January, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



19 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



" Would it be advisable to take up bee 

 culture in preference to some other line of 

 agriculture? In fact, I have quite a leaning 

 toward beekeeping as an ideal pursuit." 



Occasionally a man gets " bee fever," and 

 in his haste to get into the business he 

 spends a lot of money foolishly, and does 

 many things which are unprofitable. After 

 lie gets nicely started he meets with losses, 

 becomes discouraged, and makes a sacrifice 

 to get out of the business, or else takes up 

 some other business along with beekeeping. 

 Any one who finds himself on the verge of 

 any of these lines of action would do well 

 to ponder a little over the matter before 

 rushing into an untried thing or rushing out 

 again on account of a few reverses. My ad- 

 vice would be to those who have mastered 

 some other branch of agriculture, or some 

 other business, and are doing well in it, not 

 to take up beekeeping for the purpose of 

 making money out of it. It would be better 

 to invest more time and capital in the 

 business you are already in than to take up 

 something new. Talking with a beekeeper 

 some time ago who had been successful in 

 the business, he told me how he had become 

 interested in sheep-raising, owing to the high 

 price of mutton, and thought strongly of 

 starting in the business, as he had some land 

 that was well adapted to sheep; but after 

 more thought and deliberation he decided to 

 enlarge his bee business instead, rather than 

 take up something in which he had had no 

 experience; and having thus decided he 

 found himself possessed of a good crop of 

 honey this fall, which, with the better price, 

 gave him an advantage which he might not 

 have had if he had entered any other busi- 

 ness with which he was unacquainted. 



The case is different with those who wish 

 to keep a few bees for pleasure or pastime, 

 or as a rest from mental labor. The question 

 has been asked, " Is it best for one to work 

 a season or two with an experienced bee- 

 keeper or go ahead and learn by experi- 

 ence?" The school of experience is all 

 right, but the tuition is often exceedingly 

 high. If one knowing nothing about bee- 

 keeping is determined to take it up as a 

 businessi think it would pay him well to work 

 a season or two with a successful man, even 

 if he has to pay for the privilege. But if 

 this successful man needs help, he is usually 

 willing to pay fairly good compensation for 

 a man who is " handy " and willing to 

 woik. 



Three items are very necessary in a practi- 

 cal understanding of the business in question 

 — study, observation, and practice. Every 

 beginner should procure one or more stan- 

 dard works on bee culture and study them 

 until he is familiar with the rudiments and 



the first principles which must sooner or 

 later enter into a successful career. By ob- 

 servation I mean the keeping of one's eyes 

 open to every little item and making note of 

 what is seen. Practice alone can make a 

 benefit of the theoretical knowledge thus 

 gained. Then comes the question, " How 

 many colonies should a beginner procure?" 

 I started with two and increased only one, 

 as the season of 1869 was a poor one. After 

 a score of years with the bees I became more 

 able to care properly for two hundred than 

 I was that first year to care for the two. 

 So I would say that it depends upon how 

 much one knows about the business and how 

 much time in reading, observation, and prac- 

 tice he has put into it. It is a good and safe 

 way to start with a very few colonies; give 

 them the best care possible, and make them 

 pay for all expenses incident to increasing 

 the plant. Thus, besides the first expense 

 of starting, one is nothing out except his 

 time; and for the loss of time he is com- 

 pensated by the knowledge gained. 



The question is often asked, " How much 

 honey will a colony of bees produce in one 

 season?" It might as well be asked, " How 

 many potatoes will an acre yield?" There 

 are many conditions to be taken into ac- 

 count. To give a sort of general idea, an 

 average of fifty pounds of surplus comb hon- 

 ey per colony each year for a term of years 

 would be considered fairly good returns. 

 If extracted honey, seventy to seventy-five 

 would be a fair equivalent. But this is for 

 the one who has been in the business for 

 several years', and such as occupy favorable 

 localities. As far as individual colonies are 

 concerned I have had yields all the way 

 from nothing up to 309 pounds of comb hon- 

 ey, and from zero up to 566 of extracted, in 

 a single season. Until the price of lumber 

 caused the most of the basswood trees to be 

 cut, my yield in good seasons was about 100 

 pounds of surplus per colony, spring count, 

 for the whole apiary. 



It is well to remember that, as a rule, a 

 small number of colonies can be made to 

 produce relatively much larger yields than 

 a larger number; therefore don't be led to 

 the conclusion that you can make a great 

 fortune out of an extensive bee business be- 

 cause some one has reported making $20 or 

 even $40 from a single colony in one season. 

 I do not wish to discourage any one. What 

 I want is to dispel the delusion that there is 

 a " get-rich-quick " possibility in apicul- 

 ture. Such enthusiasm invests too heavily 

 on the start, and, meeting with severe losses, 

 finds a lot of useless hives and fixtures on 

 hand. I advise going slow at first. Industry 

 and grit will win in this business as in any 

 other. 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



