34 



THE AMERICAN APICULTVEIST. 



kets and in the libraries, and he had 

 accumulated a vast amount of grape 

 knowledge ; but did not know what 

 to do with it. He said, he did not 

 know how to prune a vine, and 

 wished me to go and show him. 

 Now, that is my position, exactly. 

 I have a good deal of bee knowledge. 

 But, I do not know how to use it, 

 and how noi to use it. I cannot take 

 the knowledge I possess about sheep, 

 horses, meat, cattle and poultry, and 

 apply it to the successful manage- 

 ment of honey-bees. Honey-bees 

 are very curious and peculiar animals 

 to manage, yet I have no supersti- 

 tious notions about the successes 

 and failures of bees. Some persons 

 can manage sheep profitably, and 

 very satisfactorily, while others will 

 utterly fail. Now, I can put my fin- 

 ger on the causes of failure, and on 

 the points of success, in rearing and 

 managing sheep. But, when one 

 man succeeds with bees and another 

 fails, I cannot determine what was 

 the cause of failure. 



During the past twenty years, I 

 have purchased a hive of bees, and 

 attempted to go into the bee indus- 

 try, in a small way. I followed the 

 instructions of experts, in the suc- 

 cessful management of bees ; but, 

 in every instance, after the expiration 

 of two seasons, I had qnly a weak, 

 feeble and valueless colony, with not 

 honey sufficient to carry them through 

 the winter. So I fed them. But 

 they all died, in spite of every effort 

 to take the best kind of care of them. 

 I never have failed in any other 

 branch of business. But, I do not 

 know how to manage bees success- 

 fully ; and when I follow instructions. 



to the letter I have always failed. 

 Who can tell how to succeed ? 

 Orange, N.J. 



RED CLOVER QUEENS A 

 HUMBUG. 



By John H. Martin. 



Those who have for several years 

 been engaged in bee culture find that 

 many new things are brought before 

 the beekeeping fraternity that are lia- 

 ble to mislead and when examined 

 into are found to be a veritable hum- 

 bug. The well known adage, "old 

 men for counsel and young men for 

 action," holds good in bee culture as 

 well as in other pursuits. Our older 

 and more experienced beekeepers 

 tell us to go slow and weigh well the 

 statements and appliances of all who 

 have a laudable but selfish interest to 

 sell their goods. 



For years it has been a well known 

 fact that red clover is rich in the se- 

 cretion of honey, and could we pro- 

 duce a bee that could reach the honey 

 in the largest red clover tube, who can 

 estimate the great yields of honey 

 that would make the beekeepers 

 happy. 



Several queen breeders have now 

 taken advantage of this great want, 

 that has been talked and written about 

 for many years past, and have put 

 upon the market what purports to be 

 queens whose progeny will work 

 freely upon red clover. 



Now let us go slow, as the old 

 men say, and closely examine the 

 merits of these queens. While red 

 clover is grown largely as a meadow 



