ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 3 



more in the man than in the business. If the bee-keeper in the future 

 will take our leading bee journals he can, through their advice, shun so 

 many troubles that we older men had to bear that it Is almost like 

 another business — not but that it is still subject to many discouraging 

 conditions; and our inability to have any control over the season Is and 

 always will be its worst feature. But all lines of business have some 

 troubles with which to contend. When the farmer loses his stock it is 

 hard and costly to replace, and it often takes some time to do it; or when 

 jis crops are ruined by untimely frosts or protracted drouths the loss is 

 hard to bear and overcome. But when the bee-keeper loses a large per 

 cent of his bees he still has the hives and combs left; and if he has some 

 good colonies he can soon have his original number again with but little 

 expense, and usually secure some surplus besides. 



Here Is one great advantage our business has over many others. 

 Taking our bees safely through long cold winters and very changeable 

 spring weather, with small loss, has been a hard problem to solve; but 

 this part of the business is now so much better understood by nearly all 

 bee-keepers than it was a few years ago that we feel much encouraged 

 in eventually overcoming other troubles as we have this. 



Bach year brings some new methods perfected whereby our business 

 is placed on a more reliable basis than it formerly was, enabling us to 

 produce honey cheaper than we ever could before. Still, we have some 

 dark clouds of losses and disappointments hovering over us. I have seen 

 many through which it was almost Impossible to see a ray of silver lin- 

 ing; but as the mariner's compass will guide the ship safely through 

 ocean storms, so will continual perseverence lead you on and on through 

 the trying hours until a clear unclouded sunset welcomes you to a land 

 of rest. 



February, 1907. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A "FAIRLY GOOD LOCALITY"? IS IT BEST 



TO ALLOW THE FIRST HONEY TO FILL THE 



BROOD-CHAMBER ? 



It may not be out of place for me to descilbe what I consider a fairly 

 good locality. It is this: 



Any place, after June 1, that will furnish a harvest for 35 days, 

 sufficient for one colony of Italian bees of a good honey-gathering strain 

 to gather a surplus of 100 lbs. of extracted honey, is what I call a fairly 

 good location, and is as good a locality as this is; and all that we have 

 been able to secure more than that has been done by adapting certain 

 methods which the majority of bee-keepers have known but little about 

 until recently. 



Now as to the number of colonies that this or any other fairly good 

 location can furnish a good surplus for. That is a problem that no one 

 has ever been able to solve. I know that this location has furnished and 

 can furnish a surplus of just as many pounds of honey per colony for 750 



