434 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Adams gave his views on the 

 matter, saying that if he was a man who 

 could make a livelihood at other occupa- 

 tions, he could at bee-keeping, but it 

 required a man that could keep at the 

 top of the ladder in everything he under- 

 took. 



Mr. W. M. Bomberger read his essay 

 on 



Bees and the Farm. 



In an introductory way it might be 

 well, if we had the time, to glance at the 

 sentimental side of the relation between 

 the home and the honey-bee, but I will 

 omit it for more important matters. It 

 is too often the case that this side of 

 important questions are left in the back- 

 ground. It would be folly for me to ask 

 any one here if they would keep house 

 without a few colonies of bees on the 

 lawn, or near the kitchen-door. 



It is not only a fact that thrift, indus- 

 try and ingenuity are characteristic 

 traits of the inmates of the hive, but 

 the presence of the homes of our busy 

 little friends near our habitations im- 

 parts to us these elements in manhood 

 or womanhood. 



You never saw a lazy or stupid person 

 succeed with bees. The bee-fever may 

 sometimes get into the system of a lazy 

 man, but after the first serious attack it 

 leaves him in a seven-fold worse state. 

 The successful bee-keeper is an indus- 

 trious person, a mechanic, a botanist, a 

 producer, a good salesman, and rarely a 

 scamp. He gets these traits from the 

 hive. He can even get his religion 

 from it. 



We are in times now that plainly show 

 that industrial conditions are going 

 through a most radical change, and the 

 farmer, his methods, and his farm, are 

 going rapidly in the same direction. The 

 old farm routine will be a thing of the 

 past — if it is not the farmer sees plainly 

 that his ownership will be. We find, in 

 looking around that the hive is being 

 placed on nearly every farm. The 

 question then comes up, is every person 

 going into the bee-business ? And the 

 more serious question follows, what are 

 specialists and bee-keepers going to do 

 if a well-regulated home apiary is placed 

 on all of the best conducted farms, and 

 bees become as common as poultry ? 



Let us look beyond ourselves and see 

 what the bee will bring with it, as it 

 finds its place on nearly every farm. It 

 will make farms more home-like, and 

 cement home ties. It will throw another 

 gleam of light across the hard beaten 

 path of drudgery, it will give fireside 

 entertainment, it will place one of the 



rarest delicacies on the farm table to 

 take the place of that glucose article 

 that should find no other place than in 

 Willie Watson's soup for his Doddies. 



We are aware of the fact that the 

 extensive popularity of the honey-bee is, 

 from his standpoint, viewed with alarm 

 by the specialist. And it is alarming to 

 him to see his favorite pursuit thrown 

 into the hands of so many, and in so short 

 a time. I am of the opinion that no 

 specialist or bee-keeper need be alarmed 

 — it will only be a blessing to the 

 farmers, and eventually be a boon to 

 bee-keepers. 



It never hurts a business or pursuit or 

 commodity to popularize it. Populariz- 

 ing a commodity can, but does not, 

 always lead to overproduction. If 

 honey is popularized in the same ratio 

 as there is an increase in bee-keeping, 

 the consumption will be greater, and 

 there will be in no measure enough of the 

 product for the demand, unless it may 

 be a chance year now and then. 



But if this is the case, the product is 

 of such a character as will admit of its 

 being kept for a long while. A honey 

 crop is as uncertain as a potato crop, 

 but in years of plenty and overproduc- 

 tion, it is as good as old wheat, and is as 

 safe as that old staple to get money 

 advanced on. Another objection is, that 

 these cheap producers will bear down 

 the market by trading out their cheap 

 honey at the stores, and this will destroy 

 the honey market. 



This is not so formidable as it might 

 seem on the surface. Cheap honey 

 means large consumption, and when the 

 price gets very low, it is bartered be- 

 tween farmers at a low price and the 

 low prevailing price in the markets has 

 popularized the product, and if the 

 specialist has had wisdom enough to 

 hold back his crop, he can then get a 

 good price for a good article. If the 

 appetite has been sharpened by a poor 

 article, the public will give a good price 

 for a good article rather than do without 

 it. I have made a study of this market 

 question in the sale of fruits, and know 

 well how it works, and the question of 

 overproduction is a more serious one in 

 horticultural products than in your line 

 of work. 



In one town of less than 2,000 inhabi- 

 tants, six years ago, we found less than 

 30 bushels of small fruits, and the 

 present season the amount consumed 

 was over 400 bushels. This does not 

 include the grapes, of which there will 

 be between 8 and 10 tons consumed, If 

 the prevailing price is 2 K to 3 cents 



