THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



n 



With a view to settling the question raised 

 in the Dec. Review as to the comparative 

 strength of one-piece and four-piece sections, 

 I asked for and received samples of the four- 

 piece sections as used by the editor of this 

 paper. 



They are beautiful white poplar sections, 

 the best I have seen. I think I venture 

 nothing in saying that better four-piece, 

 dovetailed sections cannot be made. 



I concede that they are a little nicer look- 

 ing than the basswood. but the fact that the 

 honey does not look as white in them, offsets, 

 to my mind, this advantage. 



To test the strength, I hung the two sam- 

 ples of dovetailed sections over a horizontal- 

 ly projecting ei.d of a 2x:* inch strip of wood 

 and proceeded to hang weights from the 

 centre of the bottom bar. They each pulled 

 apart at 12 lbs. weight. 



I then took three of my basswood one- 

 piece sections (not selected), from a box 

 where they had been made up and drying all 

 summer. I nailed the one dovetailed corner 

 Land hung on weights as before — the weights 

 being nails dropped into a pail which was 

 suspended from the bottom bar of the sec- 

 tions by a hook. 



One V groove corner gave away at 22 lbs. 

 The other two sections supported a weight 

 of 41 lbs. each, when the bottom bars broke 

 in the middle. 



What this has to do with "mistakes" I 

 leave the reader to decide. 



Mt. Veenon, Iowa, -Jan. 20, 1889. 



Friend Foster suppose that, instead of 

 hanging up a section on a peg and seeing 

 how heavy a weight it will sustain, we try 

 and see how far we can press it " out of 

 square " without breaking it. Don't you see 

 that such tests as these are of little value ? 

 The proof of the pudding is jn the eating ; 

 so the proper test of a section box is its 

 legitimate use in the apiary, the honey-room, 

 and the market. 



Non-Specialty.— Too Great Haste for Increase. 

 — Too Much or Too Little Manipulation. 



E. L. TAVLOE. 



fHE SUB.JECT you have chosen for the 

 February Review is a very interesting 

 one, and no doubt the discussion of it 

 will prove very profitable. Lack of 

 time prevents my taking such part in it as I 

 would desire. 



The point you make, that of keeping too 

 few bees, is a good one : but you will observe 

 that it is aimed straight at the non-specialist. 

 Nevertheless, it seems undeniable that there 

 is great economy in having as few things as 

 possible to do and as much of them as can 

 be managed. The per cent, of cost in doing 

 a small amount of business in a given line 

 is, as a general rule, much greater than in 

 doing a large amount, and very frequently 

 makes all the difference between success and 

 failure ; and, moreover, time is not long 

 enough to do everything, nor to learn every- 

 thing. He who is strictly a non-specialist is 



much of a slave. He has something to do 

 every week of the year and scarcely gets 

 time to lift up his head and look around to 

 see what he is accomplishing and how he is 

 doing his work. He does not get time to 

 love and take pride in anything which, like a 

 quarry-slave, he is driven to do. He does 

 not work long enough at any one thing to 

 learn to take delight in it. Everyone has 

 the largest success as a specialist. Terry is 

 known the world over because he is a spe- 

 cialist in the production of that plebian 

 tuber, called the potato ; the name of Cook 

 is familiar everywhere because nothing avails 

 to turn his eye from the one thing — ento- 

 mology. There may be excuse for having 

 many irons in the fire for reasons of taste, 

 but none for reasons of profit. 



But this very argument is perhaps likely 

 to lead to the commission of another mis- 

 take which is often made by the enthusiastic 

 and ambitious novice, that of attempting to 

 increase the number of his colonies too 

 rapidly. I suppose no other mistake is so 

 disastrous as is this on account of its fre- 

 quency and results. To the beginner this is 

 very tempting ground, and numerous in- 

 stances have come under my personal ob- 

 servation where from too much dividing all 

 have been lost during the succeeding winter, 

 and the business abandoned in disgust. 



The beginning should be small, and practi- 

 cal knowledge and skill should keep pace 

 with the increase of colonies. 



Mistakes in the matter of manipulation 

 deserve frequent notice. They are made 

 both ways : they may be too little or too 

 much. In my own practice it has been de-' 

 creasing with each season ; partly from ne- 

 cessity and partly for economy, and the 

 question still is. am I not manipulating too 

 much 'i That is, would it not be more profit- 

 able to increase the number of my colonies 

 by fifty per cent and at the same time not 

 increase the amount of labor bestowed upon 

 them ? 



But, on the other hand, to the novice in 

 bee-keeping, manipulation is a training- 

 school, and he makes a fatal mistake when 

 he concludes that the learning he may get 

 from books can supply the place of that to 

 be got from this school. By far the most 

 practical and useful knowledge is that se- 

 cured through one's own eyes in actual ex- 

 periment. The learner must remember that 

 he is a learner, and that thorough knowledge 

 is the only guaranty of final success. To 

 such an one there should be manipulation in 

 season and out of season. For the present 

 the object is to ol)tain knowledge, experience, 

 and a taste for the business, not a money 

 profit. Either from indolence, fear, or a 

 pressure of other work, this is a very com- 

 mon mistake, and herein lies the reason that 

 the non-specialist must, as a rule, fail in the 

 business of bee-keeping. 



I have only room to confess, in conclusion, 

 that so late as a year ago I made the mistake 

 of trying to winter over fifty colonies out of 

 doors, but the lesson I got prevented a repe- 

 tition. I must also, in fairness, admit that, 

 as I now see it, I have not committed any 

 other serious one for several years. 

 Lapeee, Mich., Feb. 1, 1889. 



