138 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



July, 



twenty frame hives. His ideas of single 

 story hive bee-keeping run in about 

 the same channel as those of our friend 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton. 



The doctor's judgment is fine, and 

 he claims that since he is spared the 

 time and labor of lifting the supers 

 from the hives, he is thereby enabled 

 to work the bees to a better advan- 

 tage. He has passed that time in the 

 life of a bee-keeper, when experimen- 

 tal work is in the foreground, and now 

 looks forth to the profit that he may 

 realize. 



In the drowsy noontime, when the 

 sun's rays fall perpendicularly, the 

 doctor may be seen comfortably re- 

 clining upon his low conch, on the 

 gallery of his quaint little 'shanty,' 

 cozily equipped Avith all the comforts 

 of a home, and the ideal spot of a 

 bee-keeper, with its complete library 

 of bee books, bee journals, and bee 

 literature in general. 



The refrigerator, with its fresh, 

 sweet Jersey milk is close at hand, 

 and never forgotten, for the doctor 

 never fails to replenish his ice box, 

 So that he may enjoy a cooling and 

 delightfully refreshing drink. 



When his day's work is 'finished, he 

 slowly repairs to his beautiful home- 

 stead, where he is welcomed by his 

 family, including his hospitable daugh- 

 ter and pretty grand children. 



Cincinnati, O., May 16, 1905. 



THE FOLLY OF "TINKERINti" 

 W^ITH BEES. 



BY W. W. M'NEAL. 



BEE CULTURE has always been 

 wonderfully fascinating to me. 

 From my earliest boyhood I loved 

 the honey bee. My father never kept 

 bees, but my maternal grandfather 

 was obedient to the call of the bees. 

 There have been times when my en- 

 thusiasm received a crimp or two, 

 when bad luck seemed relentless and 

 the l)ees stung harder than ever be- 

 fore. Discouragement weighed heav- 

 ily and it was then that the cold of 

 winter came as a joyful relief from 

 bee-work. I would feel whipped out 

 and my one desire was to get away 

 from everything that suggested honey 

 bees. But a few months separation 

 was usually sufficient to rekindle the 

 old ardor and my experience ha-s al- 

 ways been that when the snows melt 



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away and the buds come again, my 

 love for the bees blossoms with them, 



My gi-eatest mistake with bees were 

 the result of "tinkering." There is 

 a va,st amount of dilference betweer 

 practice and mere tinkering. It is 

 all right and necessary for one tc jrt 

 open the hives and work with the bees le 

 to gain a practical knowledge of theii iesf 

 instincts; but, upon the other hand: le 

 one may be ever tinkering yet nevejpol 

 learning the habits of bees. Avoic 

 the folly of tinkering if you woulc 

 succeed. 



Now you may want to know ho"n 

 I manage to gain certain desired ends 

 with the least possible amount o: 

 "tinkering." Well, to start with, le 

 us assume that bee-keepers are in th« 

 business for what money they car 

 :et out of it. Whatever lessens thn 

 cost of production adds to the profit 

 thereof, and the system of manage 

 ment that gives the apiarist the great 

 est freedom from his bees is the ont 

 that turns the most money, as profit 

 into his pockets. If the system o 

 management is one that makes it nee 

 essary to give the bees almost cod 

 stant attention, that system is fault; 

 and should be discarded. For instance 

 suppose a man has a hundred colonlenlid 

 of bees and wishes to produce com'^ je 

 honey. Now with this man the bew 

 are only a side line, his main voca 

 tion demanding the greater part o 

 his time. We will say that his bee 

 are in eight-frame hives and upon a: 

 early examination he finds nearly al 

 of them to be light in stores and va 

 rying greatly as to numerical strengtt 

 How can he get those colonies al 

 strong, and as nearly as possible o 

 a tmiform strength at a given tlm 

 and do it the cheapest? Not by "stim 

 ulating" his colonies with a half pin 

 of sweetened water every day regular 

 for three weeks or longer and then es 

 changing combs of brood from th 

 stronger for empty combs froiii th 

 weaker colonies! It is hard to thinl 

 of a more fussy, impracticable methocl 

 See what it necessitates: The openini 

 of every hive evei-y day during th' 

 whole of that time; the clawing ove 

 of the brood combs for suitable one 

 for exchanging; the consequent losi 

 of much of the brood given to f&' 

 weaker colonies by their inability t' 

 care for it, and the attendant dangeljjij^ 

 of starvation near the close of th' 

 feeding season, should some unlooked ^,1 



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