1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



later, launching out into bee-keeping as a 

 specialty." 



"Then why would you advise nae not to 

 make a specialty of apicultiire ?" 



' ' Because you are at the stage I was when 

 I bought the two colonies; only, if I I'ead you 

 aright, you would buy .50 to 100 colonies to 

 start with, which, in 99 cases out of 100, will 

 or would prove your I'uin. Hold on to your 

 business till you know you love bee-keeping 

 well enovTgh to let all else go; and especially 

 that you can make a living success with the 

 bees." 



"What do you mean by a living success?" 



"P. H. Elwood, one of the successful spe- 

 cialists at bee-keeping in this State, once said 

 at a bee convention that a man who could 

 successfully manage 100 colonies of bees pos- 

 sessed ability that would command an annual 

 salary of $1000. But salaried positions are 

 uncertain, and less than $1000 a year may 

 be called a living success. To have a home, 

 the fresh air of tne country, and a comfort- 

 able living, is often a greater success than a 

 $1000 salary, which is liable to slip away 

 from you at every turn of the wheel of for- 

 tune with your employer; and especially 

 where such salary ties one up to the impure 

 air of the factory and away from God's 

 blessed sunshine, which is generally the lot 

 of those who are dependent on a salary for 

 a living." 



"Well, I thank you for the time you have 

 given me, and for your many candid ex- 

 pressions regarding apiculture as a spe- 

 cialty." 



Gleanings from Foreign Fields. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



There are, according to the government 

 report for 1905, 1,050,127 colonies of bees in 

 Austria, which return about 14,000,000 lbs. 

 of honey and 600,000 11)S. of wax during the 

 year. 



The price of honey in Berlin, Germany, is 

 as follows: Extracted, 25 cts. per lb.; comb, 

 37i cts. per lb. The price in Bremen is, 

 comb, 30 cts. per lb.; extracted (strained), 

 27i cts. per Va.—VAinculture Nouvelle. 



According to a census made in 1904, Hun- 

 gary contains 582,184 colonies of bees, of 

 which 365,930 are on movable frames. These 

 produced, during the year indicated. 27,446 

 quintals of honey, valued at about $500,000. 

 The wax produced amounted to 1706 quintals, 

 valued at about $70,000. The honey is sold 

 usually at 10 to 20 cents per pound, and the 

 wax at 30 cts. 



MALTED HONEY. 



Mr. Thomas Bolton, of Hamilton, State of 

 Victoria, Australia, has succeeded in placing 

 on the market a new food which he terms 

 malted honey. He does not state it is a med- 



icine, but says it is an article to be placed 

 on the breakfast- table. It is a combination 

 of pure malt extract with honey. Judging 

 by the way other malted foods are disposed 

 of, this new aspirant ought to succeed very 

 well. It looks to us at this distance as though 

 this malted honey would be a good thing. 

 How would honey and butter frozen together 

 answer during the winter as a food for the 



fods ? Try it on yourself first. It is good, 

 t is just the thing for consumptives. 



.& 



AN IMMENSE IRRIGATION SCHEME FOR VIC- 

 TORIA, AUSTRALIA. 



An immense irrigation scheme has been 

 proposed by two engineers to the government 

 of Victoria. They propose to irrigate about 

 750,000 acres of land, and supply electric 

 power to Melbourne and other cities to the 

 amount of 25,000 horse power. There is no 

 doubt at all that irrigation helps bee-keep- 

 ing, because on a given area the amount of 

 vegetation grown is much larger, and the 

 crop seasons more certain. Of course, alfal- 

 fa will be grown; but it may be that, in the 

 mild Australian climate, sulla or sainfoin 

 would be better. Perhaps it is that oranges, 

 peaches, lemons, etc., will be extensively 

 planted. In any event, it would seem as • if 

 this were a good thing for bees in Australia. 

 It will be observed the Australians are pro- 

 ceeding along American lines. This is par- 

 ticularly the case in bee-keeping. Every 

 American wishes them success. 



"THE GOOD OLD ENGLISH BEES." 



In England there is a decided tendency to 

 stick to the black bee — sometimes termed 

 "the good olde Englishe bee," as the equal, 

 at least, of any foreign bee, if not a little 

 better. This does not promise any great im- 

 provement in the honey-bee, as has been ef- 

 fected in the breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, 

 swine, dogs, and poultry. England owes its 

 finest horses to Arabian blood, cattle from 

 the continent of Europe, sheep to Spain, 

 swine to the north of Italy, dogs to Spain 

 and Greece, and poultry to many countries. 

 The beauty of the yellow races of bees ought 

 to appeal to their bee-breeders, more partic- 

 ularly as Englishmen know beauty is very 

 far from being skin deep. Our most beauti- 

 ful horses are the swiftest, our prettiest cat- 

 tle the best milkers, and the handsomest 

 poultry the best layers. One thing is cer- 

 tain, Apis Americana will be very handsome 

 indeed. 



The necessity for greater care in the choice 

 of foods is indicated by a careful study of 

 the death rate of the United States and other 

 countries. For example, it is estimated of 

 the 6,000,000 babies that will be born only 

 to die during the next ten years at least 

 3,000,000 of them could be saved. Such fig- 

 ures are appalling. That food has much to 

 do with this list is well borne out by the fact 

 that children of American parents die faster 

 than those of foreign-born parentage. This 

 is attributed by medical men to the fact that 



