PubUsht Weekly at 118 Michigan St. 



George W. York, Editor. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 7, 1898. 



No. 27. 



(All riijhts tr--<''n'ed htj the Northern Xewxpaper Syndk-ate. 

 of Ketidal. Fitgland,) 



PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING, 



HINTS TO BEGINNERS, 



C. iT. ■V^^^I^IITE, OI^ ElNrC3-Xj^=^:N"ID. 



Author uf ■■ Jlees and Jlee-Keepiiiy,'' •• Phasumble Bee-Keepiiig." etc. 



No. 1.— INTRODUCTORY. 



No one wlio lias si veil tlie subject of bee-culture, or the 

 relationship oJ bees to flowers, the least consideration will 

 deny that bees play a most important part in the economy of 

 nature, and it is not too much to say that without bees our 

 fruit and seed supply would, to say the least, be extremely 

 limited. Bees are as necessary to flowers as flowers are to 

 bees. The flowers by their lieauty and the delicate perfume 

 they give off, attract the busy bee to the nectaries from which 

 they extract the honey there secreted ; but while busy upon 

 this work they at the same time become dusted with pollen- 

 grains releast by the anthers when in a state of ripeness. This 

 pollen, or fertilizing dust of the flower must be carried from 

 the male to the female flower, or to the stigmata, the female 

 organs of the flower of the same species, otherwise fructifica- 

 tion cannot take place, and fruit and seed would be impossi- 

 ble. This is irequently noticed to be the case when, owing to 

 continual bad weather during tlie time that fruit-tree?, foi'in- 

 stance. are in bloom, the flowers are not fertilized, and conse- 

 quently there is a failure of tlie crop. The important work of 

 fertilization Is tlius unconsciously being carried on by the 

 busy bee, while it robs the nectaries of their sweet secretion. 

 The peculiar formation of the flowers in many instances 

 proves that the bee, or other insect, is intended to be the agent 

 in the fertilization of bloom. 



Cross-fertilization is also evidently intended, for those 

 flowers upon which both the anthers and stigmata are found 

 are not both at the same period in a state to effect fertiliza- 

 tion ; that is to say, when the anthers of a flower, also bear- 

 ing stamens, are scattering their pollen, the stigmata are not 

 in a condition to receive it ; hence, it must be carried to, and 

 used by, that or those flowers on which the stigmata are in a 

 receptive condition. Thus cross-fertilization is efi'ected, and 

 vigor transmitted instead of feebleness — tlie usual result of 

 self-fertilization. From this point of view alone it is most de- 

 sirable that bee-culture on modern principles should be taken 

 up more generally in rural districts. 



BEE-KEEPING PAYS. 



Then, again, the direct pecuniary result of careful and 

 systematic management is so encouraging that it is surprising 

 apiaries are not met with on every farm and in every cottage 

 garden. The number of colonies kept would of course be deter 

 mined by the interest taken in the work and by the extent of 

 bee-pasturage in the immediate neighborhood, but certainly a 

 few hives might be stood in almost every garden if only as a 

 source of interest and a means of providing a valuable and 

 pleasant food. 



For many years the effects of agricultural depression have 

 been felt throughout the country ; at the same time prices of 

 agricultural produce have fallen until it is difficult, sometimes 

 impossible, to make both ends meet. Various means have 

 been suggested by those interested in the prosperity of agri- 

 culture, the oldest of our national industries, to minimize the 

 effects of the general downward tendency — for instance, im- 

 proved systems of dairying; more extensive and better man- 

 agement of poultry ; fruit-culture ; and the manufacture of 

 .jam. But important and valuable tho such occupations may 

 become as a means adojited to add to the profitableness of 

 farming, there is a most interesting, intellectual, and at thi' 

 same time exceedingly profitable, rural occupation — bee-keep- 

 iny — which, if properly, that is, intelligently, pursued would 

 prove of great value to the agriculturist. 



The extension of bee-culture as a means of adding to the 

 income has been rapidly going on since it was demonstrated 

 that bees could be managed without discomfort to the opera- 

 tor, and that a profit of 50 per cent.. 100 per cent., and even 

 more was easily procurable. 



Some countries or districts are well known for the e.xtent 

 of the honey-producing crops grown. Flowers alone, unac- 



A Piece of Onnb. 



companied by fine weather, are useless ; but usually when the 

 weather is favorable to the blooming of flowers, it is equally 

 so to the ingatlieriiig of nectar by the bees. 



It is at such times when both the crojis and the weather 

 are in favor of the apiarist, that the large returns iier hive re- 

 corded are obtained. No one need despair of making bee- 

 keeping a success, for it seldom happens that two bad seasons 

 come together, and generally during any season, if one crop is 

 mist through unfavorable weather, advantage may be taken 



