MINNESOTA BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 317 



pact bunch of purple blossoms; they are usually so filled with honey that 

 the bees will neglect buckwheat, and other fall flowers, while they are in 

 blossom. 



The president then read a letter from Prof. McLean saying 

 on the account of sickness he would not be able to be with the 

 association. The members were very much disappointed in his 

 not being able to address the meeting, according to the pro- 

 err ame. 



QUESTION BOX. 



Question. ' 'How does beekeeping compare with other pursuits 

 upon which to depend for a living?" 



Wm. Danforth: I did not think of speaking on this subject, 

 and I am very poorly prepared. I can think way back a good 

 many years ago of those that I knew then who then got their 

 living entirely from the apiary. I do not know that I can re- 

 collect anybody that got enormously rich out of the business, 

 but I can think of those that got a comfortable living and made 

 a good business out of raising honey and would depend entirely 

 upon the bee for their living. 



I do not know how we would succeed in this country, but still 

 I do know that in my own experience I have made some years 

 a great deal of money out of bees, not anything like a great 

 amount, but some years I have made from five to six hundred 

 dollars out of my honey from fifty to sixty colonies of bees. I 

 do not know of anything that pays a greater percentage on the 

 outlay than the bees and the honey I get year after year from 

 my apiary. Now looking back to this past year it seems to me 

 we got a very small crop of honey, but with my own crop I got 

 something over thirty pounds, and when you reckon that up at 

 sixteen cents per pound it makes £4.80 per hive. I was selling 

 my hives in the spring for six and seven dollars per hive. Now 

 I have not got anything on my place that has paid me better 

 than my apiary. Of course, I put in some time, but I think it 

 has paid me well even with a small crop of honey, and I do cot 

 know of any business I would follow sooner for the money 

 there is in it than the bee business. I am satisfied that I or any 

 other man can take care of about two hundred colonies, and 

 last year I received over ten dollars per colony, and I do not 

 know of anything that I had upon my place that paid better 

 than the bees, and I think if I should devote my whole time to 

 the bee business I could make as much money as I could off my 



