ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



167 



BEE-KEEPING AS A BUSINESS. 



(By E. H. Bruner.) 



We hear very often of the busy bee 

 and .we are quite liable to think of 

 the bee-keeper as a busy man, but 

 not often is bee-keeping looked upon 

 as a business. 



It's true that most of us have. taken 

 up bee-keeping as a fad, and often it 

 is a profitable fad at that, but not 

 many of us make it a business. 



Webster, in his bit of literature 

 called the Unabridged, says business is 

 that which occupies the time, atten- 

 tion or labor of one as his principal 

 concern. 



In other words, business is that 

 about which one busies himself. But 

 even those of us who do not claim 

 bee-keeping as their principal concern 

 get so busy at it at certain times 

 that it would be hard to say just who 

 was the business bee-keeper, who the 

 faddist. 



Bee-keeping as a business is essen- 

 tially a manufacturing or producing 

 business. 



Every manufacturing business has 

 to -do with two principal problems: 

 First, production; second, distribution. 



In order to produce anything one 

 must have: 



First. Raw material to make it out 

 of. 



Second. Plant or equipment to 

 make it in or with. 



Third. Help or labor to do the 

 making. 



Fourth. Management to bring the 

 first three together in an effective way. 



After your goods are produced, you 

 face the problem of distribution, which 

 involves: 



First. Selling, which includes ad- 

 vertising or publicity. 



Second. Delivery. 



Raw material in bee-keeping, of 

 course, is the nectar in the bloom. 



In many maufacturing lines, one lo- 

 cates his factory at some central 

 shipping point and ships in his raw 

 material. In others, he goes to the 

 raw material and ships the product 

 out. 



To manufacture lumber, nowadays, 

 one goes where the timber grows. In 

 brick manufacturing, he locates at a 

 clay bank. In bee-keeping as a busi- 

 ness, one first finds a location that has 

 the raw material, ' the nectar in the 

 bloom. 



One might locate a sawmill where 



hazel brush or sumac was the only 

 growth, but he would not be consid- 

 ered a, good business man. He might 

 locate a brick making plant where he 

 had materials that would turn out 

 only second or third grade brick, but 

 his ability as a business man might 

 be questioned. 



And the business bee-keeper does 

 not long remain in a locality which 

 offers only poor quality or small 

 quantity of neotar. 



When the saw mill cuts out it is 

 torn down and moved; If our supply 

 of nectar drops off with the passing 

 of the seasons, we must look for a new 

 location or encourage the growith of 

 nectar bearing bloom — must reforest 

 as it were. 



In the days when cattle raising was 

 the principal business of the w^est, 

 cattle were driven from one range to 

 another as the supply of raw material, 

 that is the pasturage, ran short. 

 Neither are our ranges bounded by 

 fences and the business bee-keeper 

 who has not a range which affords 

 pasture during the whole season 

 should well consider the advisability 

 of moving his bees from one location 

 to another with the coming of differ- 

 ent Iioney flows. 



That bee-keeper who covers two or 

 three principal flows in a season is 

 the one who is looking out for his raw 

 material properly, who has this one es- 

 sential to production in bee-keeping 

 as a business provided for. If he can 

 do this without moving his bees, so 

 much better, but, if he cannot, then 

 moving is essential as a business prop- 

 osition. 



"Plant," or equipment, includes hives, 

 bees, tools, and, in bee-keeping as a 

 business, almost necessarily it w-ould 

 include one or more conveyances, 

 whether, horse or auto. 



Hives need not necessarily be the 

 highest priced, but must be bought for 

 their serviceability. 



"Plant" should include any labor- 

 raving tool that has been tried out and 

 found to be actually profit-paying. 

 This does not mean one should buy 

 every new thing as soon as brought 

 out, but it does mean the necessity of 

 investing in everything that is worth 

 while so soon as its utility has been 

 proven. 



As a business proposition "plant" 

 must include perfect combs so far as 

 they may be had by the use of full 



