1883 



GLEAKiNGS iK BE^ CtJLTURE. 



n 



one frame of sections (a great advantage in the last 

 part of the season, as the sections can be all crowd- 

 ed out or filled, and not have a lot of partly filled 

 sections, as with the combined case). The idea of 

 sending the case to market just as it comes off the 

 hive is not a jrood one, as any one will find out ; if he 

 thinks any thing of his reputation as a honey-pro- 

 ducer, the sections should all be handled over and 

 graded before shipping. 



Now, friend Root, this brings me to the question I 

 wish you to ask friend Heddon. Many times, in 

 speaking of the wide frames, he says, "If you use 

 wide frames (I would not)." Now, w^have perfect 

 confidence in friend Heddon's ability as a honey- 

 producer and as a teacher, and have no doubt he can 

 explain satisfactorily why a case is better than the 

 frames; but never having seen that explained, we 

 wish to cull on him to explain it; also let us know If 

 he has had practical experience with the broad 

 frames. James B. Mason. 



Mechanics Falls, Me., Jan. 14, 1883, 



The respective merits of wide fnimes, or a 

 c<ase of sections on top of the frames, I have 

 considered at length in former articles, and I 

 do not know how any one can tell a beginner, 

 or any one else, which plan will be best for 

 him under all ciicianstances, friend M., es- 

 pecially when people have such different 

 ideas of things in regard to which is best. 

 Tour ideas in regard to grading the honey 

 are very good, and are a strong argument in 

 favor of wide frames and separators. 



IS WtKE - KEKPIXC^ TOO HARD WOUK 



von. Avo]Hi:>f 



»Y ONE WHO HAS TRIED IT ELEVEN SUiMMEIlS. 



iSJlHE question will soon be answered in a practic- 

 al and general way, since, from Maine to Tex- 

 as, women are turning their attention to the 

 pursuit in a yearly increasing ratio. That women 

 should keep bees may, in duo time, become almost 

 as much a matter of course as that, in Germany, 

 they should engag'e in Held work. 



"The American women, they is too lazy, and they 

 Is too proud," said a German woman, after telling 

 me of the work to which she had been accustomed 

 In the "old country." That such work was "too 

 hard," or in any way undesirable for the American 

 woman, seemed beyond her comprehension. And 

 that bee-keeping can be "too hard," seems equally 

 beyond the comprehension of certain of our sisters 

 who not only enjoy their work, but find their 

 strength sulficient thereunto. They compare it fa- 

 vorably,— as, indeed, I have often done myself,— 

 with certain kinds of housework, from which there 

 is, for some women, no escape. 



That a day at the wash-board is harder than a day 

 in the bee-yard, is true. And some of us who could 

 hardly earn the salt for our porridge at washing, 

 can at least provide for it the sweetening at bee-keep- 

 ing. But it docs not follow that the average wash- 

 woman would do even this much. I know of one 

 whom I would not trust with the care of one colony 

 — to whom I could not conscientiously sell one. 

 But she does her washing with ease, and — i7ca?'C- 

 fully watched — she does it well. Bee-keeping would 

 be for her too hard a study. 



I have in mind, also, certain teachers and seam- 

 stresses who are supporting themselves by their 

 work. They have the brains which my washwoman 



lacks, but they have not a tithe of her physical 

 strength. They might do something at bee-keeping, 

 — the care of one or two colonies might do them 

 good in many ways,- but they could not depend up- 

 on it as a menus of sup})ort. It would be folly in the 

 extreme for them to relinquish the work they un- 

 derstand, with the hope of providing themselves 

 shelter, food, and clothing, by keeping bees. 



And there are farmers' wives sadly in need of 

 spending-money, and looking toward bee-keeping us 

 a possible help, who are so weighed down with oth- 

 er cares that they should pause and consiedr well 

 how these may be lightened before thes' venture to 

 add thereto the care of bees; "For Is not the life 

 more than meat, and the body than raiment?" 



Whatever a woman's fitness in other respects, she 

 should have the additional advantage of a home. 

 Such a one, with comparatively little risk, can satis- 

 fy herself by experiment whether or not the work, 

 if engaged in somewhat extensively, is likely to 

 prove "too hard." It is, in my opinion, the best 

 and only way to settle the question. Still, a little 

 friendly discussion respecting it, among the sisters, 

 with an interchange of opinions and experience, 

 may be of some advantage. It can not fail to he so, 

 if it should bring to light the improved methods 

 which enable one to perform with ease what anoth- 

 er finds "too hard." 



For instance, for the benefit of the sister who, on 

 page 438 of last volume, indicates one of her dilHeul- 

 tics, will not Mrs. Harrison tell us just how she 

 manages to avoid moving heavy hives, in swarming- 

 time? If she uses the Brooks swarm-cacther, will 

 she kindly tell us how she managed previously to 

 its introduction —which was only during the past 

 season? 



I am somewhat ashamed to confess, that the 

 swarm-catcher was not tried in our apiary last sum- 

 mer, though there was abundant need of It, and we 

 fully intended — but, no matter about that. 



Our practice is to move the old hive back, setting 

 the new one in its place. If there be time, the de- 

 serted sections in the cap are first taken off; but if 

 not, as is often the case, the old hive is shoved back- 

 not lifted. If there be but one to move it, it is twist- 

 ed around and off the stand, in the easiest fashion 

 possible. When the swarm has returned it is car- 

 ried to a new stand, and the old hive is shoved back 

 into place. Sister and I usually work together, but 

 we can manage in this way alone when the swarms 

 do not come too thick and fast. But it is hard work. 



Nor do I hesitate to confess, that our bee-keeping 

 the past season has been quite " too hard work." 

 Perhaps I should say, rather, that we had, com- 

 bined, too much bee-keeping (51 colonies in the 

 spring, T5 now), and too much housekeeping for our 

 strength. 



We happen to live in a place where reliable help 

 in the house is hard to obtain, while help in the bee- 

 yard is out of the question. We supposed we had 

 provided in-door help for the season; but at a crit- 

 ical time, during haying, and some little time before 

 the basswood harvest, we were left alone, nor could 

 wc obtain any help which was better than none, for 

 the rest of the season. 



The most important results of our summer's work 

 may be briefly stated. We have determined to sell, 

 or give away, every one of our 75 colonies next 

 spring. I have pleaded vainly with Nellie to be al* 

 lowed to keep one, promising to select the weakest 

 there may be. But she is inexorable. 



