140 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Jul] 



is extracted and the combs stored for 

 similar use the following summer. 



Now, don't you think that is the 

 better way to work for honey? The 

 system is safe, rapid and certain in 

 its results. There is no longer an in- 

 cessant need of one's presence in the 

 apiary. Increase is kept down in a 

 most efficient manner. There is lots 

 of stimulation In it, for the jingle 

 of bee-money in one's pocket is just 

 the kind that counts at the tfinish. 

 Don't tinker. 



Wheelersburg, Ohio, May 4, 1905. 



ADAPTABILITY REQUIRED. 



BY F. GREINER. 



THIS MAY be considered an idle 

 question by some. Probably 

 those who advocate that every 

 farmer ought to keep a few stands of 

 bees, would thus consider it. They 

 seem to forget that comparatively few 

 are adapted for the business. 



Years ago, in this section of the 

 country there were twenty-five bee- 

 owners to every one now. Don't it 

 pay to keep bees? Well, yes and no. 

 The reason why so few now l^eep any 

 bees is that those who were not adapt- 

 ed, dropped out, that is all. It has 

 been a natural weeding out process of 

 the unfit. 



There is absolutely no use of fight- 

 ing against natiue'.s laws, if a man is 

 adapted for the work he will succeed. 

 It is a<s unreasonable for everybody to 

 keep bees as it would be to try and 

 raise ostrich-plumes. It doas not work! 

 It is not to be suppo-sed that every 

 farmer has the time and inclination 

 to post up on bee culture. It takes a 

 lot of time to tie it and without one 

 does understand the business thorough- 

 ly there is no use undertaking it. 



There are a few small bee-yards left 

 in my town, Init the whole appearance 

 of them doas not inspire confidence 

 in the business. Perhaps these yards 

 consist of a few box-hives and two or 

 three frame hives each. The box-hives 

 look bad, weather-beaten, some in the 

 grass by the ftMice. The frame hives, 

 once good, well-made hives, stand 

 around in every shape. Some tipped 

 back, thus catching the rain, others 

 tipped sidewi.se, etc. They show that 

 the owner knows nothing about bees. 

 Who will e<lucate this man? I have 

 in mind two bee owners living within 



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four to five miles of me who one 

 kept large numbers of bees. The 

 once purchased expensive hives fc 

 them. But where are they today 

 The hives lay around in their yard 

 in every imaginable shape. You ca 

 find them in their hen houses used a 

 nests— in the cow stable as feed boxe 

 etc. Why? Has disease made inroad 

 u])on their bees? Does it not pay i 

 keep beas? I have located close B 

 their side and obtained magnificei 

 crop-s. 



A few years ago I located an aplai 

 some fifteen miles north of me in 

 section where alsike clover is abuni 

 ant. Another man has some bees bi 

 a short distance from this yard. E 

 is an old hand at it and has had oyi 

 100 colonies at one time. His nan 

 was mentioned in connection with hfyt> 

 when I first came into this country- 

 over thirty years ago. He has mai 

 aged to keep in bees, to be sure, bi^! 

 what are his crops? He had at oi 

 time last season taken less than 4« 

 pounds. When I took from a 

 equal number over a ton. I saw h 

 honey in the fall with a vie" 

 to buying it, but it was i 

 very bad shape, and, althoug 

 he pretended to have used separator 

 the honey was not "crateable," besid* ""^ 

 being badly infested with moth larva 

 He seemed to be utterly ignorant •< 

 to the nature of the wax-moth ar 

 asserted that there was no possibilil 

 of these insects having damaged h 

 honey, for he had kept it in a close 

 room in his fine dwelling all the tim 

 AA'e Avant Mr. Abbott or some otht' 

 man to come and educate all these pe< 

 {fie and put them in a shape to cOD 

 pete with us who make bee-keepin 

 a -specialty. 



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This bi-ings us to the question 

 What is a specialist? Some peopl 

 will have it. that only he is a specialif 

 who devotes his entire time to apicu 

 ture. He, who earns a few dollar 

 with his pen, they intimate, is not 

 specialist in bee-keeping. He, wh 

 gi'ows his own garden -stuff or produce 

 some ai)i)les, peaches, pears, or phunc 

 oi' any otlier fruit. i,s not a specialis 

 in l)ee-keei)ing. He, who kjeeps a C0'\ 

 or some hens, is not a specialist in bee 

 keeping, etc. Perhaps these people ar 

 correct. But let us view this matte 

 from a standpoint of common sense i^ 

 The very nature of the pursuit make j 



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