THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



121 



the cells in different positions between 

 the light and the eye, the queens can 

 usually be seen. Any queen that 

 shows signs of hatching is put in an 

 apartment by itself. To furnish these 

 separate apartments, a " wide frame," 

 the same size as an ordinary brood- 

 frame, is divided by partitions into 

 little "pigeonholes." One side of 

 this frame of little apartments is 

 covered with a thin board, the other 

 side with glass doors, one door for 

 each apartment. Each door is "hung " 

 with a cloth hinge pasted on, and is 

 fastened shut with a catch made by 

 driving a common piu partly in, then 

 bending it over. To release the door 

 the catch is turned in an opposite 

 direction. 



When I first began using the nur- 

 sery, I took queen-cells from the bees 

 as soon as they were sealed, or soon 

 after; but this disturbing of the cells 

 when the queens were so immature, 

 resulted in so many maimed and 

 crippled <jueens, that I soon al)and- 

 oned the plan, and now I leave the 

 cells until they begin to show a 

 brownish color, which indicates that 

 the queens are nearly mature. When 

 the bees are given eggs that are just 

 beginning to hatch, 1 remove the cells 

 about the ninth day, and the queens 

 hatch in two or three days. 



The great object in using a lamp 

 nursery is its convenience. It allows 

 us to examine the cells at any time, 

 which would be impracticable if the 

 cells were with a colony of bees. If a 

 young queen hatches out in a colony 

 of bees, unless they have the swarm- 

 ing impulse, the remaining queens are 

 destroyed, and it is quite a task to 

 find the queen. If the cells are allowed 

 to remain with the bees until they 

 " turn color," I think that queens 

 hatched in a lamp nursery are as good 

 as any. 



Rogersville, (i Mich. 



Read at the New York State Convention. 



Does Bee-Keeping Pay ? 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



At the recent Detroit Convention. 

 an essay by Dr. C. C. Miller in dis- 

 cussion of the above question, was 

 read. It only professed to open the 

 discussion, vvhich it did so effectually 

 that a very lively debate sprung up, 

 which was only closed by a resolution 

 to lay the subject on the table, which, 

 on motion, was carried. This action 

 is usually taken by Legislative bodies, 

 when a discussion is unfinished, or 

 there seems no likelihood of arriving 

 at a decision. The question is one of 

 those concerning which much may be 

 said on both sides without arriving at 

 a satisfactory conclusion. After the 

 amplest discussion, one can only look 

 at the pros and cons, and judge for 

 himself, so that the question really is, 

 " Does bee-keeping pay me V" 



It will simplify the matter very 

 much if we start with a definition of 

 the word " pay." Dr. :Miller sets out 

 to discuss the question solely from a 

 pecuniary stand-point, but he decides 

 it, so far as he doe.s decide it, on totally 

 different grounds. He states the 



question at the outset in these terms : 

 "Can I make as much money, in a 

 series of years, at bee-keeping as I 

 can at any other business V" He 

 decides this question for himself in 

 the negative. lie says : " I am obliged 

 to confess that I could make more 

 money to give up bees entirely." In 

 reply to the query, why he continues 

 at the business, he replies, in effect, 

 that it pays him otherwise than in 

 dollars and cents. He says : " I like 

 it. It keeps me out-doors, and is 

 good for my health. It allows me to 

 be with my framily more than any 

 other calling at which I could make 

 as much, and for the privilege of 

 these enjoyments, I am willing to 

 pay the price of the additional money 

 I would make at a more lucrative 

 calling. Whether the price may not 

 become too large for me to afford to 

 pay, is an open question." 



Now it is only in this broad and 

 comprehensive light that we can 

 fairly consider whether anything pays 

 in tliis world. We are all the time 

 investing more than money in our 

 occupations. We call money the capi- 

 tal which we invest, but it is not all, 

 nor indeed the most valuable invest- 

 ment that we put into our business. 

 We embark ourselves as well as our 

 money in whatever calling we under- 

 take,and the most important question 

 in regard to the calling we pursue, is 

 its influence upon ourselves. Does 

 it make us happy or miserable, 

 better or worse, richer or poorer 

 in those qualities that go to 

 form a desirable character '? At the 

 conclusion of the auction sale of the 

 fixtures of his saloon. " The Ship." 

 in New York, Paul Boynton said : 

 " Gentlemen, I thank you for helfiing 

 me to leave a business I have felt to 

 be a curse upon me ever since I 

 entered it. I vi'ould rather cultivauC 

 bricks than touch the gin-trade again." 

 It paid him in dollars and cents most 

 likely, but it was a dead loss in its 

 influence upon himself. A bright day 

 will dawn on the world when the 

 profits of all businesses are gauged by 

 their intellectual and moral, as well 

 as their pecuniary results. 



Undoubtedly there are some occu- 

 pations that have a natural tendency, 

 apart from'the motive under which 

 they are followed, to make people 

 selfish, grasping, narrow, ill-tempered, 

 stolid, coarse, low, and grovelling. 

 There are others that tend to uplift, 

 ennoble, and improve the minds and 

 characters of those engaged in them. 

 Is it not patent to all the world that 

 Wall Street stock jobbery tends to 

 make the men who pursue it wild 

 beasts of prey, and that the haunts of 

 this kind of business are made hideous 

 by the yells and howls of the preda- 

 tory bipeds that prowl about in them, 

 seeking whom they may devour ? 

 That kind of business may and often 

 does pay in dollars and cents, but the 

 more successful it proves in that line, 

 the more serious and impoverishing 

 is the loss of moral character involved 

 in it. 



A business pays in the broad sense 

 of the term if, in addition to yielding 

 a fair profit in money, it is conducive 

 to health, cheerfulness, mental cul- 



ture, growth in virtue, and home 

 comfort. Without making invidious 

 comparisons between it and other 

 occupations, it may be safely affirmed 

 that bee-keeping stands these varied 

 tests well. Jt pays fairly, if properly 

 carried on, as a money investment. 

 Being pursued mostly in the open air 

 during the pleasantest weather, it 

 cannot but be promotive of health, 

 and the cases are not rare in which 

 invalids have been completely cured 

 of former ailments by adopting this 

 avocation. It is pre-eminently a 

 calling that demands study, thought, 

 investigation. It presupposes a high 

 grade of intelligence. There is very 

 little of mere routine about it. Con- 

 stant observation of natural phe- 

 nomena is essential to its prosecution. 

 No business oftener brings one face 

 to face with tlie why and the where- 

 fore of things. An unreasoning bee- 

 keeper must prove a failure, for suc- 

 cess depends mainly upon judicious 

 linking of cause and effect. So there 

 is a constant exercise of thought 

 going on, which is eminently favorable 

 to mental improvement. A business, 

 to be enjoyed, must be capable of 

 awakening interest and enthusiasm 

 in those who prosecute it, and there 

 is no more fascinating occupation 

 under heaven than this, to those who 

 have a taste, as most people have, for 

 observing the wise ways and wondrous 

 habits of the animated tribes that 

 people the earth. A bee-hive is a 

 world of wonders in itself, and one 

 never tires of watching the marvellous 

 processes that are constantly going on 

 before his eyes in the development of 

 insect life and activity. 



Beekeeping demands, in a high 

 degree, those moral qu-ilities which 

 are essential to excellence of charac- 

 ter, self-command, patience, gentle- 

 ness, industry, vigilance, attention to 

 minute details, unswerving rectitude, 

 kindness of heart, and evenness of 

 temper. This is a galaxy of noble 

 qualities, and that bee-keeping tends 

 directly to their cultivation is a fact 

 which " nobody can d»ny." Finally, 

 this is peculiarly a home calling, 

 prosecuted close to one's own thresh- 

 old, away from the ten thousand 

 temptations that haunt the shop, the 

 factory, the street, the market. To 

 pursue it, one is not obliged to for- 

 sake the loved ones at home, and live 

 half or two-thirds of the time among 

 strangers ; he can have regular meals, 

 and time to eat them ; he can carry 

 out the good old rule, " early to bed 

 and early to rise ;" and pursue the 

 even tenor of his way without those 

 breaks and interruptions which are 

 fatal to family order, peace, and good 

 government. 



These hints may aid those who are 

 debating the question whether to go 

 into bee-keeping as a business or not. 

 There is still the point of special 

 personal adaptation to be considered. 



" Every man can't be a poet, 

 No more than every sheep a go-at." 



A business may be a good and pay- 

 ing one, but I may be entirely 

 unsuited for carryiftg it on. If so, 

 the part of wisdom is to pass it on to 

 my neighbor. It may pay him, but 

 not me to prosecute it. But for this 



