THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



425 



Country Gentleman. 



Bee-KeepiiiE and Mum, etc. 



GEO. A. STOCKWELL. 



Bee-keeping has made great strides 

 ■witliin a few years. TorQierly it was 

 not tliouglit of, except as connected 

 with agricultnre. Apiculture and 

 agriculture go hand-in-hand to-day, 

 but the one has proved so remunera- 

 tive that it has become a separate in- 

 dustry, carried forward successfully, 

 independent, and without the aid of 

 agriculture. 



In this country to-day are more 

 than 3,000,000 colonies of bees in 

 apiaries, each having from a half- 

 dozen to 1,000 or 1,500 hives. In the 

 large apiaries extensive and costly 

 machinery is employed to minister 

 to the waiits of the bees. If a thou- 

 sand colonies be on hand at the open- 

 ing of spring, a thousand new hives 

 ■will be required in the swarming sea- 

 son. If every colony does not swarm, 

 some may swarm twice, and a thou- 

 sand hives would not be too many to 

 provide for the season's work. In 

 each hive will be required ten frames 

 —10,000 in all ; also two division- 

 boards for each hive, or 2,000 ; 5,000 

 separators, and 100,000 sections, and 

 many other lesser instruments and 

 aids. All these appliances are made 

 by machinery constructed for the 

 purpose, and apiarists whose sole in- 

 dustry is bee-keeping, are provided 

 with the means of supplying them- 

 selves at first cost with all imple- 

 ments needed. 



An apiary of 500 or 1,000 colonies 

 is not unusual, especially in Califor- 

 nia, the land of honey, if not milk 

 and honey, and the outlook gives the 

 future a more promising aspect than 

 the past had. The only check to the 

 California honey 'yield will be the 

 protest of the wine-growers, who 

 claim that the bees rob the grapes. 

 Bees cannot injure whole fruit, as 

 they have no power of penetrating 

 the outer covering, but they will at- 

 tack unsound fruit. 



Although there are 3,000,000 colonies 

 of bees in the United States, and 

 there may be 6,000,000, more or less, 

 before the close of another year, yet 

 to the great body of the people honey 

 is a luxury, not because it is high in 

 price, but because it is unknown ; 

 that is to say, not known and accepted 

 as other articles of food are. In a 

 town of 1,200 inhabitants, a store- 

 keeper sold less than 12 pounds of 

 honey between fall and spring. This 

 was due wholly to the fact that the 

 people were unacquainted with honey, 

 and it was proved by this fact. Later 

 an inhabitant of this town became 

 interested in bees, and sold in the 

 town nearly 200 pounds of honey the 

 first year after his apiary was started. 

 Of course personal solicitation and 

 push started the sale, and then the 

 people " having a taste," wanted 

 more, and a trade was established. 



Ijast fall there was reported an over- 

 supply of honey. There has never 

 been more pure honey offered than 

 could be sold, if means were employed 

 to sell it, but there has been in cities 



an over-supply of something called 

 honey. 



In New England there are a few 

 apiaries maintained independent of 

 some other calling, but the interest 

 in apiculture has increased wonder- 

 fully within the last few years. Bees 

 have been introduced, one hive, two 

 hives at a time, on many New Eng- 

 land farms. This was done ostensi- 

 bly " to please the boys," to keep them 

 at home. It succeeded, and not only 

 pleased the boys, but the old folks, 

 too. 



It is related that a farmer, outside 

 of New England, became so much in- 

 terested in apiculture, that he devoted 

 the whole farm to bee-pasturage, and 

 gave his whole attention to bees. But 

 few farmers will do that, yet they are 

 willing to give apiculture a trial in 

 connection with some other branch of 

 agriculture. Bee-keeping is particu- 

 larly adapted to helping the small 

 farrner, or gardener. Such workers 

 condense labor into a small space, 

 and can have an eye to any and every 

 part at all times. 



On a small farm, bee-keeping, if 

 honey be the object, will be profitable 

 and satisfactory. The outlay in labor 

 will be very little. By this is not 

 meant that bees will take care of 

 themselves, although they will do so 

 very nearly ; at least they will take 

 themselves off, often without any 

 help. The gardener wishes to econo- 

 mize space and time, and buys say 5 

 colonies of bees, and places them on 

 the south side of some wall or fence, 

 where, as he works, he can see them 

 and attend to them in a moment, if 

 any service be needed. 



The space required need be only the 

 width of a hive, and 15 feet in length, 

 and a number of such places may be 

 found on any farm, that cannot be 

 utilized in any other way. A south- 

 ern exposure is best, but bees may be 

 placed anywhere, high or low, on the 

 top of the house, over a porch, on a 

 broad-shelf attached to the side of 

 the barn, in the attic of the house, in 

 the loft in the corn barn, in any place 

 whatsoever. They may do better in 

 some places than in others, but it is 

 sufflcientlv well established that the 

 place of the hive is of little impor- 

 tance, provided it is convenient for 

 the bee-keeper. Bees have stored 

 large quantities of honey in hives on 

 the roofs of high builditigs in the 

 centre of cities, and in other out-of- 

 the-way places. 



The first Italian bees in Maine, 

 easily distinguishable from the na- 

 tives, were seen twelve miles from 

 their hives. It has been shown again 

 and again, that the distance traveled 

 by bees was at least five and six miles, 

 aiid that tliey went tliat distance from 

 choice, when pasturage was nearer. 



The gardener has 5 colonies. If they 

 are in box-hives, he must watch them 

 closely in swarming time, and this 

 will be no task, because he is nearly 

 all the time engaged in other work. 

 When the swarm appears, he has only 

 to hive it and place it with the others. 

 Of course the hives must be in readi- 

 ness beforehand. If the gardener's 

 interest prompts him to use the mov- 

 able frame hive, he may know to a 



day when his bees will swarm, by an 

 examination of the brood-nest. For 

 example, if he examines every hive 

 on Monday, and finds no queen-cells 

 begun, he may know that no swarm 

 will appear for a week at least. This 

 is a great advantage, because with 

 the knowledge obtained by examin- 

 ing the hives, he may be away from 

 home several days, and know that no 

 swarms will issue during his absence. 



But the product of honey is not the 

 only profit to the gardener. Perhaps 

 the greatest labor for man performed 

 by bees is the distribution of pollen 

 from flower to flower. It is believed 

 that the bee is profitable to the farmer, 

 even if not an ounce of honey be pro- 

 duced for the farmer's use. A gard- 

 ener in Southern New England raises 

 early cucumbers under glass. There 

 will be no fruit unless the flowers are 

 fertilized, and for this purpose a col- 

 ony of bees is placed in the green- 

 house. A florist employs bees tor the 

 same purpose, keeping the hive inside 

 the house at first, and afterwards 

 moving it into the garden. 



Bee-keeping stands upon its merits, 

 and is profitable as a separate, a sole 

 industry, and with small farming and 

 gardening it is particularly agreeable, 

 inexpensive and satisfactory. 



Providence, 5 B. I. 



Create a Home Market. 



^P~ To create Honey Markets In every 

 village, town and city, wide-awake honey 

 producers should get the Leaflets "Why Eat 

 Honey " (only .50 cents per 100), or else the 

 pamphlets on "Honey as Food and Medicine," 

 and scatter them plentifully, and the result 

 will be a demand for all of their crops at 

 remunerative prices. " Honey as Food and 

 Medicine " are sold at the following prices : 



Single copy, 5 cts. ; per doz., 40 cts. ; per 

 hundred, $a.50. Five hundred will be sent 

 postpaid for $10.00; or 1,000 for $15,00. 



On orders of 100 or more, we will print, if 

 desired, on the cover-page, " Presented by," 

 etc. (giving the name and address of the bee- 

 keeper who scatters them). 



To give aivay a copy of " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " to every one who buys a 

 package of honey, will sell almost any quan* 

 tity of it. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the American Bee Journal 



one year, and any of the following publica- 

 tions, at the prices quoted in the last column 

 of figures. The first column gives the regu- 

 lar price of both. All postage prepaid. 



Price of both. Olub 

 The American Bee Journal 1 00.. 



and Gleanings in Bee-Cultuve 2 00.. 1 75 



Bee-Keepers'Magazine 2 00.. 175 



Bee-Keepers' Guide l.iO.. 140 



The Apiculturist 2 00.. 175 



Canadian Bee Journal 2 00,. 1 75 



Te-xas Bee Journal 2 00.. 175 



The 7 above-named papers 650.. 5 50 



and Cook's Manual 2 25.. 2 00 



Bees and Honey (Newman)... 2 00.. 175 

 Binder tor Am. Bee Journal. .1 75.. 1 60 

 Dzicrzon'sBoc-Book(cloth)...3 00.. 2 00 

 Root's ABC of Bee-Culture. .2 25.. 2 10 



Farmer's Account Book 4 00.. .3 00 



Guide and Hand-Book 1.50.. 130 



Heddon'8 book, "Success,".. 150 1 40 



