632 



THE AMEllICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



Here is a young man about to settle 

 down in life. His college course of 

 study is perhaps finished (and I would 

 urge upon every young man to get a 

 collegiate education, whether he ex- 

 pects to spend his life in apiary, farm, 

 counting-house, or pulpit) ; and the 

 question is, whether bee-keeping shall 

 be his vocation. He has aptitude for 

 the business ; what little experience 

 he has had in it has been successful ; 

 and he would really like to spend his 

 life at it if he thought he could make 

 as much money at it as at merchan- 

 dise, albeit the coufinement of a mer- 

 chant's life is not to his taste. But 

 the matter of money stands first iu 

 consideration, and he decides in favor 

 of mercantile life. 



My young friend, you are making a 

 mistake. In the first place, it is by 

 no means certain that you will be one 

 of the successful merchants. But 

 suppose you are, and that you make 

 double or ten times as much money as 

 you could at beekeeping. You go 

 on at your business, looking forward to 

 the time when you can retire, and en- 

 joy life. There are events that may 

 hinder the realization of your expecta- 

 tions. You may not live longcnough. 

 If you do, you will find that yoiu- 

 tastes have somewhat changed, and 

 that the lif a to which you have for 

 years looked forward with bright ex- 

 pectations is mainly a disappoint- 

 ment. On the other hand, if you 

 follow your inclinations, and adopt 

 the pursuit of a bee-keeper, there is 

 no necessity for looking forward to a 

 certain time in the future for your 

 enjoyment of life. 



You can take your enjoyment as 

 you go— mixed, it is true, with pain 

 and toil, but still a life of enjoyment. 

 You have one important advantage 

 over the merchant ; your out- door life 

 gives you a physical vigor he cannot 

 enjoy. He has poorer food than you, 

 even if be eats from the same dish, 

 for he has not the same hunger to 

 spice it. The mere fact of existence 

 is a pleasure to a perfectly healthy 

 anioial, be he man or beast ; and the 

 man who eats his food with a thor- 

 ough relish is the better man for it, 

 phjsically, mentally, and perhaps 

 morally and spiritually. 



HIGH VERSUS LOW SALARIES. 



There is another view that is worth 

 taking, and it applies to all callings- 

 bee-keeping or what not. Compare 

 two positions in life. A man in Chi- 

 cago has a salary of $2,000, and his 

 brotlier in a country village has one- 

 half as much, $1,000. Which has the 

 better place ? Perhaps the Chicago 

 man; perhaps not. 



Throwing aside all other considera- 

 tions, and taking just a dollarand- 

 cent point of view, if the country 

 man's annual expenses are $600, and 

 those of the city man's $1,700 (and 

 there may be that difference, eveu 

 when each seems to be living equally 

 well), the result will be that the coun- 

 try man will lay by one-third more 

 annually than the city man, in which 

 case the $!,000 salary will be better 

 than the $2,000. Suppose, however, 

 that the annual expense in the city is 

 $1,500, and $600 iu the country. In 



this case, $-500 is annually saved out 

 of the $2,000, and $400 out of the 

 $1,000. Is the salary that clears the 

 $500 one -fourth better than the salary 

 that clears the $400? And it is to 

 this particular point I want to call the 

 especial attention of the young. 



Nine out of ten of the young will be 

 dazzled by the larger salary ; and 

 when to this is added the larger an- 

 nual saving, the question is definitely 

 settled in their mind. If they think 

 far enough ahead they may find a 

 factor they have omitted from the 

 problem. When the time comes to 

 retire from service — it may never 

 come, and it may be forced upon one 

 before he desires it— when this time 

 comes, the city man will be so fixed 

 in his habits and mode of living, his 

 family in their social circle, that he 

 must continue his same life and same 

 expense of living. Even it he had 

 thought of going back to his former 

 country life, he will now find it im- 

 practicable ; the rule is, men do not. 



Now let our two men be compared 

 after the same number of years of 

 service, say 15 years. In that time 

 the one saving $500 per annum has 

 $7,500 ahead ; and the other, saving 

 $100 per aunum has $6 000 ahead. But 

 what is this worth to each of them ( 

 The first, spending $1,500 per year, 

 can live on his $7,500 just five years; 

 and the second, spending $600 per 

 year, can live on his $6,000 just ten 

 years. So you see. when looked at 

 from this point of view, the $1,000 

 salary is worth just double as much 

 as the $2,000. In other words, the 

 $2)000 man lays by each year enough to 

 support him four months, while the 

 $1,000 one lays by enough each year to 

 keep him eight months. Some of you 

 young men that are itching to get into 

 places to make money faster, think 

 this over. It may make you a little 

 more content where you are. 



Marengo, 5 His. 



ror tne American Bee Jonmai. 



Tie Season in Hortliern OMo. 



■ HONEY -DEW. 



I attended the Erie County (Ohio) 

 Fair, and it was a measurable success 

 in everything except the display of 

 bees and honey. There was not a 

 single exhibit oh the Grounds. There 

 are two reasons for this ; first, the 

 small premium offered, which was only 

 $1.50 for the largest and best display 

 of honey. Is that not magnanimous V 

 The other reason is, that there is no 

 honey to exhibit. This is the poorest 

 season that I have ever experienced, 

 and I have kept bees for thirty years. 

 There is no surplus on account of the 

 drouth, yet those who know how to 

 take care of bees are hopeful, as we 

 have had rains that help the bees for 

 winter ; and those who feed a little 

 will winter their bees in good condi- 

 tion, and be ready for next season ; 

 while others who are discouraged by 

 the present failure, will cease to keep 

 bees, leaving more room for those 

 who take the bee-papers, and profit 

 by their teachings. 



I thought that I knew something 

 about bee-keeping a year ago, or be- 

 fore I began to read the Bee Jour- 

 nal, which my generous sister sub- 

 scribed for, and donated to me. But 

 I found that I was at the foot of the 

 ladder, which I am trying to climb by 

 the aid of the Bee Journal. I see 

 plainly that my past is rich in nothing 

 but experience', and that a succession 

 of failures, yet I am hopeful, and ex- 

 pect soon to be ou the second round 

 of the ladder, by the aid of such able 

 writers as those who give their suc- 

 cessful experience. 



This is not a very good honey 

 locality. Bee-pasturage is uncertain 

 from other causes than drouth. In 

 the spring the fruit bloom 's short, 

 from two causes, namely, no bloom, 

 as was the case last spring, and the 

 other is plenty of the same, but too 

 wet, bees not being able to gather the 

 nectar. Another reason for failure is 

 honey-dew (we had none this year), 

 which befouls the good, and spoils 

 all. Some call it "bug-juice," but I 

 differ from them, and call it " honey- 

 dew," befouled by the insect; honey- 

 dew being the cause of the insect, not 

 the insect the cause of honey-dew. 



Sandusky,5 O., Sept. 23, 1887. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Tie Iowa Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



DR. JESSE OREN. 



The Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in their large tent on the 

 Fair Ground at Des Moines, on Sept. 

 7, 1887, at 10 a.m. President J. F. 

 Spaulding, of Charles City, Iowa, 

 called the meeting to order, and then 

 by the request of the Society gave the 

 following very interesting address on 

 bee-keeping : 



THE president's ADDRESS. 



Another year is numbered with the 

 past, and though disastrous to those 

 engaged in our calling generally, as 

 viewed from a financial stand-point, 

 let us hope that the lessons we have 

 learned by the experience of the pres- 

 ent pepuliar season, may not be lost 

 sight of in the future. 



According to the best information 

 that I can get, bees in this State came 

 out of their winter repositories in 

 more than average condition last 

 spring. We had an unusually favor- 

 able spring until the fruit bloom ap- 

 peared, when the weather became so 

 warm that the flowers were almost 

 barren of honey ; and as we began to 

 look over our pastures to see how the 

 whiite clover was coming on, we were 

 filled with apprehension (as this was 

 our main reliance for surplus honey), 

 to find that the severe drouth of 1886 

 and the spring of 1887, coupled with 

 the hard winter, had ruined the white 

 clover in most locations for the pres- 

 ent season ; in a few favored spots, 

 where it was not killed outright, it 

 made a feeble growth, and mostly 

 failed to secrete honey for the bees, 

 and this to such a degree, that when 

 the usual swarming time arrived, but 

 few swarms issued. 



