THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



323 



right side up there all the time. I know of 

 nothing better. In such a place failures 

 will not be frequent. To migratory bee 

 keeping there are to my mind serious objec- 

 tions. It is the source of much additional 

 labor and expense without securing corres- 

 pondingly greater certainty in results, and 

 besides, it largely prevents the adoption of 

 any of the usual avocations chosen to pre- 

 clude the total loss of income in case of the 

 failure of the honey crop. 



If one is not free to change his location 

 and has no income except from his labor and 

 plant, he must almost from necessity have 

 something to turn his hand to for living ex- 

 penses when there is no honey to sell. What 

 this shall be everyone can best determine for 

 himself. I wouldn't rely on deriving a living 

 profit from the invention of hives and api- 

 cultural devices. Inventors are a hungry lot 

 on the average. Perhaps running an apicul- 

 tural journal might do. They say there is 

 plenty of room at the top. There is at least 

 one advantage belonging to that business, 

 judging from the past, and that is, it seems 

 easy to get out of it when one finds it doesn't 

 pay or takes a dislike to it. The Editor, no 

 doubt, can inform us about it. Secor does 

 well writing poetry and Dr. Miller grows fat 

 singing it, or, will the Doctor tell us, has the 

 publishing of the Bee-Book something to do 

 with that ? The publishing of a political 

 newspaper as a side issue seems to keep life 

 in Heddon, 'tho' it has no fattening effect. 

 A knowledge of the carpenter's trade would 

 furnish a very good "remedy" for many. 

 For myself I like a few acres of ground for a 

 potato patch, a cow pasture, a clover and a 

 corn field, with an acre for vegetables and all 

 kinds of fruit. With this and willing hands 

 two or three years of scarcity may be bridged 

 very comfortably. 



I will close with the suggestion of one 

 other possible remedy. In my home apiary 

 the past season I had one swarm for about 

 every twenty-five colonies and an average of 

 about five pounds of comb honey to the col- 

 ony. But there was one colony that cast a 

 swarm and gave a surplus of seventy-five 

 pounds of comb honey over and above sufii- 

 cient winter stores for the two colonies. 

 From all appearances during the spring it 

 was no better than fifty others in the same 

 yard, and at no time would I have chosen it 

 as the best colony except as judged by the 

 results. There was no accession of bees 

 from other colonies nor any robbing. 



Wherein was the power of this colony ? 



f Was it in the fortuitous conjunction of con- 

 ditions at the most favorable times so as to 

 produce extraordinary exertion at the nick 

 of time y Did it possess a secret knowledge 

 of some rich acre of clover in a sunny nook ? 



. or was it possessed of in-bred characteristics 

 which gave it the power to excel ? If the 

 first, or the last, as seems most likely, we 

 have in them a rich field for exploration. 

 He who finds out how to time the conjunc- 

 tion of conditions and to perpetuate the 

 most desirable characteristics, will abolish 

 poor seasons, not simply find a doubtful 

 remedy therefor. 

 Lapeek, Mich., Dec. 1, 1891. 



The Law Governing Honey Secretion is a 



Puzzle. — Poor Seasons Bear the Most 



Heavily on the Specialist. 



C. O. MILLEK. 



ArERY wisely, 

 A you inquire as 

 to the cause in or- 

 der to know how to 

 apply the remedy. 

 So you want me to 

 tell why we have 

 had several years 

 of failure. Now, 

 there are some 

 men who are in- 

 clined to keep to 

 themselves the re- 

 sults of their investigations, but I am not 

 one of that sort. Moreover, if I were in- 

 clined to be secretive, I should hardly want 

 to keep a secret from one who, like you, has 

 always shown to me such a very friendly 

 spirit. Therefore I could not be asked to 

 tell you anything that would give me more 

 pleasure to tell than the cause of so many 

 poor seasons, and I would tell you in a min- 

 ute, but the fact is, I don't know. 



But if you had continuously good crops up 

 to the time of commencing the publication 

 of the Review, and have had nothing but 

 failures since, isn't it pretty clear that the 

 Review is at the bottom of all the trouble, 

 and that if said Review is squelched we shall 

 again have good crops ? 



After all, it's too serious a matter to laugh 

 about, and I, for one, am glad you have 

 selected it for your special topic. Perhaps 

 we may get some light on it, from some one, 



