THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



23 



In addition to the above I have re- 

 cently received a nice, long', visitin^^ 

 letter from a good friend down in New 

 Jersey, telling ine, enthusiasticalljs 

 how he had started a small apiary, 

 how much honey he had produced, how 

 he had sold it for good prices, at the 

 same time "downing" the artificial- 

 comb-honey-stories in many cases, and 

 he winds up by asking me if I can see 

 anything derogatory in such bee-keep- 

 ing as that. I do not. I doubt not 

 that many professional and business 

 men can find pleasure and some profit 

 in bee-keeping in a small way. It is 

 more in the way of a recreation, than, 

 as a business, that it would help that 

 class of men. Photog^raphy does the 

 same for me. It is a relief to the mind 

 lo be able to turn to some agreeable 

 occupation, simply for the love of it. 

 If any one thinks that I have no love 

 for such bee-keepers, no sympathy for 

 them, he is grandly mistaken. Then 

 the beginner in bee-keeping, even 

 though he intends to eventually become 

 a specialist, must have some other 

 occupation at first. There will always 

 be men who keep bees in a small way, 

 but the man who has a business that is 

 is capable of absorbing all of his time, 

 money and energies, and then deliber- 

 ately adds bee-keeping to his business, 

 hoping- and expecting to make it ihe 

 equal of his orig^inal business, and 

 thereby better his fortune, is quite 

 likely to be disappointed. Worse still 

 is the bee-keeper who might be termed 

 a Aay-specialist; one with perhaps 50 

 or 100 colonies of bees, who dares not 

 drop one business and make a specialty 

 of the other. It is for this man I have 

 preached more bees and specialty. 



Regardless of what it may have been 

 in the past, or may become in the 

 future, the Review is now emphatically 

 the specialist's journal. Its editor is 

 full to overflowing with enthusiasm for 

 bee-keeping as a ousiness, and the en- 

 thusiasm shows n his journal. Of 

 course, it contains many things that 



are of interest and profit to the amateur, 

 or the small bee-keeper, it could not be 

 otherwise, but its main bent is thdt of 

 helping the man who is trying to make 

 money out of bees. How long will it 

 continue on this track ? Candidly, I 

 don't know. Changes are sometimes 

 wrought in ways of which we dream 

 not. There is a thought comes to me : 

 These ambitious daj's of mine may 

 sometime be over. Whitened locks may 

 crown my temples. Going to and fro 

 about the country, and managing out- 

 apiaries may be beyond my strength. 

 I may yet find my chief pleasure with 

 a few bees at home, or by my fireside, 

 where with pencil in hand I will most 

 thoroughly review apicultural litera- 

 ture, drawing from the experience of 

 the piast, in which case, the Review 

 will once more be true to its name. 

 The picture is not an unpleasasant one 

 and it may be nearer than I imag"ine, 

 but until it comes to me, I shall con- 

 tinue to "Hurrah boys; let's keep more 

 bees — and make some money !" 



««^j<^^m«^ 



Don't Use Second Hand Cans. 



I have used nearly 200 cases of second 

 cans, some of them pretty fair cans, 

 but I shall never buy any more. Thirty- 

 two out of this lot had to be discarded 

 on account of rust on the inside, 

 Many of the others, while perfectl}' 

 brig-ht on the inside, were rusty or 

 dirty on the outside, while many of the 

 cases were bruised, or battered, or 

 split, and more or less dirtied or 

 soiled. Many of the cans were jammed 

 or battered, and, in some cases they 

 leaked. I have a few cases left, and 

 may use them to store buckwheat 

 hone\', and then I am done with second 

 hand cans. I don't regret the experi- 

 ence, as it will enable me to speak 

 from experience, and to warn others 

 against their use. To produce the 

 finest hone}' in the world, white, clear, 

 thick, heavy and aromatic, nectar fit 

 for the g-ods, and then store it in old. 



