r±±Ji. BEE-KEEFERS REVIEW. 



323 



only and one three cases and the other two 

 cases of partially filled sections, and were 

 fed till the same were filled and capped which 

 required nearly four weeks time on the 

 average. 



The accomanying table shows in brief the 

 particulars of the experiment and the re- 

 sults. 



By a simple process of calculation, taking 

 the value of the material used and the mar- 

 ket value of the product, it will be seen that 

 the profit is more than .W per cent, and this 

 would have been considerably increased had 

 all the sections been partially filled at the 

 beginning of the experiment. 



Lapeer, Mich. Dec, 15, 1894. 



Twenty -Five Years of Experiments in Bee- 

 Keeping and What I Have Learned by It. 



B. TAYLOB. 



T HAVE spent forty 

 i five years work- 

 ing with bees for 

 the purpose of rais- 

 ing surplus honey 

 for market, and 

 think I have learned 

 many of the secrets 

 of the trade by this 

 long experience, and 

 I write this series 

 of articles with the 

 object and hope of 

 benefitting those who may adopt bee-keep- 

 ing as a leading pursuit. 



Apiarists as a rule are not of the stuff that 

 makes millionares. In my experience I 

 have found them, as a rule, to be persons of 

 noble sentiments and kindly hearts, and 

 such persons are not noted for excessive 

 material wealth. To guide such in securing 

 a fair supply of bread and butter is tome 

 a great privilege. This world is full of peo- 

 ple with ideas on religion and government, 

 as well as practical affairs in field and shop, 

 that are founded on nothing better than mere 

 tradition and prejudice, and the ideas and 

 methods of such, when tested by the rules 

 of science, are found lacking in those quali- 

 ties that lead to best results. Bee-keepers 

 are not an exception to this charge, most 

 of them believing for thousands of years 

 that the rattling of pans and the ringing of 



bells caused bees to alight when swarming. 

 This one case proves that the mere fact of 

 the great age of an idea or practice is no 

 evidence of its truth. It is for these reasons 

 that I have been for years testing old and 

 new practices in the bee yard, that I might 

 prove all things and hold fast to the things 

 that werjgood. These experiments brought 

 no reward in money and I would no doubt 

 now be much better off in that respect if I 

 had never made them ; yes, I would no doubt 

 have made more money had I done as did 

 a wealthy bee-kteper whom a bee journal 

 held up approvingly some time since, saying 

 that he ' wasted no time fooling with ex- 

 periments but just adopted the Quinby hive 

 and system and went right along making 

 big crops of honey." But, dear friends, 

 suppose Mr. Quinby and others had been 

 like this excellent man, how would the case 

 stand ? Sections of holiow trees for hives, 

 and ringing bells to settle swarms. I have 

 been, for the last year or two, burning and 

 clearing up the mountain of waste that 

 naturally accumulated in twenty-five years 

 of testing on a considerable scale nearly 

 every hive and fixture brought into notice. 

 In the different styles of movable frames 

 alone I burned enough to fill a good sized 

 ware room, but I have for my reward a con- 

 sciousness of knowing things instead of be- 

 lieving them, that more than balances all 

 costs, I shall now cease from general ex- 

 perimenting and confine my efforts to pro- 

 ducing extra fine honey, comb and extract- 

 ed, and marketing it among my neighbors 

 and friends. In this branch of the business 

 I shall still experiment, and put all my mind 

 and strength into the work. 



And now to the task of relating some of 

 the usful facts I have learned from experi- 

 ence, and one of the first and greatest is the 

 fact that where there is a home to build and 

 a family to provide for, bee-keeping alone is 

 not safe to rely upon for an income, and 

 should be connected with some other pur- 

 suit : for there are seasons when no skill of 

 the apiarist, even with his hundreds of col- 

 onies, and all the requisite material, can se- 

 cure a honey crop, for when the flowers fail 

 to secrete nectar, skill is of no avail. 

 Those old stagers, C. C. Miller and the Da- 

 dants, reporting a total failure in the past 

 season is a case in proof. 



I have always had some other means than 

 bee-keeping to help out my income, but I 

 am now going to attempt to make a nice, 



