No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 695 



As bee-keeping is naturally a rural pursuit, it follows that the 

 great majority of bee-keepers own or live on small pieces of land, 

 which they cultivate to some extent as an adjunct to their regular 

 business of keeping bees, and the income from -this source must of 

 course be reckoned as a part of the proceeds of the business. The 

 bee-keeper may perhaps keep a horse^ a cow, a few hens, and several 

 hogs, the proceeds from which very materially adds to his income, 

 and yet not destroy his just title of specialist. We cannot truth- 

 fully say that the farmer is any less a farmer or that he does not 

 pursue the business of farming, because he does some odd jobs for 

 a neighbor with his team or some work in a different line in the 

 winter months when there is a slack time on the farm. Therefore 

 we shall have to consider bee-keeping as a business on these same 

 lines. I, however, agree with Mr. Hutchinson, in his paper read at 

 the St. Louis convention, that general farming or any other occu- 

 pation that takes up the greater part of one's time, will not work 

 with bee-keeping, and is therefore not admissible as an adjunct to 

 the successful cultivation of the honey-bee. Yet we cannot ignore 

 the fact that a large proportion of the bees in Pennsylvania are kept 

 upon the farms. It is advisable that farmers keep a few bees 

 to fertilize the blossoms of the field, orchard and garden. The bees 

 thus kept generally supply the farmer's table with honey, and he 

 often has some to sell besides, although the amount is not equal to 

 that taken by the specialist, and is almost always inferior in appear- 

 ance, due generally to neglect and failure to give the proper atten- 

 tion to the bees when storing. But with all this neglect, almost 

 allowing the bees to shift for themselves, we frequently hear farmers 

 say that their bees are the most profitable thing on the farm. If 

 bees are profitable when kept on the farm, as a side issue, then they 

 must be very profitable when kept without another hampering occu- 

 pation in the way. 



I venture the assertion, without the risk of contradiction, that 

 there is no other rural pursuit that will bring the returns in ready 

 cash that bee-keeping will, taking into account the capital invested 

 and labor involved. 



Bee-keeping has always been considered by some as an uncertain 

 and risky business, due to the fact that flowers fail to yield nectar 

 in some seasons, and to the heavy winter losses which have fre- 

 quently taken place. To the first, I would say that we do sometimes 

 have poor seasons when bees do not gather a surplus of honey for 

 their keepers, but those seasons come only occasionally and the 

 profit secured from the bees in the good seasons ought and will 

 carry the bee-keeper over the poor ones. In speaking of the winter 

 losses, I would say that they are not so great now as they were in 

 former years, due largely to the fact that bee-keepers are learning 

 more about the wintering problem. By giving proper protection 

 during winter (other conditions being equal), there need be no 

 great fear on that score, if the bee-keeper thoroughly understands 

 his business. I, therefore, believe that the investment of capital in 

 the bee business is attended with no greater risk of loss than if 

 invested in any other legitimate business venture. 



If we have once decided to make bee-keeping our business, and 

 have any hampering prefixes or -suffixes coupled with it, we must 

 begin at once to amputate at both ends if we expect to have a full 



