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ting these two facts together, do they 

 not show that the specialist can produce 

 honey more cheaply than others ? Else 

 why docs he keep at it, and others give 

 it up. The fact is, the latter consider it 

 a matter of luck. If, walking along the 

 road, I lind a silver dollar and pick it 

 up, it costs me nothing, but I would 

 hardly argue from that, that finding 

 silver dollars in the road is the cheapest 

 way of getting them as a steady busi- 

 ness. • 



Very strong proof, then, that the 

 specialist can produce honey more 

 cheaply than others is the simple fact 

 that he persists in the business when 

 others give it up. Now why can he 

 produce it more cheaply ? Why can 

 j-ou buy your coats and pants at the 

 clothier's more cheaply than your wife 

 can make them ? Because the clothier 

 has the proper appliances, and knows 

 his business. Just so with the specialist 

 in any line. The man who makes a 

 specialty of bee-keeping is provided 

 with books and papers. He studies his 

 business, and is thus less liable to make 

 disastrous mistakes. Keeping a large 

 number of colonies, he can attbrd to be 

 supplied with the best implements and 

 labor-saving appliances. Above and 

 beyond everything else, however, is the 

 one reason, that the specialist knows 

 his business. Can you expect anything 

 else in any line of business than that the 

 man who gives his best thoughts and 

 energies to that business will succeed 

 better than he who knows nothing 

 about it ? 



To take the middle part of the subject 

 last, the specialist will produce honey in 

 better shape, for the same reason that 

 he can produce it more cheaply, simply 

 because he has better facilities, and be- 

 cause he knows how. 



Marengo, 5 Ills- ' 



SEASON OF 1887. 



Comparing Farmers witli Api- 

 arists in a Poor Season. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DR. H. J. SCOLES. 



I commenced the season of 1887 with 

 44 colonies, 40 « of them being in good 

 condition, and th,e other 4 were quite 

 weak. When the white clover began 

 to bloom, the 40 colonies were ready 

 for it, but there was but a small bloom, 

 and of what there was the heads were 

 small and yielded but little nectar. 

 The clover looked sickly, and appeared 

 to be dying out ; then the drouth set in, 

 and it appeared to be about all dead. 



The linden bloom was early, and it 

 yielded but little, so that from my 44 

 colonies I got but 4 swarms, and some 

 of the weak colonies dwindled a\Yay 



until I have but 43, which I put into 

 the cellar on Nov. 18, 1887. About 

 one-third of them were rather light, 

 but had stores enough, I think, to keep 

 them until they are put out in the 

 spring. 



I secured but 185 pouiuls of honey, 

 all in the comb. But few of the colo- 

 nies that I had set apart for extract- 

 ing, had any surplus, and that I saved 

 to give to those that were short of 

 stores. In this part of the country the 

 blacker the bee, the less stores they 

 gathered. 



I have been handling bees for about 

 15 years, and the one just past was the 

 poorest season for honey that I have 

 ever experienced. A great many have 

 become discouraged, and were trying 

 to dispose of their apiaries the past 

 fall. What folly ! If a farmer loses 

 all of his hogs by cholera, he does not 

 stop trying to raise more ; or, if the 

 chinch-bug or grasshopper destroys his 

 crops, he does not cease sowing and 

 planting ; but it makes him the more 

 careful. Why should it not be the 

 same with apiarists, and thus make us 

 the more careful, so that we may be 

 ready to take advantage of a good sea- 

 son when it does come ? 



Knoxville, $ Io^ya, Jan. 2, 1888. 



STARTERS. 



Suggestions about Fastening 

 Foundation in Sections. 



Written for the Americnn Bee Journal 

 BY ED. S. EDEN. 



After reading Mr. Fox's article, on 

 page 823 of the Bee Joubnal for 1887, 

 I fail to see that his method of fasten- 

 ing foundation in sections would be 

 very satisfactory, especially to me. I 

 fancy that if Mr. Fox would use a 

 foundation starter that would reach 

 across the section, he would find that 

 his method would prove very unsatis- 

 factory. Very few bee-keepers use as 

 small a starter as does Mr. Fox, 1-inch 

 square. 



We will suppose that Mr. Fox uses a 

 starter that is 2 inches deep. I pre- 

 sume that it would require } of an inch 

 to be pressed on to the section, as a 

 means of fastening it. Now } of an 

 inch is J of 2 inches. We will suppose 

 again that Mr. Fox invests $100 in 

 foundation ; i of 100 is $12.50 ; which 

 would be very unsatisfactory to me. 

 In Mr. F's case, his loss is $25, for he 

 uses just one-half the width, and con- 

 sequently loses one-fourth of the whole 

 amount. 



Another objection to fastening foun- 

 dation by pressure is, that if the sec- 

 tions are allowed to stand any length 

 of time after the starters have been 



fastened in them, the foundation will 

 curl out to one side ; and if placed on 

 the hive in this shape, the bees will 

 fasten the sides of the foundation to 

 the section in a great many ca.ses, so 

 that it is inqiossible to get straight 

 combs without separators. 



My bees have consumed very little 

 honey so far this winter. 



Eastwood, Ont., Jan. 2, 1888. 



CONVENTIOBI DIRECTORY. 



1888. Time and Place of MeeUng. 



Jan. 17, 18.— N. W. ins. & 8. W.Wis., at Kockf ord. 111. 

 D. A. Fuller, Sec. Cherry Valley, Ills, 



Jan. 18, 19.— Vermont State, at BurlinEton, Vt. 



R. H. HolmeB, Sec. Snoreham, Vt. 



Jan. 17-19.— New York State, at Dtica, N. Y. 



G. H. Knickerbocker, Sec, Pine Plains, N. Y. 



Jan. 20.— Haldimand, at Cayuga, Ontario. 



B. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



Jan. 25. 26.— N. B. Ohio. Northern Pa. and W. New 

 York, at Meadville. Pa. 



C. H. Coon, Sec. New Lyme, O. 



Apr. 24.— Des Moines County, at Burlington. Iowa. 

 John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



Jan. 24-26.- Eastern New York, at Albany, N.Y. 



John Aspinwall, Sec, Barrytown, N. Y. 



B^^ In order to hare this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Bd. 



SEl-^^W^^* 



Sweet Clover for Bees, etc.^ 



Nathan Davis, Emporia, o+ Kans., on 

 Dec. 28, 1887, writes : 



The bees are wintering well. I com- 

 menced the season of 1887 with 25 col- 

 onies, and I have increased them to 30 

 colonies. Bees have done nothing here 

 for two years, on account of the 

 drouths. There has been nothing 

 raised the past year. I have been in 

 Kansas 28 years, and I have never 

 seen times as hard as they are at pres- 

 ent. I think that it would pay to sow 

 sweet clover for the bees. I had two 

 acres that bloomed this year, and the 

 bees did well on it. I saved 16 bushels 

 of the seed. I have no trouble to get it 

 to grow. 



Honey for the L,iver. — Mr.W. H, 

 Smith, Mount Salem, Out., on Jan. 3, 

 1888, writes : 



I have been a careful reader of the 

 American Bee Journal for several 

 years, and I have frequently realized 

 more value from one copjs than the 

 cost of a whole year's subscription. 

 There is one item to which I wish to 

 call the attention of the readers, which 

 I read in the spring of 1886, and that 

 treated of honey as a medicine for the 

 liver. My wife", having for years been 

 a sufferer from liver trouble, concluded 



