. 



He is fortunate in being able to say that 

 he has never had a complete failure of crop, 

 tho this is no doubt due to skillful manage- 

 ment. His bees are in Langstroth hives and 

 are a very fine grade of Italians, which he 

 has bred up by constant selection. He con- 

 siders his greatest problem to be the pre- 

 vention of swarming. His prevention meth- 

 od is to take combs of brood from strong 

 colonies to strengthen the weak, or to form 

 new ones, replacing the combs removed with 

 frames of foundation. As is largely the 

 custom among i>rogressive beekeepers in 

 Australia, his colonies are distributed in 

 out-apiaries and moved from place to place 

 to meet varying conditions. 



Melbourne, Australia. B. Blackbourn. 



Tile aiiiMi-x of T. W. Gentry at Kins. X. C. is in 



ilhistrntion uf liow better beekeepini;' is coiiiins 



aloii? in tliat State. 



