150 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



1,500 lbs., oratotal of 12,000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey, at 10 c. per lb., $1,200. 

 Who knows that 1 acre can be made 

 to jiroduce 1,.500 lbs., or even 300 lbs., 

 ■which would be equal to 100 busliels 

 of potatoes per acre, at only 30 cents. 

 per bushel. 



Our farmers, even though they keep 

 bees, would scout the idea of giving 

 up their potato land to honey plants. 

 I think, for our location, I could ad- 

 vise a better plan : Sweet clover 

 seems to grow very rank upon poor, 

 hard, clay soil. I have in mind two 

 fields of 30 acres each within range 

 of my apiary, one is used for grazing 

 and the other for a meadow. The pas- 

 ture produces v%ry scanty forage, 

 while the whole meadow yields but 

 about 5 tons of hay. If both of these 

 fields could be sown to sweet clover I 

 imagine that several thousand pounds 

 of honey would be the result ; the pas- 

 ture forage would be greatly increased, 

 and tlie land soon be in better condi- 

 tion to produce hay or grain. But as 

 the land does not belong to me, I 

 shall not have the pleasure of behold- 

 ing it covered with the nectar-produc- 

 ing plants. I hope Mr. Kohnke will 

 receive seeds to sow those acres, and 

 will be enabled to give us some idea 

 how much honey an acre will produce. 



If the yield from one plant could be 

 estimated, how it would aid us in de- 

 termining the approximate yield from 

 an acre, if the acre is planted in rows 

 like corn, so like corn the yield could 

 be quite correctly demonstrated. 



Hartford, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Beginning With Bees. 



W. F. CLAEKE. 



" A man up a tree" has been writ- 

 ing on the above subject in the New 

 York Tribtme. Some of his advices 

 are wise, and some otherwise. The 

 first suggestion to one determined to 

 make bee-keeping his "life-work," 

 but "entirely ignorant of the art," is, 

 to "begin with a few colonies — from 

 2 to 6 is enough." The second is, to 

 "procure some good, reliable vi'ork on 

 bee-keeping, and study it with care." 



These counsels should be reversed. 

 A person who has serious thoughts of 

 making apiculture his "life-work," 

 should study a good bee-book first, 

 that he may get some idea of tiie 

 amount of knowledge to be acquired, 

 and that he may judge of his own 

 aptitudes for the business. Tyros, 

 generally speaking, suppose that the 

 principles of bee-keeping are few and 

 simple, easily picked up, and require 

 but little thought and application. 

 One of this class attended a conven- 

 tion ot bee-keei)ers, listened to a 

 single evening's discussion, and went 

 away convinced that it was nseless 

 for him to attempt to master the ins 

 iind outs of apiculture. He had not 

 the requisite application. It has been 

 said of Queen Victoria that she could 

 never learn to sing, for three reasons: 

 1st, she had no voice, 2d, she had no 

 ear; and .3d. she had no application. 

 The latter was the true reason. With 

 application, anyone can become a 



singer of some sort; and with applica- 

 tion, anyone can become a bee-keeper 

 on a small scale. But application 

 alone will not make a prima doima, 

 nor will application alone make a man 

 qualified to be an extensive bee- 

 keeper. He must be possessed of cer- 

 tain natural qualifications. There 

 must be quick perceptive powers, 

 quiet and steady perseverance, self- 

 control and coolness of nerve, busi- 

 ness promptitude and sagacity; last, 

 but not least, a degree of imiiervious- 

 ness to bee-stings. A person pecul- 

 iarly sensitive to bee-poison, whose 

 flesh swells enormously, and whose 

 blood fevers quickly under its influ- 

 ence, may keep a "hive or two for 

 scientific investigation and interest, 

 but would be courting martyrdom to 

 make bee-keeping his "life-work." 



One colony, generally speaking, is 

 enough to start with. The probabili- 

 ties are that the beginner will lose 

 that, through some error of manage- 

 ment. The loss of one colony will not 

 be so discouraging as the loss of 

 "two" or "six." If he does not lose 

 his first colony his bees will probably 

 increase quite as fast as his knowl- 

 edge and experience. If they do not, 

 he can buy more bees when he feels 

 competent to take care of them. 

 Localities need testing as well as bee- 

 masters, and a few colonies will suf- 

 fice for that. 



This "man up a tree" advises a be- 

 ginner to make himself familiar with 

 his bees, in order that they may know 

 him personally, and find out that he 

 is their friend. Considering that dur- 

 ing the honey season, when we have 

 most occasion to handle bees, their 

 average life is not over three months, 

 there is little chance to cultivate 

 friendship with them. Besides, the 

 first smell of you they decide whether 

 to treat you as a friend or a foe. No 

 kind treatment that you can give 

 them will ever change their dislike of 

 you into love. Be gentle with them 

 always; but gentleness will not con- 

 quer their aversion if they have taken 

 a "sconner" at you. It is people who 

 are bee-loved who should make a 

 "life-work" of apiculture. The most 

 that others can do is to let the little 

 insects know from the start that they 

 have their master. 



This writer says, "care and pru- 

 dence, with occasional mishap, will 

 cause the beginner to lose all dread of 

 the business and of his bees." Well, 

 that depends on how much they hurt 

 him. If he is thick. skinned, and his 

 blood so cool that bee-vims cannot 

 heat it up, he will soon come to care 

 no more for a bee-sting than for the 

 prick of a pin. But if he is thin- 

 skinned, and bee-poison injected into 

 his blood is like the mixing of seidlitz 

 powders, his respect for the business 

 end of a bee will continue unabated 

 to the last day of his life. 



Here Is some good advice: 



"He should indulge no hopes of 

 suddenly becoming an expert, or 

 rapidly accumulating a fortune at this 

 business. There is no short cut to 

 success here any more than anywhere 

 else. If pursued rationally and perse- 

 veringly, he will, in the course of 

 some years of faithful apprenticeship 



at the business, gain ability to handle 

 and manage from 100 to 1,000 colonies 

 of bees. He cannot possibly manage 

 this number at first successfully, any 

 more than he could conduct large 

 manufacturing industries without 

 having previously studied and worked 

 at the business. 



"Unfortunately no one industry 

 (except, perhaps, mining] has been 

 brought into so much disrepute as 

 bee-keeping, by all sorts of characters 

 undertaking to carry it on, on a large 

 scale, without adequate previous ex- 

 perience or study. The very ignor- 

 ance of the many who keep a few bees 

 has made the business a fruitful field 

 for the operations of quacks and 

 quack vendors of all kinds of so- 

 termed wonderful hives and queens. 

 This is all the more unfortunate be- 

 cause bee-keeping can be made as 

 legitimate and honorable and success- 

 ful, and is so made by many, as any 

 other avocation." 



This writer advises beginners to 

 pick out their own pathway to knowl- 

 edge and success, rather than serve a 

 "personal apprenticeship to a pro- 

 fessional." ■ He admits that "the 

 latter has its advantages," but con- 

 siders that the most successful bee- 

 keepers have been self-made. This 

 may be quite true, but has it not been 

 because bee-keeping has only of late 

 become one of the fixed or exact 

 sciences? Apprenticeship to mere 

 "professionals" may not be worth 

 much, but there is no way in which 

 an observant mind can so soon or so 

 thoroughly acquire a mastery of this 

 business as by spending a season or 

 two with a thoroughly practical bee- 

 keeper. In time, no doubt, appren- 

 ticeship to this business will be the 

 usual thing, as in the case of any and 

 every other. Perhaps in "the good 

 time coming" this may rank among 

 the learned professions, and B. M. 

 (bee-master or bee-mistress) be as 

 common and proiier an affix to peo- 

 ple's names as M. D. or M. A. 



Listowel, Ont. 



For tbe American Bee JournaL 



Glucose, Fuiil Brood, etc. 



CHAS. F. MUTH. 



Allow me to forward you a slip from 

 one of our dailies, giving Commis- 

 sioner Kaum's address to the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, for fear you will 

 overlook it. The opionion of an au- 

 thority like Mr. Raum should be read 

 by every bee-keeper. According to 

 it, we are not aware yet of all the 

 danger our health is subject to by the 

 use of glucose. It is due to the repre- 

 sentative of our (Hamilton) county, 

 Ex-Governor Thos. L. Young, to 

 state that it was him who introduced 

 the bill to levy a high taxation on glu- 

 cose manufactories, so as to make 

 the manufacture of the vile stuff next 

 to an impossibility. The purpose of 

 the manufacturer being, in the first 

 place, the "making of money" of 

 course, but, secondly, the preparation 

 of an article for adulterating pur- 

 poses. 



The reply of Mr. Jones to Mr. A. 

 R. Kohnke's foul brood matter shows 



