1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



165 



"Yes, I think so." 



"The time from the laying of the egg to 

 the emerging of the perfect bee is 21 days. 

 From the emerging of the bee until it goes 

 into the field to labor is 16 days. From the day 

 the egg is laid until the bee is a field worker 

 is 37 days, when every thing is in a normal con- 

 dition. From this you will see that the time 

 when the eggs are laid is very important, 

 and has more to do with our success than 

 all else in the matter of the bees." 



"I had not thought of this. But go on 

 further. ' ' 



"A further going-on will bring us to the 

 second of the three gi'eat essentials which 

 you asked about at the start." 



"How is that? " 



"What is the bee good for?" 



"Securing honey, of course." 



"Where is the bee to secure the honey? " 



"From the flowers." 



"Again you have answered about the sec- 

 ond great essential. Without the flowers the 

 bees would be of no use; and the flowers 

 are included by the bee-keepers' term ' lo- 

 cation.' " 



"That is so. I see now what you are aft- 

 er, and again I ask you to tell me something 

 about location as regards success." 



"Most of us are bound by ties to a certain 

 locality. The man who is free should care- 

 fully select his location; but the man who 

 makes a success in a poor field is entitled to 

 more credit than the one in a good location." 



"Again I begin to see. I may have read 

 of these things, but they never took hold of 

 me as this talk is doing." 



"All right. That gives me courage to go 

 on. A thorough examination of a location is 

 of great importance. It is only in exception- 

 al locations that there is a continuous honey- 

 flow during the summer season. With only 

 one source of supply, extra care and man- 

 agement are neeiled to secure the bees so 

 that they be in readiness when it comes." 



"Well, there — surely that must be right; 

 and the eggs must be laid at least 37 days 

 before the ascertained time that the supply 

 is to come. I begin to see why you place 

 the bees and the location as two of the great 

 essentials." 



"If you can hold on to this till you are 

 able to bring the bees and the location to- 

 gether — that is, the maximum number of bees 

 at just the right time to meet your supply in 

 your location, I shall feel confident that you 

 will answer 'here am /' to the third great 

 essential." 



"How is that? " 



"The third great essential is the bee-keep- 

 er. The bee-keeper must be a man of ]nis/i. 

 Most day laborers and month hands glance 

 at the sun occasionally to see when it reach- 

 es the meridian (dinner), and again to see 

 how near it is to going down; but whoever 

 heard of a successful apiarist doing this, un- 

 less to see if he could possibly finish some 

 job of work already begun? To the t7'ue 

 bee-keeper his work among the bees is as 

 fun." 



"I guess you are right, for I almost begin 



to feel my fingers itch to be at work with 

 them in the summer sunshine." 



" Which shows me that you may be a suc- 

 cessful apiarist or you may not." 



"How is that? " 



"'Tis winter now, and your fingers may 

 cease itching before the summer sun ever 

 shines. If your fingers were itching to com- 

 mence this minute at the work, and reading 

 for the winter, which is necessary to prepare 

 you for a successful summer's work, 1 should 

 feel more hopeful of you. The man who 

 spends his time after the honey harvest is 

 over till spring opens up in the corner gro- 

 cery, or in playing checkers, backgammon, 

 or other games, being more interested in 

 them than in preparing for the coming sea- 

 son's work with the bees, is not liable to 

 make a successful bee-keeper in tbe fullest 

 sense of the word." 



"Are you not a little hard on me? " 



" Possibly so. But I wanted you to realize 

 fully what this last of the three great essen- 

 tials means. You seemed to realize more 

 perfectly about the two first. Remember 

 that it devolves on yourself more largely 

 than on any of the rest, even though I have 

 placed the bee-keeper as third in the three 

 great essentials. It is for you to understand 

 that the greatest point in bee-keeping is to 

 have the bees at the right time for the harvest. 

 There is no sense at all in working for bees 

 or stimulating breeding when the harvest is 

 over and gone." 



"Yes; but that is next summer's work, is 

 it not? " 



"It should be. But unless you have every 

 thing made and prepared this winter, and 

 your mind filled with useful knowledge, you 

 may be making bee-fixtures, and ignorant, 

 next spring, at just the time when you should 

 be pushing the bees for all they are worth 

 toward securing the maximum number in 

 time for the harvest. The winter is the time 

 to prepare for next summer, and no success- 

 ful bee-keeper will slacken his pace till he 

 has his hives, sections, etc , and mind, all in 

 thorough readiness to use at a moment's no- 

 when the season with the bees opens up for 

 1907." 



THE SCHULTZ METHOD OF SHEETING WAX; 

 MK. SCHULTZ AS AN INVENTOR; TREE- 

 PLANTING IN GERMANY. 



In the early spring, while 1 was yet in Ber- 

 lin, I spent one day with one of the ablest 

 bee-keepers of Germany. Mr. Schultz. He 

 is not only a man of rare intelligence, but he 

 possesses at the same time exceptional in- 

 ventive genius. Among the many things 



