I 



1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



893 



I like that pictui-e of Benj. Paine's apiary, 

 [ p. 403. The wife as well as himself is in it. 

 No wonder he makes a success of bee-keep- 

 ing. Where a man and woman both get in- 

 terested in any work, look out for success. 



Louis Scholl makes some good points about 

 painting hives, p. 388. The best is the cheap- 

 est, every time. For roof paint for hives I 

 have found nothing to equal the B. P. S. 

 paint. It lasts longer than any other I have 

 ever used. 



I believe Mr. Alexander's view of the ef- 

 fects of weather upon the yield of honey are 

 sound, especially thunder-stdrms, p. 392. I 

 hope that, after a time, we may have more 

 certain knowledge of the influence of weath- 

 er and soil upon the flow of honey. 



That closed-end top-bar frame of D. S. 

 Hall, p. 416, it seems to me, has some advan- 

 tages over many; and if I were to adopt a 

 self-spacing frame 1 believe it would be this 

 in place of any other. I expect to try one 

 or two hives of them the coming season. 



The short biographical sketch of the life of 

 A. F. Baumer, page 386, is full of inspiration 

 to all who are engaged in business. Perhaps 

 in nothing, aside from honey, has adultera- 

 tion been practiced more than in wax; yet 

 by honest methods this man made a success 

 of his business. 



.^ 



That new-idea honey-package by Howard 

 C. Mills is worth trying, p. 405. I suppose 

 the time will come when, if one inquires at 

 a grocery for honey, the clerk will ask which 

 is preferred — comb, extracted, or granulated 

 — with much less difference in price than at 

 present between them. 



Dr. Miller's head is pretty level on the bot- 

 tom-starter business, p. 383; but I find that, 

 as a rule, my combs ai"e well fastened at the 

 bottom. I use starters or foundation in sec- 

 tions so as to come down to about \ inch of 

 section bottom, and it either sags or the bees 

 almost always seem to build it down in a 

 very satisfactory way. I don't remember 

 ever using bottom starters Doesn't the 

 strain or breed of bees make some difference? 

 We bought some comb honey last fall that 

 had a good many sections that were not built 

 down to the bottom of the sections. The hon- 

 ey was made by black bees. I have noticed, 

 too, that when only a very small starter was 

 used, sections were not so well fastened at 



the bottom, and would be improv^ by 'a 

 bottom starter. 



A good deal is being written tjfiiese days 

 about whether it is safe to depfend on Bee- 

 keeping alone for a livelihood, or w«!i!ether it 

 should be combined with some other busi- 

 ness. Now, I see no reason why a ' Kfetie 

 good reason should not be applied to this 

 subject as well as to others. To expec,t a 

 man to succeed in raising wheails on the hills 

 of Colorado, or peaches in Minnesota, or in 

 lumbering on the prairies of Illinoos is on a 

 par with expecting a man to succeed in feee- 

 keeping where little or no honey is to be had. 

 Of course, he must have a location that is 

 fairly well adapted to his business. 



Again, why should we expect a maa to 

 succeed in producing honey before he has 

 thoroughly learned the business thap io ex- 

 pect a wheelwright or carpenter or g-lass- 

 blower or merchant or manufacturer, until 

 he has thoroughly mastered his own kind of 

 business? 



We find in all trades and professions those 

 who fail as well as in bee-keeping— those who 

 meet with moderate success as well as those 

 who have achieved enviable success. 



The fruit-grower, the farmer, 2,^ well as 

 the merchant or manufa^eturer, have their 

 poor years when it is difficult to make both 

 ends meet. The same is true of the T^ee- 

 keeper. Ability counts in this business- the 

 same as in all other lines of effort. Ifc is cer- 

 tainly true that a man can keep a few loees, 

 a little dairy, and some poultry, and not meet 

 with as great extremes as with any onieik:ind of 

 business; but I doubt if he can make all of 

 them pay as well as if only one kind isi, fol- 

 lowed. ' 



If the venerable and kind-hearted Quinby 

 were living to-day with all our impa-oved 

 modern appliances I very much dbubt if he 

 would advise any very large mixture of oth- 

 er kinds of business with his bee-keeping. 

 The only kind of business \ would add weuld 

 be • • more bees. ' ' 



You make some pretty good points, p. 384, 

 Mr. Editor, in reply to one of Dr. Mjller's 

 Straws with regard to commission-men. I'm 

 afraid conditions are not always just as they 

 should be. A year or two ago we were look- 

 ing around for some choice extracted hoti^y, 

 and found one large dealer q-uoting such hon- 

 ey lower in his city than others were quoting 

 in other cities. My son wrote, asking if he 

 could supply us at those prices. The reply 

 we received was somewhat surprising. He 

 wrote that they took it all themselves, and 

 there was no more than they needed for their 

 business. Of course, if thei'e is bijrt one 

 wholesale dealer, and he is willing to give 

 only a certain price, or if there are soveral aiid 

 they agree on a certain price to quote h(jney, 

 and it is quoted at the price agreed upuin, 

 that, of course, is the going price, and ife 'is 

 not lying to say in print that such and siaKfSi 

 are the prices. After all, ther^ seeing" tb 

 be something very unsatisfactory abouT it t» 



