764 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1921 



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LJ 



A FEW miles 

 north of 

 T e n n essee, 

 in Todd County, 

 Kentucky, where 

 for miles one 

 sees great fields 

 of the peculiar 

 green of the to- 

 bacco plant, and 



also acre after acre of wheat, there lives a 

 prosperous farmer who has for years suc- 

 cessfully raised both of these crops. He is 

 Porter C. Ward of Allensville, Ky. His 

 brother, Dr. J. S. Ward, lives in Nashville. 



One summer 13 or 14 years ago, Mrs. Por- 

 ter Ward went to Nashville for a visit. 

 When she returned home she reported that 

 the doctor-brother had bought some bees 

 (he later became Tennessee State Apiarist). 

 Porter Ward was disgusted. "That's a fine 

 way to fool away a man's time," he re- 

 marked. "And the crazy fellow's going to 

 get stung to death, too,'.' he prophesied 

 amiably. 



For several months nothing more was 

 heard about the new interest. Then in the 

 fall the Doctor came up to a little near-by 

 town to see about getting some bees he had 

 bought, and he spent a night on the way 

 with his brother. Porter Ward was sick iii 

 bed, but the Doctor, all enthusiasm, started 

 talking about his new sideline. The sick 

 man lay in bed, grunting his disgust. The 

 Doctor sat by his side, talking bees. Pres- 

 ently Porter Ward became interested — more 

 interested — ^and finally got up out of bed. 

 The next morning he went with his brother 

 to the little near-by town. And he bouglit 

 those decs himself! Recovered from his 

 sickness, he had contracted the "bee fever" 

 — incurably! 



He had never been near bees before and 

 knew nothing about them except what the 

 doctor-brother had poured forth that eve- 

 ning. Promptly he got books and journals. 

 Then he moved his newly acq.uired bees 

 home — and bought two more colonies. 



After that start he increased steadily till 

 he had 75 colonies. Then along came Euro- 

 pean foul brood. He was ruined as a bee- 

 keeper, of that he was sure. But he cared 

 too much about those bees to give them up. 

 So he went to work. Unfortunately he 

 made a bad mistake, and treated them all 

 as for American foul brood — shaking the 

 bees, burning out hive-bodies and destroy- 

 ing combs — the pitiful waste of it. And 

 the bees just built new comb and went on 

 calmly having foul brood. At last he read 

 what Mr. Alexander had done and he did 

 likewise — killed his queens, left the bees 

 queenless a short time and introduced young 

 Italian queens. The disease disappeared. 

 Nor has there been a sign of it for several 

 years now. 



Tho this foul brood experience had some- 

 what dampened his ardor, yet after getting 

 cleaned up and all in good shape, he began 



Beekeeping as a Side Line 



1 



Grace Allen 



^=^^^^^^^^ 



U 



increasing again, 

 as fast as the 

 farm work would 

 permit. And he 

 now has about 

 200 colonies, in 

 eight yards — 

 some yards be- 

 ing small be- 

 cause just start- 

 ed. They'll grow. Already indeed, the bee 

 business has outgrown the time he can give 

 it. So now he is planning to give up his 

 regular farming, as soon as he can shape the 

 change, and make beekeeping his main work. 

 He has found the beekeeping more profitable 

 as well as more pleasant. How little they 

 could foresee such a result that summer day 

 when his wife told him about the Doctor 's 

 bees and he called him a crazy fellow fool- 

 ing away his time! 



Tho he has usually had two fair surplus- 

 producing flows, he does not consider his lo- 

 cation good enough for a specialist. The 

 flows are not dependable enough. There is 

 no fruit bloom near. A little crimson clover 

 and some white clover generally give a sur- 

 plus. The fall flow is chiefly boneset, some 



Porter C. Ward, Allensville, 

 hive. 



Ky., showing his large 



smartweed, and aster. Formerly, he says, 

 the aster never failed, but the last few 

 years it has not been a sure yielder. As for 

 sweet clover, it is growing in favor with the 

 farmers around, yet as a honey producer it 

 has not so far come up to expectations. The 

 bees work it but seem to get very little nec- 

 tar. But it needs lots of lime, and he him- 

 self has already limed practically all his 260 

 acres, for quite aside from its value for nec- 

 tar, he prefers it above all other clovers in 

 his farm rotation, and is increasing his own 

 acreage constantly. Perhaps the more lime 

 and greater acreage will make the honey- 

 producing results show up better. 



Like many others, Mr. Ward started with 

 8-frame hives because that was what he 

 first bought. Later he changed completely 



