State Bee-Keepers' Association. 51 



from a German farmer who had taken up a 'gum,' dug out the contents, 

 brood-combs, bee-bread, etc., with a good deal of the etc. We kept this 

 honey in a gallon crock and when either of us had a cold would eat some of 

 it, which was soon followed by pain in the stomach, and we jumped to the 

 conclusion that we could not eat honey — even a quarter of a teaspoonful 

 would cause pain. Neither of us had seen a section of white honey at that 

 time and but little honey stored in boxes. During the first two years of my 

 bee-keeping I never tasted honey, fearing pain if I did. One night while 

 suffering with a severe cold I read in a bee paper of the curative qualities of 

 honey for a cold . I made some mint tea and cut from a box about a pound 

 of choice white clover honey and commenced drinking the tea and eating 

 the honey and then retiring, slept the sleep of the just. Ever since then I 

 have eaten honey sick or well, night or day, in cold weather or warm, and 

 have felt no inconvenience from it. 'My son, eat thou honey because it is 

 good.' ■ 



"Farmers cannot thrive without bees. You all like to have fat, sleek 

 cattle and plenty of milk and butter. ■ You know the value of white clover in 

 your pastures, do you not ? White clover will not produce seed unless the 

 bees fertilize the bloom by carrying the father dust from flower to flower. 

 Red clover is dependent upon bumble-bees for fertilization in a great meas- 

 ure, and they should receive more encouragement from farmers than they 

 ilo. Why not stroke their glossy backs in lieu of sending boys to burn or 

 dig out their nests? They are your friends and helpers, and would it not be 

 better to mark their nests and shut them in by covering their holes with a 

 box when plowing or other work is to be done near them, and thus prevent 

 them from stinging the horses . 



. BEES TO fertilize FRUIT. 



"It used to be said of Western farmers that they lived upon hog and 

 hominy. This may have had a shadow of truth in the early settlement of the 

 country, for it takes time to raise fruit. A settler could break up the ground 

 and raise corn to fatten a pig the first year. Then as soon as he could com- 

 mand a little money he would buy fruit trees and endeavor to get the com- 

 forts of a home similar to the one he left farther East. I have . seen early 

 settlers ravenous for fruit ; they would hitch up their teams and drive many 

 miles to gather wild blackberries, and in the fall scour the woods along 

 streams in search of plums, crab-apples and wild grapes. 



"Everyone who has a home, either in town or country, should keep a 

 few colonies of bees for their own benefit and for the good of the land in 

 which we dwell. If you have had no previous knowledge in bee-culture, do 

 not buy more than two coloni^. Engage'them now before you forget it, for 

 spring is the best time to get them. Choose hives running over with Italians 

 and you will never regret the day you brought them home." 



UNIVERSITY OF 

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