36 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Bee Be-ing Busy. 



I loTe to Bee the active bee. 



I love to watch the hive ; 

 When 9un is hot. it lingers not. 



But seems the more alive. 



'Mid summer heat the honey sweet, 



It gathers while it may ; 

 In tiny drops nor ever stops. 



To dally time in play. 



From sundry lands with various hands,! 



Steady to instinct true ; 

 Slight varied task or odda of haste. 



It keeps one end in view-l E^SS 



With right good will and wond'rous skill. 



It doth to work attend ; 

 Each little cell is shaped so well. 



That none its work could mend. 



I hear it come, I love its hum, 



Flying from flower to flower ; 

 While to its store a little more, 



Adding from hour to hour. 



Example bright, its happy flight. 



Presents to all around ; 

 This lesion good if understood. 



Is in its habits found. 



Just so should I myself employ. 



My proper work to mind ; 

 Look for some sweet in all I meet, 

 And store up all I find. 

 Toronto, Canada. 3 . 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Who Shall Keep Bees 1 



DR. C. C. MILLER, 171-202. 



Before me lies a letter from one who 

 says : " As I have been troubled with 

 an inflammation of the lungs for many 

 years, I have been advised by prom- 

 inent physicians to abandon my pro- 

 fession and work on a farm. But as 

 I am no farmer and would be unable 

 to earn my living on a farm, I thought 

 I would ask you, as an expert in this 

 line, if it would be profitable to invest 

 in an apiary, where to get the best 

 bees," etc., etc. 



It is painful to think that to this 

 and similar inquiries we can give no 

 reply that we can feel sure may not 

 mislead. To 9 out of 10 of every such 

 persons it would be a real kindness to 

 dissuade witli all our power, while, 

 perhaps, 1 out of 20, or 50, might be 

 urged to embark in apistical pursuits 

 to the abandonment of all others. 

 I5ut it is no easy matter to determine 

 who may be the 20th or 50th one, 

 hence it is a very difficult matter to 

 give any honest advice without an inti- 

 mate acquaintance with all the cir- 

 cumstances of the inquirer. I have 

 blamed the editors of our bee papers 

 in that the drift of the contents of 

 such papers was to stiow the bright 

 side only of bee-keeping, thus induc- 

 ing into the business many not adap- 

 ted to it, mucli to their after regret. 



IJut I am not sure that the papers are 

 at all to blame. All they can do is to 

 publish such items of information as 



come within their reach, and most of 

 us like much better to send in reports 

 of our sucesses than of our failures. 

 It is quite flattering to my vanity to 

 report : " I have, this year, com- 

 menced with 17-t colonies, increased 

 to 202, and taken over 8 tons of comb 

 honey." Would I be as prompt to 

 send in a report like the following : 

 " This year I devoted my time exclu- 

 sively to bees, commenced the season 

 with 200 or more colonies; diminished 

 by loss and doubling up, so that I had 

 162 colonies in the fall, and took, in 

 all, 58 pounds of honey. By means of 

 the business I am $1,000 poorer than I 

 was a year ago." Would tlie latter 

 report be as much noticed and copied 

 as the former ? The former is a cor- 

 rect report of my success this year. 

 The latter is just as correct a report 

 of my failure two years previous, and I 

 have no assurance that I may not have 

 a similar report to make the coming 

 year. In view of such possibilities, 

 it is safe to advise that no one should 

 go into beekeeping, and give up all 

 other business, until he has saved up 

 enough ahead to support him at least 

 one year without any income. 



But suppose I hear of one who 

 makes a success of bee-keeping, year 

 after year, with never a failure, who 

 has made thousands of dollars at it. 

 Do I not hear of others who have 

 made many more thousands in other 

 pursuits y Shall I, then, give up bees 

 and adopt the other pursuit V But 

 you say, " It takes capital in other 

 business and one can make a start 

 with only a single colony,of bees." 

 Yes, you" can make a start but you 

 cannot make a living with a single 

 colony, and with the price of it you 

 can also make a start in merchandise, 

 and, within a week, a friend was tell- 

 ing me of an acquaintance in New 

 York whose net income from mer- 

 chandising, the previous year, was a 

 third of a million. "Oh yes," you 

 say, " but the merchant had years 

 of preparation, and special talent in 

 his line of business." 



Now, if you think no preparation 

 and no special talent is needed to suc- 

 ceed with bees, you are decidedly in 

 error. It is true, you can invest in 

 bees to the extent of your capital, 

 with no knowledge of the business, 

 and so you can in merchandise, with 

 a probability of losing in one as well 

 as the other. As we are talking 

 confidentially, I do not mind giving 

 you a bit of my own experience. I 

 am by no means as successful as 

 many others, yet for tlie past more 

 than 20 years I have been studying 

 up the business, practicing and ex- 

 perimenting as much as I could 

 whilst in other business; reading all 

 the books and papers I could get about 

 bee-keeping, and through all those 

 years lying awake many a night, hour 

 after hour, studying up plans for bet- 

 ter success in the apiary. I have not 

 yet reached that point where unsolved 

 problems in bee culture are not 

 I3lenty enough to baffle me. I am 

 quite inclined to believe that those 

 who have been the most successful 

 in bee culture, if they had used their 

 ability with the same enthusiasm in 

 any other pursuit, would not fail of 



success in that pursuit. In my own 

 case, so far as financial success is 

 concerned, I think I should be better 

 off in this world's goods to-day if I 

 had never kept bees. During the few 

 years in which I have made it my ex- 

 clusive business, I have made far less 

 money than I did at other business in 

 the same number of years previous. 

 But, with my present views, I prefer 

 it to any other business, because I can 

 live in the country, be out-doors, have 

 better health, be much of the time 

 with my family, and I do not know 

 of any other business I like so well. 

 There is liard work in it, in spite of 

 all that is said about it being nice for 

 feeble invalids. The man that takes 

 care of enough bees to make a living, 

 will find he earns his bread by the 

 sweat of his brow. 



After all I have said, there are some 

 who will find bee-keeping the most 

 desirable of all pursuits. If you find 

 it has so much fascination for yon that 

 you can take delight in lying awake 

 nights studying about it, that you can 

 stoically take the stings, even if they 

 do sometimes wrench from you a 

 groan ; that you can come in at night 

 during the busy season wet with 

 sweat from head to foot and so tired 

 that you ache all over, and not feel 

 disheartened, and have, withal, tact 

 and talent enough to conquer diffi- 

 culties as they arise, tlien get the best 

 weekly bee paper and if you can get 

 some monthlies all the better; get 

 a small number of colonies and grow 

 into the business, or, better still, serve 

 an apprenticeship with some prac- 

 tical bee-keeper and gain in one year 

 the experience of many. Other ques- 

 tions as to kinds of bees, etc., you will 

 find fully discussed in the papers and 

 books (do not forget to get a good 

 book), and I need not take time with 

 them here. My chief aim has been to 

 show some phases of the subject not 

 generally dwelt upon. 



Marengo, 111. 



For tbe American Boe Journal. 



The New Small Sections. 



DR. G. L. TINKER. 



Since sending you the article on the 

 half-pound section I have received a 

 letter from Mr. Manum on the subject 

 and he thinks a section 3%x3,?|xl*s 

 will hold over one-half pound and 

 that it should hold a little less than 

 one-half pound, if anything, to suit the 

 dealers. 1 then made little l)Oxes to 

 hold about the amount of comb honey 

 that would be built in the several sizes 

 given below, allowing one-fourth inch 

 for passage ways on three sides of the 

 comb, and, after filling and weighing, 

 found that the size S^^xSplxl?^ would 

 hold about H}4 ounces, the size 

 3hixS%x]%,7\4 ounces, and tlie size 

 ajgxS^gxl^ would hold just the one- 

 half pound. Each size includes the 

 weight of the section, which is about 

 half an ounce. 



1 think thatthesection should weigh 

 as nearly the half-pound as possible, 

 and would therefore think it best to 

 cliangethe figures in the article to 

 read, 3^x3^x1%. 



