452 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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For tile American Bee Journal 



Non-Excellencies of the German Bee. 



T. A. HOUGAS. 



Mr. Oabiirn is correct in saying, on 

 page 4U8, " there are few that have 

 the boldness to come forward and ad- 

 vocate the good traits of character of 

 the German bee"' (not the blacks). 

 His next sentence is, " I know that 

 one who has the independence to ad- 

 vocate the good qualities of the Ger- 

 man race ot bees, must expect to call 

 down upon his hiad the scorn, the 

 disapprobation and disgust of the 

 great mass of bee-keepers of today." 

 VVIiile we are notdisposed to " scorn " 

 or " disapprove " any one for their 

 views on any subject, yet we beg to 

 disagree quite frequently. In this 

 case we must disagree upon the good 

 (V) qualities of the German race of 

 bees. 



" In the first place they excel as 

 comb builders." While we must ad- 

 mit the truthfulness of this statement 

 in a large degree, yet it is not strictly 

 true, all points considered. For an in- 

 stance, take a colony of German bees 

 and place them in an empty hive ; let 

 them till it with comb, brood and 

 honey ; then take a colony of Italian 

 bees, place them in a similar condi- 

 tion. As soon as botli are full of 

 comb, brood and honey, place them 

 in the August sun, and see which 

 combs are the tirst to give^ away. I 

 have seen hives that were tilled by 

 the German bees, standing side by 

 side of those tilled by tlie Italians, 

 and the contents of the former were 

 all melted down, while the latter 

 stood it all right. 



'•They excel as rapid workers to 

 draw out foundation ;" perhaps they 

 do; but I can see no difference. 



" They excel as pioneers to strike 

 out from the broud-chamber (and out 

 of the queen's way) to store their 

 honey ;" yes, and they excel in 

 striking straight out for you, when 

 you lift a frame out of the hive. 



" They excel in keeping their hives 

 full of workers to gather the crop;" 

 this has never jiroved true, in tlie 

 least, under my observation. 



" AH other conditions being favor- 

 able, they excel as non-swarmers, 

 when you give them plenty of room." 

 " All other conditions being favor- 

 able." 'Tis well said ; they need 

 favorable conditions. 



" When you give them plenty of 

 room." Again, well said ; who would 

 not excel under such circumstances? 



In the above mentioned article 

 there is nothing told but the good ( i*) 

 qualities of the German bee, but he 

 does not stop to tell that 100 German 

 bees to every one Italian bee will take 

 wing while handling. Mr. O. forgot 

 to tell tliat an Italian bee will live and 

 grow fat on Howers that a German 

 bee would starve to death on. Per- 

 haps he does not rise early enough in 



the morning to see that the Italians 

 are at work from one-half to three- 

 quarters of an hour earlier in the 

 morning, and as much later in the 

 evening than the German race. It 

 seems to me tliat this would make 

 considerable difference in a whole 

 season's work. All are too familiar 

 with the bee motli to need any notice. 

 If Mr. O. tries tlie cross he speaks of, 

 I would advise him to lay in a supply 

 of bee veils, gloves and smokers for 

 mutual safety. 

 Henderson, Iowa, Aug. 27, 1883. 



Rural New Yorker. 



The Outlook in Apiculture- 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



In the way of g.owth and real pro- 

 gress, bee-keepingcompares well with 

 other manual labor pursuits. It is 

 capable of proof that in the past ten 

 years the number of bee-keepeis, the 

 product in honey, and the cash value 

 of the proceeds of the apiaries in the 

 country have more than doubled. 

 The apiarian apparatus, an'd the 

 methods of manipulation have also, 

 in many respects, been entirely revo- 

 lutionized. The last decade knew 

 nothing of extracting, as practised to- 

 day ; nothing of our exquisite sections 

 for comb honey, nothing of the val- 

 uable comb foundation. The asso- 

 ciations devoted to apiculture number 

 more in single States to-day than they 

 did in the entire country ten years 

 ago. We have nine periodicals" ably 

 conducted, one of which is a weekly. 

 There are four or live excellent books 

 which are selling by thousands. And 

 our agricultural associations, instead 

 of offering a few cents, or, perhaps, a 

 dollar as a premium for honey, and 

 sandwiching the honey in between 

 syrup and sugar, now give most liberal 

 premiums, and in some cases furnish 

 a separate building for the exhibition 

 of honey bees and the varied appara- 

 tus belonging to the apiary. 



This growth is not the result of 

 over-praise, as some assert. True, as 

 with all pursuits, success finds a 

 seady tongue, while failure hides its 

 head. Still it is true that as many 

 who enter this Held thoroughly pre- 

 pared by study and practice, reach 

 the goal of their aims as in any other 

 business or profession. From" one to 

 two thousand dollars are enough capi- 

 tal to invest in the business. This 

 capital, rightly managed, is sure to 

 give a return of from 100 to 1.50 per 

 cent. One person can care for 100 

 colonies of bees, and not work hard 

 for more than three months of the 

 year ; while with a competent assist- 

 ant for three months in the year he 

 can care for double the number. I 

 think few apiarists of skill and ex- 

 perience would agree to sell the aver- 

 age product of each colony for $15. 

 We see then, that in the small amount 

 of capital invested and the proceeds 

 from the well managed apiary, api 

 culture takes high rank. 



It is true that with a large apiary, 

 the labor for May, June and July, and 

 possibly for August and Sejitember, 

 is really arduous ; but when it is re- 



membered that there are many ladies 

 that successfully manage and care for 

 quite 1-irge apiaries, we cannot doubt 

 but that with wise management the 

 labor may be reduced, so as not to be 

 a grievous burden. Some of the 

 ablest apiarists in our country are 

 quite delicate women, who undertook 

 apiculture to brace up declining 

 health. In it they f(nind health, 

 money and pleasure, surely a worthy 

 trio. 



Many declaim against apiculture as 

 an avocation. Only the specialist, 

 say they, should keep bees. This 

 would take from our ranks Dzierzon, 

 Langstroth and many others of our 

 first apiarists. One of our graduates 

 who by profession is a preacher, wrote 

 me a year ago that the proceeds of his 

 bees exceeded his salary. Last year 

 his honey brought even more ; and 

 this spring he sold SI, 1.50 worth of 

 bees, and liad 80 colonies remaining. 

 Another graduate has a farm and also 

 keeps bees. I asked him a few days 

 since why he did not sell his bees, as 

 he was speaking of too much work. 

 " I had better sell my farm," he said, 

 " as my bees pay the "best." 



Apropos of the above, it is said, 

 that if one wishes to learn bee-keep- 

 ing, he had better go to some large 

 apiarist and let the college alone. 

 Reason and statistics argue otherwise. 

 Culture, or a well trained mind, wins 

 in every race. Bee-keeping demands 

 good judgment and trained observa- 

 tion. The college course tends to 

 develop both. Many of our graduates 

 are now keeping bees, and all with 

 marked success. Four of these have 

 a national reputation, and two are 

 known in all bee-keeping countries. 



For the American Bee -ToumaL 



The Black Sage of California. 



A. W.OSBURN. 



On page 427, of the Bee Journal,, 

 is an article taken from the California 

 Rural Press, on " Honey Flora— White 

 Sage." The writer cannot be as well 

 posted about the honey-producing 

 plants of California as he might be, 

 or he would not have failed to give 

 the black or button sage credit for 

 what is justly its due. The two sages 

 (white and black) stand in about the 

 same relation to one another that the 

 white clover and basswood do to one 

 another. The nice white comb honey 

 that goes on the market is called 

 white clover honey, while in all locali- 

 ties where basswood is plenty, I do 

 not think there is one ounce of white 

 clover to every 10 pounds of bass- 

 wood honey. So in California with 

 the two kinds of sage, bees will not 

 work on white sage on a range where 

 the black sage grows. The latter 

 yields honey in a much larger quant- 

 ity than the former, and of a much 

 finer quality, and yields all day, from 

 daylight till dark ; and I doubt if in 

 the whole world better honey can be 

 produced than comes from the black 

 or button sage ; clear as a crystal ; al- 

 most white, with a good body, and in 

 llavor it is impossible to get anything 

 finer. 



