The Columbus journal., 1890-03-05
BEE KEEPING.

BEE KEEPING.
Is it Practicable or Desirable for the Az.
erage Farmer?
Following is a paper read before the
Farmers Institute of Platte and adjoin.
ing counties at Columbus, by Mrs. J. n.
Heater, Feb. q, 1890:
Upon receiving a request from your
committee for q paper on this subject, ]
was somewhat surprised that it should
he considered a question, as to whether
the keeping of bees is practicable
or desirable TO. the average farmer,
since bee : keeping is strictly an
agricultural pursuit, and OF the
utmost importance to the farmer, il
the honey consideration were not taken
into account at all. Man in his selfish.
ness fosters those pursuits which give
promise of profit or pleasure to himself,
and according to Samantha Allen must
he reasoned with by way of his stomach,
SO, with visions Of quantities Of honey,
he makes his investment in bees, not
knowing he is to receive another and
perhaps greater reward. To be a bee
keeper it does not follow that one must
be a master or specialist, any more than
he must he a fancier in order to raise his
own fowls.
In our opinion there is no more fitting
place on earth for the keeping of bees,
than on the farm; providing, of course,
that the farmer-Or his wife-has the
time and inclination to give them prop
er attention. One gentleman living
near town bought a single swarm and in
one years time found himself the pos
SCISSOR of four colonies of bees and forty
pounds of surplus honey. Another
farmer bought one colony, and at the
end of three years, had eleven colonies
of bees, and an abundant supply of
honey during the whole time, for a large
family. These are not cited as extraOr-
binary cases by any means, but simply
to show what ordinary farmers in your
midst are doing, who make no preten-
tiOns to giving their bees special care.
l might refer you to Others, present with
us today, who are giving more time and
attention to this branch of their work,
and making a grand ucces of it. Let
no n suppose, however, that bee-keep-
ing is a pleasant pastime which lazy
and incompetent people can take up with
success. The man who always drives
poor horses and finds winter storage for
his farm machinery in the open field,
has no business with bees. But any man
or woman who will learn the business
and begin wisely, can find in bee-keep-
ing with farming, a healthful pursuit;
and supply their own tables at least,
with a pure, delicious article of food to
take the place of the adulterated sweets
which they are forced to take at the
stores. This, however, is only an indi-
vidual benefit, except as the possessor
may choose to share the spoil with his
fellow man, but there is another benefit
which the neighbor shares equally with
the owner; for our little pets, though
seldom accorded the compliment, are
direct benefactOrs to the florist, horti-
culturist and farmer-in fact to any one
who wishes to produce fruit, grain or
vegetables, by their constant visits from
blossom to blossom, carrying the pollen
from the anthers of one to the stigmas
of another of the same kind; and any
one with the most meagre knowledge of
botany will understand that this ia the
plan of the Creator, fer the reproduction
of the vegetable kingdom; else, why
would flowers depending on insect fertil-
ization be SO cunningly constructed that
in order to reach the honey, the insect
must forcibly brush against the pollen,
thus busting itself in one flower and
carrying it to another, where the pro-
cess is repeated? In this connection
We plainly see wisdom in the instinct
with which the honey bee is endowed,
to visit the same species of plant or
flower until a full load of honey is OBJ
tanned. Other insects do, indeed, play
part in this important work, but
other honey and pollen gathering in
sect increases with such rapidity in the
before fruit trees and small fruits
blossom.
An excellent authority places the
number of colonies of bees in the United
States, in 1881, at 3,OOONOO. During the
working season the average number of
bees per colony is from $4,000 to 10000.
Who then can estimate the benefit to
the crops OF fruit and grain, derived
through the agencies of such myriads of
little marriage priests among the flowers?
This alone would warrant the keeping OF
bees in many localities, as indeed, is
done. A fruit grower OF Madison
county, Neb., bought q colony of bees
for the purpose OF having them fer
tilize the blossoms of a half acre Of
of a certain variety, and
was repaid with a fine setting OF fruit, |
while in previous years he had only OBJ
a partial crop. Charles Darwin, |
eminent English naturalist whose
experiments have added 30 much
to our knowledge of plants and insect
life, states in his work on Cross and Self
Fertilization, that out of 125 species that
he covered with netting, excluding in
scots when in bloom, more than half
we're entirely sterile, or produced less
than half the number OF seeds of the IN
protected plants. I will cite only two
Of the many so treated by him, namely,
white and red clover, I quote: Several
plants were protected from insects and !
the seeds from ten flower heads of these
and from tel heads on other
plants grown outside the net (Which II
saw visited by bees) were counted, and
the seeds from the latter plants we're
very nearly ten times as numerous as
those from the protected plants. The
was repeated the following
year, and twenty protected heads now
only a single aborted seed,
whilst twenty heads on plants outside
the net (which I saw visited by bees)
1880 seeds. OF red clover 100
hoodo Oava nnfhin0 and i