166 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Mar. 16, 1899. 



Assenting-, he was taken to a room which was very hot, 

 but in which there was no flame to be seen. To the ceiling 

 of this hundreds of little turn-tables were fist, which were 

 slowh' revolving around, while to each of the turn-tables 

 was aflixt the feet, or heels, of a farmer so that he hung 

 head downward, slowly revolving in space, in that awful 

 heat. The farmer appealed to the imp to know what it all 

 meant, and was met with the reply that "the farmers when 

 they came there were very ' green,' so much so that they 

 had to be hung up in this way and be kiln-dried before they 

 would burn !" 



At this point the audience broke entirely away from 

 the speaker, and for fully a minute went wild with laugh- 

 ter and applause, which was evidently '■ too previous " to 

 suit him, as what he wisht to enforce more particularly was 

 lost sig-ht of in the merriment, as the point was forgotten. 

 or failed to impress, throug-h the ridiculousness of the story. 



As soon as any degree of quiet could be restored, Mr. t). 

 gave the "point," which was the finishing of the imp's 

 speech, viz.: " Why, the farmers are so green that they 

 would kill their best friends, the bees, by spraying their 

 fruit-trees while in blossom." 



Continuing, Mr. D. said : And now, in conclusion, I 

 wish to say a few words which will not only apply to bee- 

 keeping-, but to all the pursuits in life. To be successful in 

 the highest sense of the word, a person must love his occu- 

 pation far beyond the dollars and cents which may come 

 through it. I have been a careful observer for many j'ears, 

 and I have yet to see the person who makes a success of 

 any business upon which he entered, when such was done 

 wholly and simply to make money out of it. No. no, there 

 is no success, either financial or otherwise, when the only 

 thought which enters a person's being is jnoiiey getting. 

 We must love the bees until we see only fun in our work 

 with them. We must love our horses until it is onh' sun- 

 shine to care for them, and see that they are comfortable. 

 We must love the cows till an hour spent in their society is 

 more precious to us than an hour spent at the corner 

 grocery, listening to the idle gossip there, and the same 

 with all our farming operations. 



I have been keeping bees for 30 years, and still stings. 

 sweat and toil are only pleasure to me, except the extreme 

 pain for the first few seconds after being stung. Mrs. D. 

 says I care more for the bees than I do for my dinner, any 

 day. For often it is from five to fifteen minutes before I 

 can tear myself away from them to go to dinner after she 

 has called. And some of these cold winter days I go poking 

 around to get even a glance at the pets, when attending to 

 other parts of the business would be more to their advan- 

 tage and mine. 



I have listened carefully to all of the speakers who pre- 

 ceded me, and very little has been said except for the profit 

 or money side of farming, poultry-raising and dairying, as 

 if that were to be the chief objects in life. I wish to coun- 

 teract that thought. The money-getting part should be 

 secondary. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and then 

 all these things shall be added." But I confess we are all 

 built very much on the plan of the crane in the ancient 

 legend. A beautiful white swan alighted on the banks of 

 the water in which a crane was wading about among the 

 reeds and rushes seeking snails for his" breakfast. For a 

 few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder, 

 and then inquired: "Where did you come from?" " I came 

 from heaven," replied the swan. " And where is heaven ?" 

 askt the crane. "Heaven," said the swan, " Heaven I 

 Have you never heard of heaven ?" 



And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur 

 of the Eternal City, the New Jerusalem. She told of the 

 streets of gold, the gates of pearl, and the walls of jasper ; 

 of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the 

 tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. 

 How there was no night there, no sickness nor crying, for 

 God shall wipe away all tears from all eyes. In eloquent 

 terms the swan sought to tell of the hosts who live in the 

 spirit world, but without arousing the slightest interest on 

 the part of the crane. Finally, the crane askt : 



"Are there any snails in heaven?" " Snails 1" repeated 

 the swan ; " no ! there are no snails there." " Then." said 

 the crane, as he continued his search among the reeds and 

 rushes of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want 

 snails!" 



Let us get away from the idea that the snails of monev- 

 getting are all there is of life, for many a man has sacrificed 

 all there is good in life in his search for snails. Many a 

 man has sacrificed all the comforts of home, wife, family, 

 in fact his all, for the snails of sin. Oh, let us get a broader 

 view of life, a loi'e for everything about us — a love which 



shall give us more exalted views of life, and thus shall we 

 be lifted to a higher plane, and as we are lifted up we shall 

 draw others up. up nearer to God. 



When Mr. D. had finisht he was given another round of 

 applause, after which W. W. Newman, the man who gave 

 the address of welcome in the morning, moved a vote of 

 thanks for the good way Mr. D. had entertained them. This 

 was seconded by a half-dozen voices, when the Wisconsin 

 governor arose and said he believed ISIr. Doolittle had been 

 wrongly named, that it was evident that he had done more 

 than a little, and not only this, but that he had had manj- 

 little helpers all along the way in his pursuit. 



The chairman of the meeting then arose and said he 

 had been greatly interested, and wisht he could spend sev- 

 eral evenings with Mr. Doolittle in talking bees, after 

 which he put the motion, which was carried with much 

 emphasis. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DTt. C. C. AlILLER, Marengo, III. 



[Questions maj* be mailed to the liee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Which Way Should Hives Face? 



On page 117, Cogitator objects to my thinking there's 

 no material difference between east and southeast as the di- 

 rection for hives to face. Since he objects " respectfully," 

 I'm willing to twist the hive that eighth of a circumference, 

 but if I do that I'm afraid of getting into trouble with Edi- 

 tor Doolittle. In the last number of the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper he is ver^- emphatic in preferring south to north ex- 

 posure, especially if left on the summer stands through the 

 winter. He says : 



*' Years ag-o I tried the experiment of facing a part of the apiary to 

 the north, leavinor them thus during- the winter, and while those facing- 

 south had two or three good flights during the winter, and came out in 

 pood condition in the spring, those facing north flew scarcely at all, and 

 all but one died before the next May ; and even during the summer sea- 

 son, the hives having their entrances facing north would not start out to 

 work in the morning for a long time after those facing south were fully 

 started for the day .... In every apiary which I have visited during my 30 

 years of bee-keeping, I have found the hives facing from southeast to 

 southwest, the majority facing south, which is the correct way, where 

 hills do not seem to niaive it necessary to vary a little." 



Now there you are. Doolittle says south is the correct 

 thing, practice of others varying from southeast to south- 

 west, making sure in any case of having that 12 to 2 sun 

 to which Cogitator objects. Now how am I to manage to 

 keep friends with both those men ? C. C. Millek. 



Feeding Syrup. 



I have 10 colonies of bees to feed, and I have no honey- 

 to feed them. What would be the best way to feed sugar 

 syrup ? 



Answer. — If they can stand it till time for them to fly 

 every daj' or two, a Miller feeder or the crock-and-plate 

 method will be all right. If they mtist be fed right away, 

 it will be better to fill the syrup in combs, so you can put it 

 right in the hive close to the brood-nest. Lay a comb flat 

 in a tub, and pour the syrup, pretty hot. into it from a 

 height of four or five feet, preferably using some kind of a 

 dish that will let it fall in a lot of little streams. One waj- 

 is to punch a lot of holes in the bottom of a baking-powder 

 can or something of the kind, hold this at the proper height, 

 then pour the syrup into it from a pitcher or other vessel. 



Frost in Hives in the Cellar. 



I lookt at my bees to-day and found the hives full of frost, 

 more on the rear end than on the other walls. Some 

 were completely covered with a coat. I should judge, from 

 H to Yx inch thick, but -ivhere the bees were there was no 

 frost. I .scraped otit the dead bees, which were not so manj- 

 as I expected. I put my 18 colonies of bees in the cellar. 

 16x16 feet, when cold weather set in. The entrances of mj- 

 hives are small ; since readitig the Bee Journal I found thej- 

 were too small for an5' use. I have nothing in the cellar 



