232 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



current of air is to be encouutered at almost 

 auy time. Persons who have been riding in 

 a veliicle perceive the change of air as soon 

 as they strike this spot. 



Many a time I have watched the drones 

 thus enjoying themselves : at first I thought 

 they were : duiig bees, but observation proved 

 that they were male bees. 



This question presents itself to me, does 

 the young queen, through natural intuition, 

 flj' to those localities where the atmosplieric 

 conditions are such that they are a safe place 

 for the two sexes to carry on their connubial 

 relations ? It seems to me that these queens 

 know this ; that the drones will be at a tryst- 

 ing-place appointed by Nature, and there 

 the queen goes, provided she is not stopped 

 by some lu-^ly (iroue who attacks her on the 

 "king's highway," as it were. It may be 

 fellows like this that have been seen assault- 

 ing queens while flying about the apiary, 

 who knows ? 



NoETH Temescal, Calif. March G, '93. 



i^:"t<^^^<;^ 



Fads and Fancies. 



WALTER S. POUDEB. 



Everj'bddy, good or bad, 

 Has a fancy or a fad ; 

 Has the best red clover (jueen. 

 Or an automatic bee-machine. 

 Has a great invention to reveal. 

 Or likes to ride astride a wheel ; 

 Jn fact, no matter what his rank, 

 Every body is a crank. 



EE-KEEPEKS are given to whims 

 and fancies more than any other clan 

 of workers ; they have their own 

 ideas, their own inventions and their own 

 peculiar way of accomplishing a certain 

 piece of work, and all the world couldn't 

 change the ui. 



With th(! amateur this is different, he is 

 ready to try every new thing that comes 

 under his observation, besides experiment- 

 ing and going over ground that has been 

 gone over by others. His first and highest 

 ambition is to attain numbers of colonies, 

 and of course this increase is at the expense 

 of the honey season and no surplus is ob- 

 tained : still worse, feeding has to be re- 

 sorted to in order to pull them through the 

 winter. He knows that some of the bee 

 fraternity are making lots of money for he 

 sees proof of it in stacks of beautiful honey 

 at the commission houses, honey stores, gro- 

 ceries, etc. 



The watchword of the amateur is prog- 

 ress; his first hobby — to increase to a cer- 

 tain number — is an expensive undertaking, 

 aud one that usually contains many disap- 

 pointments. Those with experience tell us 

 that the greatest amount of bee-money is 

 made in the yard that is run for the exclu- 

 sive production of honey. The beginner 

 thinks that he sees something that has been 

 overlooked by the expert, viz., a small for^ 

 tune in queen rearing. At once he begins to 

 equip himself for the new hobby and tlie ex- 

 pense attached is not a small affair, for the 

 whole yard must be brought up to a standard 

 of purity, expensive advertising must be re- 

 sorted to, and— what a pity it is that the peo- 

 ple are afraid to send to the unknown adver- 

 tiser for a queen. The chances are that 

 sales will not amount to enough the first 

 year to pay advertising bills. I do not mean 

 to infer that queen rearing can not be made 

 profitable ; on the other hand I know that it 

 can be made to pay, but it requires patience, 

 long coutiuued business, prompt dealing 

 and a high grade of stock. I say it requires 

 patience for it is only those who " stick to 

 it " and keep their names constantly before 

 the public who succeed. 



The next rank to which the knight of the 

 apiary aspires is that of the supply dealer. 

 It is important that he should be an experi- 

 enced bee-man ; that he may know how to 

 cater to the wants of the honey producer. 

 Supply dealers are numerous which is an 

 advantage to producers, as they can get sup- 

 plies near home, and competition has re- 

 duced the price on many articles, thus saving 

 money for the toiler of the bee-yard. Again, 

 the supply business flourishes for about five 

 months in the year, therefore his time must 

 be devoted to another calling the remaining 

 seven months. This is usually dealing in 

 honey, which can be made profitable and a 

 very great advantage to producers, as the 

 dealer can find an outlet for the over-pro- 

 duction and dispose of it where there is a 

 scarcity. 



The next craze liable to attack the " bee- 

 crank," is to edit a bee paper; and like the 

 supply dealer, failure is much more common 

 than success, and those who start with pomp 

 and fashion are sure to have their downfall 

 sooner or later. The successful ones have 

 all started at the huuible bottom round of 

 the ladder, and climbed slowly from an eco- 

 nomical basis. 



Indianapolis, Ind. Feb. 2, 1893. 



