The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-08-07
c u m S t an nces that

those whom the gods seem to favor
That moneysis to be made in bee keep
Ing goes without saying, but those who
depend solely upon this sort Of bust
- iIess for their livelihood are, all things
considered, likely to have. a meager
one, If they do not come to grief alto
gether,'' and the speaker, an old bee
keeper, deliberately pinched off a cou-
pie Of superfluous queen cells from
the frame he was examining and slip
ped it gently down among the gold
handed Italians that buzzed and fut-s
tered around his hands.
ss5S "a great many more people would
keep bees if they were not afraid Of
them, and they are afraid Of them
simply because they do not take the
trouble to get acquainted with them
If kept a flock of: pigeons and went
near them but once III a few weeks and
then made great deal OF fuss if they
came near me, the probabilities are
that they would beat their lives out
against the bars of the cage. It
sounds rather drol1 to many persons to
talk about getting intimately acquaint-
ed with honey bees, but can say from
experience that this is entirely possible
and that most PEOPLE can handle bees
with perfect safety and comfort if they
only set about it in the right way.
Quiet, deliberate handling is one Of the
necessities, and contact and familiar
s1ty the pretty creatures breeds
admiral ton and respect. never get.
a sting unless hurt one ofstheS bees,
or happen to come across one Of the
cTanks that almost every hive con
tains. It lis a curious fact that even
in the gentlest colonies there may be
two or three exceedingly ill-tempered
bees. They viii follow one ali about
the place, almost intQ the house; some
times quite through the door. make
It a rule to kill such bees whenever /
find ind them. They are annoying and not
worth keeping. The hives should be
opened, if possible, on a bright sun
ny day, when there is little or no
wind. A breeze blowing across the
hive irritates the bees, and on dull.
days the majority of them are likely
TO be hanging around home. When
the weather is clear and sunshiny. they
are out foraging for nectar, and the
hive will contain not much more than
half the usual number of workers.
Whenever a hive is opened there are
Two things to think of. One is to see
that the queen is there and all right;
the other to examine for queen cells.
1t there are capped cells one must
either destroy them or remove the
frame to a queen1ess colony or start a
new one. It is possible to almost en-
tlfely control sWarming, and it is much
easier to pinch out the queen cells than
to chase an abgconding colony up hill
and down dale, and then be obliged to
climb ~ trees and saw limbs, with the
chances against the hunter Of getting
the swarm intact. Handled on proper
lines l1l' eight or ten colonies of bees
I ought to pay the grocer's bills for a
small family. Almost all grocers will
take a few pounds of honey, and it
counts up rapidly. Of course it is not
meant by this bit Of counsel that. every
body should go to raising honey, as
that hat would be as improyident as for
every man to turn blacksmith or car
penter. AS an exclusive business. bee
keeping is not to be recommended,
but as a supp Elementary occupation to
other pursuits, il is one of the most adj
fm1lrable NIL and least laborious Of the
money money methods whereby one may turn
an honest penny