144 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



mind way of writing-, so characteristic 

 of the writer. 



SPECIALISM. 



Specialism, specialism, is the key 

 note from cover to cover. Our piano 

 tuner learned his business in Boston, 

 30 years ag^o. We would not dare trust 

 the training- of our children's musical 

 ear to a tuner who tunes pianos this 

 year, runs a merchantile busi- 

 ness next year, and perhaps a stock 

 ranch the next. Specialism is the magic 

 word; and bee-keeping- is no excep- 

 tion. 



CUT OUT UNPROFITABLE MAIPULATION. 



The man who will learn his business 

 thoroughly, in every detail, and then 

 practice good business principles, will 

 soon learn to distinguish between those 

 manipulations that/xy, and those that 

 do not pay. I think we will have to 

 go even a little farther than that, by 

 cutting- out some manipulations that 

 pay, for some that pay a good deal 

 better. To illustrate: For many years 

 I had only one bee-yard, and that at 

 home, and it was worked for extracted 

 honey, the same as now, and I used to 

 put a good deal of work upon it; 

 thought I had to be chere most of the 

 time, during swarming season, to hive 

 the ten or a dozen swarms that would 

 issue during the season. Then the bee 

 journals told us we ought to feed, to 

 stimulate during spring; and I had to 

 try my hand at spreading the brood, 

 to get large colonies, for the honey 

 flow in June. I now put about the 

 same amount of work on three yards 

 that I used to put on one, and I harvest 

 more than tcuice as much honey. In this 

 way I have doubled my earning power 

 and my income, even after making 

 allowances for the interest on the 

 capital invested in the two extra 

 yards. 



AN EXCELLENT PROVERB MISAPPLIED. 



One more illustration: Twenty-five 

 years ago, a student at one of our col- 

 leges had had some experience with 



bees, and, desiring more, with the in- 

 tention of making bee-keeping his busi- 

 ness in the future, he applied to an old 

 experienced bee-keeper for a position 

 in the apiary during school vacation. 

 All of the necessary arrangements be 

 ing made, the student arrived. It so 

 happened that he arrived just as one of 

 those old-time honey showers, such as 

 we used to get, was on. Every upper 

 story was full, and the bees needed 

 more room. The proprietor had to go 

 away the next forenoon (perhaps after 

 storage), and left the student to extract 

 alone until his return. When he came 

 home the student was busy (by the way 

 he was, and is still, a very energetic 

 fellow), and what do you think he was 

 doing ? He was very careful to uncap 

 every comb so that it was beautiful I3' 

 smooth and nice, and the wood parts of 

 all the frames were cleaned almost as 

 nice and clean as if they were direct 

 from the factory. When the proprietor 

 remonstrated with him for taking so 

 much time cleaning frames, etc., dur- 

 ing the busy season, the student replied 

 by quoting that old proverb "what is 

 worth doing at all is worth doing 

 well." A very excellent quotation 

 misapplied, for his services at just that 

 particular time might have been worth 

 $25.00 a day, if rightly applied, and 

 he was scraping frames, something that 

 any inexperienced person could do, out 

 of season, at perhaps $1.00 per day. 

 The moral is, learn to distinguish be- 

 tween the necessary and unnecessary 

 work; and cut out all the work that 

 does not pay. The average bee-keeper 

 will be surprised at how little pay \i& 

 gets for a great share of the work he 

 does in the apiary. Cutout the handl- 

 ing of brood frames; handle hives in- 

 stead. In this way you can handle 

 many more bees with the same labor. 



This is not theory. I have had ex- 

 perience in the old, intense bee-keep- 

 ing of a few years ago (and I am afraid 

 quite a few still practice it) and I have 

 also practiced the more modern way, 



