BEEKEEPING AS A SIDE-ISSUE IN THE PROFESSION * 

 Reverend Isaac V. Lobdell, Troy, N. Y. 



Father was a beekeeper before I was born. When old enough I 

 became his assistant, helping in the shop and yard. My work 

 was largely in the former, however, and consisted in the usnal 

 routine work of folding sections, filling them with foundation, pre- 

 paring supers for the hive, cleaning honey, etc. 



One day I was called from play to help hive a swarm of bees ; 

 being barefooted, I put on a pair of father's rubber boots for 

 protection. As the swann was shaken from the limb to which 

 it had clustered, a good-sized bunch missed the pan held to catch 

 them, dropped down the inside of those boots and mingled with a 

 pair of bare feet. My interest in bees immediately became an 

 all-absorbing passion. I dare say no boy ever relieved his feet 

 of a pair of boots, or made a " get away " for a hundred yard 

 dash more quickh' than that barefooted assistant. Perhaps the 

 incident had something to do with my youthful preference for 

 the shop end of beekeeping. Interest in the work of the apiary 

 came, however, in due time. 



On my return from college one summer, father gave me three of 

 his strongest and best colonies ; this, with a larger share of re- 

 sponsibility in the care of the apiary, brought on an incurable case 

 of real bee fever. 



ISTow I am a minister with a hobby — beekeeping. On my 

 first charge, in the hours spent in my little apiary, I courted 

 good health and made my escape from the worries and anxieties 

 that inevitably beset the path of the young minister. 



At present I have about sixty colonies on my father's place, 

 thirty miles from Troy. When I go home for a day or two I 

 find joy in caring for my bees and here I spend July and August, 

 returning to my parish, tanned, optimistic, full of hope and ready 

 for the work before me. ISTothing can surpass beekeeping as a 

 side-issue in the profession, and few things equal it. 



First. It promotes health. The busy man too often neglects 



* Given at Eastern New York Beekeepers' Convention at Albany, N. Y., 

 December, 1912. 



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