.^«>. 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRTTARY 14, 1883. 



No. 7.. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editob and Proprietor, 



Students of Apiculture. 



Dr. Jesse Oren, La Porte City, 

 Iowa, thoroughly endorses the prop- 

 osition of Dr. H. Besse, on the subject 

 of preparing young men to become 

 practical apiarists, by requiring them 

 to serve an apprenticeship with some 

 experienced bee-keeper, and pass a 

 satisfactory examination before some 

 of the best apiarists of the country, 

 and to such " graduates " a certificate 

 should be awarded by the National 

 Association. This Association to ap- 

 point the Board of Examiners, and 

 take charge of the whole business. 

 Here is his letter : 



I desire to offer my thanks to Dr. 

 H. Besse, of Delaware, Ohio, for his 

 article on the " North American 

 Apiarian College." It just fills the 

 bill. We want you, Mr. Editor, to 

 give this matter an editorial consid- 

 eration. The North American So- 

 ciety are sure to approve of the move- 

 ment. Why not urge the officers of 

 that organization to take ail necessary 

 advance steps to have all consum- 

 mated at our next meeting at To- 

 ronto y Will you speak right out in 

 the Journal ? 



Jesse Oren, M. D. 



La Porte City, Iowa, Jan. 12, 1883. 



The idea is a good one. What is 

 needed to advance the interests of 

 progressive apiculture is a company 

 of young men, thorougly practical and 

 progressive, who can be employed to 

 take charge of Apiaries ; and such 

 would be in constant demand all over 

 the country. The apiarists of Eng- 

 land have adopted this system, and, 

 sooner or later it will be adopted in 

 America. 



On page 73 of the Bee Journal for 

 Jan. 31, Mr. James Heddon points out 

 some obstacles in the way of success- 



fully carrying out the plan mentioned 

 by Dr. Besse. But Mr. Heddon thor- 

 oughly endorsed the necessity of stu- 

 dents obtaining information and 

 practical experience, in order to be- 

 come adepts in the art, and adds : 



My limited experience with students 

 proves that this five months of study 

 and practical experiment puts them 

 on the right track, and prepares their 

 minds for receivmg all new truths 

 right end foremost. All of my stu- 

 dents, who have commencecl bee- 

 keeping, are to-day succeeding ; two 

 will begin in apiaries of mine, on 

 shares, this spring. My faith is thus 

 great; with these five months instruc- 

 tion, any reasonably apt man can 

 have of me an apiary of 100 colonies 

 on shares, a position which will pay 

 him more than high wages, one year 

 with another, and one in which he 

 can " blunder " and finish his educa- 

 tioH at my expense. Of course I will 

 direct the operations. I shall get bet- 

 ter results than to sell the bees. It 

 will not take five months to convince 

 him that comb-honey production, 

 when properly pursued, pays much 

 better than extracted. 



The only obstacle worth mention- 

 ing now, to the carrying out of Dr. 

 Besse's proposed method of " gradu- 

 ating," is the unfortunate lack of 

 united action among bee-men, and 

 the " petty jealousies " that are some- 

 times allowed to mar, in some way or 

 another, the beauty of design, or 

 harmonious working out of the plans 

 proposed by the National Associa- 

 tion. We regret that this is so, but 

 shall not here attempt to discuss the 

 " why " and the " wherefore " of such 

 a state of things— we simply admit 

 the fact. 



We believe that the officers and 

 members of that body, have, to their 

 utmost, done all that they could to 

 make it a success, and to build an in- 

 stitution which would endure, and be 

 handed down to future ages as an 

 honorable " worker " in the cause of 

 the progressive apiculture of the pres- 

 ent century. 



Should it fail of attaining this 

 proud position, it will be either be- 

 cause its foes will be too zealous, or 



its friends may become disheartened ' 

 and give up a war, which is quite dis- 

 tasteful to those whose only object is ■ 

 that of rearing a temple to scientific ■ 

 bee-culture, where its best interests • 

 maybe discussed and guarded, and i 

 its devotees meet to confer on the •■ 

 issues of the moment, and the themes ■ 

 of the ever-progressing present. 



Could this obstacle be overcome,, 

 then a plan might be devised for suc- 

 cessfully carrying out " another ad- 

 vanced step," as proposed by Dr.. 

 Besse. Time alone will determine: 

 this point. 



Migrating Apiary. 



In last week's Bee Journal, ok 

 page 77, Mr. Damkohler, of Clarence^ 

 Mo., said that a car load of bees passed 

 through that place on its way south,^ 

 and said perhaps we could tell him all '■ 

 about that shipment. We had not' 

 then heard of the matter, but by the ■ 

 Atlanta, Ga., Constitution, of January 

 9, we obtain the information, and here' 

 it is : 



A Car Load of Bees.— On Satur- 

 day a car was switched on the East '• 

 Tennessee & Virginia Railroad, and 

 moved south. 



It was filled with bee-hives. One ' 

 hundred and forty of the latest styles 

 of bee-hives, piled systematically on 

 top of each other, and, to the fore- 



f round, a philosopher with his bed and ' 

 card. 



" Where are you going to take your 

 bees V" 



" To Florida for the winter. My ' 

 name is Thomas McFarland Jackson, . 

 and I live in Northern Missouri, t 

 have large apiaries that are forced to • 

 lie idle in the winter. I am going to ' 

 take this car load of hives to Florida;, 

 where they can get honey every day 

 in the year. As soon as the clover is 

 out again in Northern Missouri 1 will 

 take them back there." 

 " Will it pay you to move them V 

 " I think so. It costs me less than 

 a dollar a hive for transportation, and 

 each hive will have from f 6 to $7 worth 

 of honey in it when I bring them back. 

 That is what Italian bees, I sent to 

 Florida last year, did last winter. 

 Only Italian bees will thrive in Flori- 



