296 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



to name several poultry- men whose profit, I 

 am satisfied equals at least twice that of as 

 many bee-keepers. Among these are North- 

 rup, of Black Minorca fame, who sold a 

 cock bird last year for $1000 together with 

 some twenty others for over $800, if I re- 

 member rightly. I was unable to find the 

 paper, but the $1000 rooster is a classic. 

 Others of as great an annual profit are Fichel, 

 of White Plymouth Rocks; Arthur Duston, 

 of White Wyandottes; Knapp Bros., of White 

 Leghorns; Rankin and Weber Bros., of Pekin 

 ducks. These men have made more from 

 poultry than our specialists have from bees. 

 This, together with the fact that the poul- 

 try business can be indefinitely increased 

 without seeking locations for out- farms, 

 shows that more money can be made with 

 poultry than with bees. 



It might be well to compare two "gauges" 

 of the business. I refer to the papers and 

 the shows. The poultry industry supports 

 such shows as are beginning to be dreamed 

 of by the bee- keepers. But the papers! 

 Gleanings, the largest bee paper published, 

 has a subscription list of abouc 3<),000, while 

 the Reliable Poultry Journal, the largest of 

 its kind, guarantees a circulation of 50,000 

 copies, and claims that it will distribute 

 55 000. There are seven bee journals pub- 

 lished in America. I will estimate that 

 there are about forty poultry papers. 



Many of the readers may wish to know 

 why Frank McGlade, page 1307. failed so ut- 

 terly. I don't know. He doesn't say enough. 

 However, with fair management he should 

 have hatched 500 of the 660 eggs set under 

 the hens, and raised at least 475 of the 

 chicks. Why didn't his fifty pullets lay? If 

 they were good s ock and early birds, as he 

 says they were, it was because of the poor- 

 est of management. At his illustrations I 

 am ready to laugh with the rest of the bee- 

 keepers and poultry-men. 



One more thing. If he had started bees 

 first he would have failed with them. It 

 was only what he learned from chickens 

 that made him capable of keeping bees. In 

 the same manner, had he failed with bees 

 first he would have taken chickens in a way 

 that would have brought success. 



Chicago, 111. 



[Referring to the two quotations from my- 

 self, I will say that I had in mind only the 

 poultry- keeper who raises eggs to sell for 

 the market. Of course, I was well aware 

 that, where Jancy stock was sold, large 

 prices are secured. But in view of the evi- 

 dence already presented. I am now prepared 

 to believe that the poultry business can be 

 made to pay even where eggs are produced 

 for the market, and I therefore stand cor- 

 rected. Perhaps I am not giving away any 

 secret, but I will state that I have about a 

 dozen hens, and I am trying to see what I 

 can make them do. It has been somewhat 

 of a revelation to us to learn that so many 

 of our bee-keepers are also poultry- keepers; 

 and for that reason we shall be the more 

 anxious that the chicken side shall have "a 

 square deal" in this discussion.— Ed.] 



BEE-HUJSTING. 



Conditions under Which it Can be Made to Pay. 



BY RALPH P. FISHER. 



Mr. Frank P. Stowe's article on page 1193, 

 November 15, has brought to my mind days 

 that I myself have spent at the same sport. 

 Anybody reading the article for what it is 

 worth would be apt to infer that bee- hunt- 

 ing as a business is not profiable, and so to 

 indulge would surely result in dissatisfaction. 



In my opinion anybody clever enough to 

 understand the nature of bees can, wiih the 

 right system, turn bee-hunting into no little 

 source of profit. As locality seems to have 

 a great deal to do with the quantity of honey 

 produced, just so does it limit the success of 

 bee-hunting as a business. A locality, to 

 be an ideal place for wild bees, must possess 

 clusters of old timber, rocky hills, or 

 swamps; in fact, any place where one can 

 find hollow trees of oak, elm, or ash of suf- 

 ficient size to accommodate their require- 

 ments. This same location must also con- 

 tain domesticated bees kept in such a way 

 that absconding swarms are frequent. Al- 

 most any farmer keeping bees can tell you 

 how mnny swarms flew away and how much 

 honey he could have had, if he were only at 

 home to hive them properly instead of being 

 somewhere in a back field plowing. 



Although our friend Stowe resides in Con- 

 necticut, he is evidently not blessed with such 

 a locality; but I know personally that there 

 are many places in that State where wild 

 bees are more plentiful in the same sur- 

 rounding parts than the domesticated ones. 

 As a rule, in any country having small moun- 

 tains or hills well wooded, wild bees can be 

 found in quantity. 



A special box is not needed at all, as a 

 common cigar-box containing a square of 

 honey and a glass or two with which to catch 

 the bees concludes an ideal outfit. If you 

 are out for business you need not less than 

 a quart of syrup proportioned as follows: 

 Sugar ten parts; water ten parts; honey five 

 parts. This is very good, but one could use 

 any sort of honey and in any quantity desir- 

 ed. Also pour ten or twelve drops of anise 

 oil over the box in order to procure an aroma 

 scented highly to attract the bees or they 

 will go to work again on the flowers if many 

 are present. 



I have found as many as four trees in a 

 day; but, to be more exact, most generally 

 two or three, with occasionally only one. 

 The bees are taken out, hived, requeened, 

 and allowed to rob all the honey, after which 

 they are sold. Five dollars is the price of a 

 good colony of bees in an eight- frame hive 

 with the ordinary Italian queen. Some 

 swarms thus treated store as much as three 

 supers of honey in 4J sections. Three such 

 supers equal 72 lbs. This, sold at 15 cents 

 straight, amounts to $10.80; and if this does 

 not prove bee-hunting profitable, then Mr. 

 Stowe's article may huld consistent. 



Great Meadows, N. J. 



