435 
Iu some way we must put more hope 
and spirit into our business. Like the 
flying machine and the bird, we shall be 
saved from falling by moving ahead, 
thinking ahead, and above all believing 
iu our own business. 
Got to do it ourselves then? 
Got to do it ourselves! Name one 
single thing we haw* handed over to other 
classes to do for us. -I will promptly 
show that we have paid such servants 
more than 65 per cent of the benefits. 
We must do this ourselves and, what is 
more, v:c are going to do it. H. w. c. 
Beekeeping as a Side Line 
We became interested in bees first as 
polleuizers. We noticed we were getting 
very light yields of fruit, also of squash, 
cantaloupes, cucumbers, etc. There were 
no bees in the neighborhood nearer than 
three miles, and we seldom saw one at 
work on tha. place. We thought lack of 
bees must be the trouble, so secured some, 
and after a thorough trial are convinced 
that no one growing fruit or vegetables 
requiring the work of insects at blooming 
to insure a good set of fruit, should fail 
to see that there are bees working on his 
place. Also, every fruit grower should 
time his spraying so as not to poison these 
helpful little fellows when they are work¬ 
ing on the blossoms. 
At the present time we have 35 colonies 
of bees, and find that they make quite a 
profitable side line in addition to their 
value as pollenizers. Our system of man¬ 
agement is not the best, as we have not 
the extra help, nor sufficient time to give 
them the care that would bring large 
financial returns. The plan we have 
worked out as being best fi r us is about 
as follows: We produce extracted honey 
only, as there is less tendency to swarm 
than when producing comb honey. We 
use eight-frame standard hives, and have 
ou hand five of these eight-frame hive 
bodies for each colony. The bees are 
wintered over in two of these eight-frame 
bodies, ample honey being left iu them 
to afford sufficient Winter feed. In the 
early Spring before other work is press¬ 
ing. each colony is gone over thoroughly 
to see that it is in good condition, has a 
good queen and enough honey for brood 
rearing. That is all until fruit blooming 
time. By then the colonies are pretty 
well filled with bees and would soon start 
swarming. This is also our busiest time 
of year. The bees cannot be gone over 
thoroughly at this time, so a peep is taken 
at the entrance. If the bees seem plenti¬ 
ful and are.carrying in pollen we assume 
the colony is fairly strong and is rearing 
brood. Only the apparently weak colonies 
are looked into to see what may be wrong. 
The colonies in good shape have a queen 
excluder placed above the two hive bodies 
the bees have wintered over in, and a 
couple of hive bodies, each containing 
empty frames of old combs, placed over 
them. The excluder keeps the queen be¬ 
low. yet allows the worker bees to go 
above and fill the upper hives with honey. 
This gives ample room for any honey 
that may come in from White clover. 
Later, iu July, before the flow of honey 
from Fall flowers starts a peep is taken 
at the entrances to see if the colony is 
O. K. and also under the cover to see 
if any additional room is required. If 
so. the additional hive body is added. 
There is some swarming by this method, 
but not much. The few swarms we have 
are hived at noon or night, or when con¬ 
venient. and require but a few- minutes, 
as extra hives are made ready iu the 
Winter for just such happenings. 
All honey is left on the hives until late 
October, when work is slack. To get 
the honey off a bee escape board is placed 
under the hives containing the honey, 
and allowed to- remain about 24 hours. 
By that time the bees will have gone 
below into the two hives iu which they 
are wintered over. The hive bodies con¬ 
taining the lmney are removed, and the 
honey extracted. A small extraeter is 
used. The honey is strained into a set¬ 
tling tank, and a few hours later drawn 
off into 60-lb. cans. It is then ready for 
market. At this time the bees are also 
gone over pretty thoroughly, a d we try 
to have each colony go into Vinter iu 
good condition and with an ample supply 
of honey. Last year. 10IK. we had 1.400 
lbs. of surplus honey and sold it all whole¬ 
sale at 25c per lb. The year before there 
were 1,600 lbs., and that sold at lOVfcc 
per lb. 
This, briefly, is our method of manage¬ 
ment. It is not ideal, and cannot be made 
so while the bees are carried merely as a 
side line in connection with our truck 
growing, but we have had enough experi¬ 
ence to know that additional care and 
work would be largely repaid by far 
larger yields of honey. It would also 
seem as though bee-keeping would be a 
fine thing for the young people and women 
folks to become interested in, and from 
which they could no doul t secure con¬ 
siderable pin money. 
Beginners can.learn easily, but I would 
suggest that they start small. First get 
a good book on the management of bees. 
The best I know of is A II (' and X Y Z 
of Bee Culture. Study the book, then get 
but one or two colonies, and experiment. 
You may not know whether you want to 
produce comb honey or extracted. The 
decision should be made while there are 
only a few colonies, and there will then 
be no big loss that always comes by 
making the change after a large apiary 
has been established. The old black bee 
is generally held as being much inferior 
to the Italian as honey “gatherers.” After 
trying both we would dislike very much 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
to have anything but Italians. Another 
thing to avoid is the old box hive. Get 
movable frame hives of some standard 
make. Some like ourselves use the eight- 
frame. but the tendency now is toward 
the 10-frame hive. Try both if you wish 
while you still have only a few colonies, 
but after deciding which you prefer stick 
to that, and as your apiary grows buy 
only that size hive and all other equip¬ 
ment to match. Nothing is more exas¬ 
perating than to have an apiary with two 
or more sizes of hives and* fixtures. Be¬ 
ginners always make mistakes. A mis¬ 
take made with one or two colonies is 
not costly, and the lesson taught is just 
as valuable as though it had been made 
with 50 colonies at a loss of several hun¬ 
dred dollars. 
Some locations are not as good as 
others for producing honey. This is an 
additional reason for trying only a few 
colonies first. . Some locations will sup¬ 
port 100 colonies or more, others not so 
many. When a bee-keeper has an apiary 
in a certain location it is not wise to 
start another within less than three miles 
of him. If a second apiary should be 
started near the first one the chances are 
neither one would be profitable. Some 
people have a natural dread of bees be¬ 
cause of their reputation of stinging. A 
veil, pair of gloves and smoker will take 
care of that part, of it, and with ordinary 
caie one is seldom stung. As for being 
interesting, I know of nothing about the 
iarm that is more fascinating and in- 
th ? n , t ,° watch and study the 
little busy bee. There are manv locali¬ 
ties where there are no bees to gather 
honey that is annually going to waste. 
It is in just these sections that our voung 
people can make a start with bees. Larger 
yields of fruit and vegetables will result, 
and the young people can find an enjov- 
inent and source of never-failing interest 
that cannot be equalled by the best 
movie the city ever produced. 
TRUCKER. JR. 
Hog Manure for Sweet Potatoes 
I have some hog manure that I have 
been flunking of broadcasting for sweet 
potatoes, but before doing so thought best 
to write you as to what you think of this 
use. 1 he manure, of course, consists of 
the droppings from the hogs, using a bed¬ 
ding of pine needles and straw. The 
ground on which I propose to use it is 
light sandy land, with a clay bottom. The 
land was in sweets last season, and has 
now a set of rye for cover crop, which I 
am going to turn in after broadcastiug 
the hog manure, provided I conclude to 
use the manure in question. Do you think 
it would be wise to use the manure iu 
question, or do you think it would have a 
tendency to make the potatoes have dark 
skins? I am fully acquainted with the 
use of this kind of manure for white po- 
tatoes or corn. It is very good for either, 
but. as to the sweets, I have never had 
any experience. .iff 
Delmar. Del. 
, Hogpen manure is classed as one of the 
cold manures and hence usually gives 
better results on our hot. sandv soils than 
horse stable manure. I have used it here 
with good results, though not on sweet 
potatoes. If it is used at moderate rates 
in the furrows, and not less than 300 lbs. 
an acre of 16 per cent acid phosphate is 
added. I can see no reason whv it should 
not make a fairly good crop. As a rule. I 
have made the best sweet potatoes by 
Ufung a rather low-grade commercial fer¬ 
tilizer at. the rate of 500 lbs. Turn the 
rye under now. before it runs to head. 
It w ill now decay quickly, while when in 
head and strawy it is slower to rot and 
will do harm iu dry weather. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
A Sure Way to Germinate Parsley 
Ou page 270 I noticed your plea for an 
herb garden, and first on your list was 
parsley. Every Spring for six or seven 
years I sowed a packet of parsley seed 
with about the same results. About two 
or three plants, or more often it failed 
to appear at all. I always tried soaking 
over night without success; then, covering 
tne bed with wet newspapers, wet burlap, 
wet carpet—everything auyoue suggested, 
but. with poor success. Finally. I hit 
upon a plan and it has been so good I 
would like to pass it ou. 
Tie your parsley seed securelv iu a 
piece of strong cotton cloth (a piece of a 
salt bag will do) and soak bag of seed iu 
lukewarm water at least 24 hours. Now 
tie a stout string to the bag and plant the 
bag of seed under six or eight inches of 
soil in the garden: tie the string to a 
stake and drive stake in the ground so 
you won’t forget where you buried the 
bag. Leave it. in the ground for six or 
seven days, then take it up and sow your 
parsley where you want it. Nearly every 
seed will come up. Unless it has been 
very wet weather you will find very few 
of the seed sprouted at the end of a week 
Leaving it. in the ground for 10 days 
would do no harm. M. D. 
Ogdensburg. N. Y. 
The Doctor: “Since I’ve prescribed a 
wheatless diet for you. you might as well 
give me your bread card.”—Le Pele-Mele 
(Paris). 
, I s *>°y. Josh particular about his 
clothes?’ “I should say he is.” answered 
banner Corntossel. “Since he put off his 
uniform he’d rather wear overalls than 
one o’ them high-waisted overcoats.”— 
Washington Star. 
Get More Money 
For Your Work 
Worms and caterpillars, bad as they are, are not the 
cause of all poor fruit. Potato bugs and flea beetles are bad 
enough, but blight is worse. Plant diseases must be fought 
as well as worms and insects. Pyrox is the weapon to use 
against both. It also invigorates the plant or tree, resulting 
in products of superior size and quality. In order to get 
more money for your work spray with 
xvr 
U . 9 pat 
: MARK REOISTIRCO 
44 
TRAOC M 
The Spray that Adds to your Profits’ 
1 
It is an insecticide and fungicide combined,— a smooth, 
creamy paste, all ready to use by mixing with cold water. 
It mixes easily and saves time and labor. In a letter to a 
friend, the Editor of “The Fruit Belt” says: “I have made 
up many thousands of barrels of spray mixtures on the farm, 
and I can say to you I have mixed my last 
barrel. I now use Pyrox.” 
Pyrox is sold by most hardware, implement and 
seed stores. If your dealer can not supply you send 
us his name. 
If you would like to know how to protect your 
crops against the attacks of bugs, worms and disease, 
send for a free copy of the Pyrox Book. A postal card 
will bring it. 
T>1’0>C 
\ u ■ 
r Bowker Insecticide Company 
43-A Chatham St., Boston 1002 Fidelity Bldg., Baltimore 
You Know What You Are Getting When You Buy 
BdBl LAND I,me 
A. High Calcium Lime in Powder Form. It is sold under 
a GUARANTEED ANALYSIS. Shipped either in 50-lb. 
paper or 100-lb. cloth bags. Most dealers carry it in 
stock; if your dealer does not, please write us. 
ROCKLAND & ROCKPORT LIME CO. 
Boston, 45 Milk St. Rockland, Me. New York, 101 Park Ave. 
Something Better than 
Paris Green 
A; 
Our Experts 
will give you 
Free Advice 
" ' • - 
-< Ur-.'fLVL s -N'-yTr 
M 
■mim 
QPRAY your potatoes with Orchard Brand Arsen¬ 
ic ,te °A, Zl 5. c anc l see how Quickly it kills the 
bugs. It’s the poison that sticks to the vines. 
Rains do not wash it off readily, therefore fewer 
sprayings are necessary than when Paris Green is 
used. There is also less danger of burning plants. 
Use Orchard Brand Lazal for dusting. 
The standardized Bordeaux mixture, Bordeaux- 
Lead and Zinc-Bordeaux are dependable remedies 
for controlling fungous diseases of potatoes and 
fruit trees. 
The largest chemical company in America 
orfera to you personally the assistance of its 
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(GENERAL CHEMICAL CO., 
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