THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



203 



cialty ill manufacture" does not put sections 

 together, nor put in the iouudatiun, where 

 one is raising comb honey. ^Vhere extracted 

 honey is being raised, for the first few years 

 he will find plenty to do in preparing his 

 additional surplus receptacles, and in get- 

 ting the hives ready for increase, and, after 

 a few years, when he has so many colonies 

 and so many surplus receptacles ready, that 

 he need not work in that line, he will have 

 such a good business that he can rest, rec- 

 reate and cultivate his mind and morals 

 through the winter. He may be so located 

 that lie can have a lot of fun with his gun or 

 something else. ^Ve were not made to work 

 all the time. If we do not live a little as we 

 go along, when will we live ? 



But then, you want to know what the poor 

 fellow is going to do winters when he is 

 starting out in the business, and before he 

 has grown up to many colonies. If you will 

 allow me to say that you never made a worse 

 mistake than when you even hinted at fruit 

 raising, something that requires all its due 

 attention just at the time when the bees do, 

 I will then say that your leader in last issue 

 just about covers the ground. Nobody 

 should try to say what it is~best for anyone 

 to do. A man who has got half gumption 

 enough to succeed in the bee business will 

 know better what to do as conditions present 

 themselves, than any one can tell him in any 

 article; for everyone's surroundings and 

 capabilities are different from every one 

 else's, and I would not for the world under- 

 take to even hint at what -John Smith or 

 Henry Jones had best do in connection with 

 bee-keeping, so long as he is in the predica- 

 ment when something must be done. What- 

 ever you do, don't let it carry away a 

 large portion of your mental energy. Keep 

 your mind on the bee businees, or else keep 

 your hands out of it, will be my parting 

 words. 



DowAGiAo, Mich., Nov. 21, 1889. 



Friend H., when we spoke of fruit raising, 

 we meant the raising of apples or other fall 

 fruit. We did not suppose that anyone 

 would think of such a thing as growing 

 small fruits, the ripened clusters of which 

 would hang side by side upon the same bush 

 with clustering swarms. 



Let Bee-Keepers Keep "Jerseys," and Make 

 Butter in the Winter. 



T. B. TEBRY. 



IRIEND HUTCHINSON.— The writer 

 is something of a specialist; at least, 

 he is often called such. But, in truth, 

 he is simply a farmer with about one- 

 third as many irons in the fire as most 

 farmers have. He believes in undertaking 

 no more than can be done thoroughly well. 

 We grow three crops — potatoes, wheat and 

 clover. The potatoes are the main money 

 crop, of course. But, during all the years 

 that we have grown potatoes, there hasn't 

 been one when we haven't made a comfort- 

 able living and more. 



After reading the November number of 

 tiie Kkview, it seemed to me tliat 1 wouldn't 

 want to be a bee-keeping specialist. I 

 wouldn't risk making a specialty of a busi- 

 ness that might fail three seasons in succes- 

 sion, or even one for that matter. There 

 would be too much anxiety and worry con- 

 nected with such a business. Like Mr. 

 Hunt, I would combine bee-keeping and 

 farming; not mixed farming by any means; 

 but just enough to keep me busy, as far as 

 possible when the bees needed the least at- 

 tention, and enough to insure me a living 

 any way. 



i couldn't advise small fruit growing, nor 

 yet potatoes, for bee-keepers, as they require 

 one's undivided attention at certain times, 

 the same as bees. As a good German friend 

 said at an institute last winter: "they won't 

 splice." But I see no reason why a bee- 

 keeper may not attend to a little dairy of 

 cows, if he has a few acres of land. He has 

 nothing to do winters that pays. I would 

 have the cows fresh in the fall, as soon as 

 business among the bees began to be slack. 

 One could milk, care for the butter, and 

 raise some good calves on the skim milk, 

 having paying work until the bees needed 

 his time again. Then the calves could be 

 weaned, some young calves secured and put 

 onto the cows, and all turned out to pasture 

 for the summer, the young calves to be sold 

 when good veal. For crops, I would grow 

 clover, corn for ensilage, oats and wheat; a 

 four years' rotation. Would put the first 

 three crops for the most part in the silo, 

 using the straw from the wheat for bedding 

 the stock. I would leave the oats out, if it 

 were possible to get the wheat in after the 

 ensilage co-rn. These crops could be grown 

 fairly well and secured in this way without 

 that constant attention, or care at just the 

 right time, that potatoes and small fruits 

 require. 



My business is much like bee-keeping, 

 only it always pays. We are kept pretty 

 busy through the summer season ancl have 

 next to nothing to do winters. At present 

 the farmers' institutes take up most of my 

 time through the cold months. If I were 

 at home I couldn't be idle, and would prob- 

 ably get a few Jerseys and do something as 

 above. 



I should object to sheep husbandry, which 

 you mention, as it wouldn't give winter 

 work enough. Most of the work would be 

 getting food ready for winter. Ten good 

 cows would keep me steadily at work, mak- 

 ing the butter and caring for them, and if 

 they were good ones, and I did my part 

 well, there should be an income of $2 or $3 

 a day, seven days in a week. 



There is the rub with me, however. If the 

 cows could only be gone Sundays! But the 

 brightest rosea have thorns. 



Now, friend H., I think farming, if not 

 too mixed, and properly systematized, the 

 best business on earth, all things considered, 

 and, although, of course there are many 

 other things that bee-keepers might do 

 winters, it seems to me that nothing else 

 would quite so naturally "splice" in as a 

 little good farming, properly arranged, for 

 those who need some other business. 



