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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



tion, I noticed that he also had a good 

 locality for bee-keeping, and therefore 

 asked him, "Don't you keep bees?" He 

 replied very quickly, " No, sir ! It takes 

 a lazy man to keep bees !" 



Now I wish to say that there are many 

 persons that think as my friend did, 

 even such as use honey on their table, 

 and can see thereby that there is a much 

 finer article produced, and in a more 

 marketable shape now than it was years 

 ago when the brimstone pit was yet 

 reigning. 



Yes, there are yet many persons who 

 don't know, up to this date, that bee- 

 keeping has become an important branch 

 of industry. They think that all one 

 has to do, is to lie down somewhere in 

 the shade at swarming-time, and watch 

 the swarming of the bees, and to hive 

 them if a swarm should happen to issue; 

 then in the fall, to attend to robbing or 

 brimstoning some of the bees in order to 

 get some honey. They don't consider 

 how we obtain honey in such a nice 

 shape. They don't know that in order 

 to produce a good crop of honey the 

 bee-keeper must be on his guard almost 

 the whole year around for that purpose. 

 They think that honey should be still 

 much cheaper than it already is. 



When I sold some honey in the market 

 at New Albany, Ind., some years ago, 

 at a price it was bringing then, a woman 

 asked me, " Why is it that you always 

 sell honey at such a high price? You 

 bee-men have no work with your bees, 

 all you do is to rob the honey from them 

 in the fall !" Such a class don't take 

 into consideration that our practical, 

 movable-comb hives, which are gen- 

 erally used at present by all progressive 

 bee-men, will necessitate more outlay 

 than an old soap-box, nail-keg, or some 

 hollow log. Then, after we have our 

 bees in good, movable-comb hives, there 

 are numerous other articles and supplies 

 needed to successfully run the business ; 

 besides, as I said before, one has to be 

 on guard, and devote much of his time 

 to the business, if he intends to have his 

 efforts crowned with success. 



If one has in charge only 50 colonies 

 of bees during a good honey season and 

 swarming time, he will soon find out 

 whether his bees will give him much of 

 a chance to be lazy. Such ideas, and 

 the belief that most of the honey in the 

 market is adulterated, are great stumb- 

 ling-blocks to our business, and as most 

 people outside of the bee-keeping frater- 

 nity do not read bee-papers, it is difficult 

 to educate them. Maximilian. 



Shawnee, Kans. 



Bee-Keeping in Louisiana. 



We have had a good many reports of 

 late from our many customers, and they 

 say since June 25th the bees have been 

 rolling in the honey. We, ourselves, 

 cannot complain, as we extracted from 

 a few colonies to see what the yield 

 would be, and from eight we got, on an 

 average, 65 pounds per colony. We 

 will get from those same colonies at 

 least 50 pounds yet, making 115 pounds 

 each — not bad for this season. As the 

 spring was wet and cold, bees gathered 

 but little honey, only sufficient to build 

 up — no surplus. 



We handle nothing but the Italian 

 bees, and have had none other since 

 their introduction in 1872. We con- 

 sider them the best honey-gatherers, 

 and as to docility, etc., we never use a 

 bee-veil in the apiary. In going over 

 our apiary the other day we noticed two 

 queens quietly laying side by side — 

 mother and daughter. Of course, to our 

 old, experienced apiarists, this is noth- 

 ing new, but it only goes to show that 

 bees know when a queen is no longer fit 

 for service, by superseding her with a 

 young queen. 



The p. L. Viallon Mf&. Co. 



Bayou Goula, La., July 12, 1893. 



[For years, bee-keepers have felt that they 

 owed the Kev. L. L. Laugstroth— the Father 

 of American bee-culture— a debt that they 

 can never verj' well pay, for his invention of 

 the Movable-Frame Hive which so completely 

 revolutionized bee-keepipg' throughout all the 

 world. In order that his few remaining years 

 may be made as happy and as comfortable as 

 possible, we feel that we should undertake a 

 plan by which those bee-keepers who consider 

 it a privilege as well as a dutj', might have an 

 opportunity to contribute something toward 

 a fund that should be gathered and forwarded 

 to Father Laugstroth as a slight token of their 

 appreciation, and regard fell for him by hee- 

 keepers everywhere. No amount above $1.00 

 is expected from any person at one time— but 

 any sum, however large or small, we will of 

 coiirse receive and turn over to Father L. 

 All receipts will be acknowledged here.— Ed. 1 



I^ist of Contributors. 



Previously Reported $8 75 



W. A. Fee, Rockport, Ind 25 



Wm. Essieman, Gai-rett, N. Y 25 



Bee-Keeper, Johnstown. Pa 25 



Total $9 50 



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