APRIli ir>, 1915 



313 



GENERAL COMEESPONDENCE 



THE HIGH AVERAGE OF SUCCESS IN BEEKEEPING 



BY CHALON FOWLS 



Of the recent special numbers of Glean- 

 ings I have enjoyed none more than the one 

 giving tlie experiences of old beekeepers; 

 and 1 consider the article by Ira D. Bartlett 

 one of the very best. In reading how he 

 worked up the business from nothing to five 

 hundred colonies one grows enthusiastic 

 about the possibilities of beekeeping, and 

 we suppose the confiding and optimistic 

 imitators will expect to read at the close 

 something like this: '* Go thou and do like- 

 wise." But, alas! we read, "It is said ninety 

 per cent fail in the business." Ira! how 

 could you? Now, " honest Injun," did you 

 ever l)elieve that rot? Well, I never did, 

 and 1 am getting tired of hearing such loose 

 statements referred to as though they were 

 established facts, and I will undertake to 

 show that in my locality, at least, such a 

 characterization of failures in beekeping is 

 wide of the mark. 



In the first place, what constitutes a bee- 

 keeper as the term is used in our journals? 

 Manifestly, it does not mean a person who 

 owns a dozen colonies or less. As well call 

 every farmer who has a like number of hens 

 a poultryman. There are many farmers 

 who keep a few bees who have a hundred 

 times more capital invested in their farm 

 or stock, and also spend a hundred times as 

 much labor on them. So I will leave those 

 out of the calculation. 



But in our own county (which I consider 

 an average one for this part of the state) 

 during the thirty-five years since I com- 

 menced, I can recall only twenty who have 

 had forty or more colonies, and of these 

 only two I would say did not succeed. And 

 these failures I would attribute to the men 

 and not the business. Of the others, five 

 have been removed by death, three discon- 

 tinued on account of old age, two sold out 

 their bees to engage in other business, and 

 eight are still engaged in beekeeping, and 

 are making it pay. Of the latter, all but 

 two have combined general farming or 

 fruit-grrowing with beekeeping. It follows, 

 of course, that their attention was divided 

 between the occupations. Yet, although 

 these were not true specialists, there is no 

 question of their success. I cannot give 

 figures to show just what profit these six- 

 teen men made for tlie time and capital 

 invested ; but as I was jjersonally acquaint- 

 ed with most of them I know they were 



making it pay, as may be inferred from 

 the fact that they still keep their apiaries, 

 or did until old age or death intervened. 



1 do not claim that this list is complete, 

 as there may be others living at some dis- 

 tance from me that I don't know of; but I 

 have no reason to suppose that the addition 

 of such beekeepei'S to my list would make 

 the average very much ditferent. Of course, 

 just as in raising other food products there 

 are some who make a better showing than 

 others. But I believe a large majority are 

 making more money for the time and capi- 

 tal invested than is made in most of the 

 other lines of food production. 



Looking to the future, I consider the 

 outlook good, both for securing good crops 

 and realizing good prices. Here in our 

 locality in the past our crops have been 

 principally white clover and basswood; but 

 now, although basswood is nearly gone the 

 loss is more than offset by the increase in 

 alsike clover, which so far has never failed 

 to furnish a crop of honey. 



But it will be argued, if people are en- 

 couraged to engage in the business will not 

 there be an overproduction that will ruin 

 the market so that a i^erson cannot be sure 

 of making a living at the business? I an- 

 swer, no. The consumption of honey is 

 increasing much faster than the population, 

 and I think a very large part of our future 

 market is yet undeveloped. We have a lot 

 to learn yet in the way of advertising. As 

 a pointer to show an awakening of interest 

 in our product I will mention that I have 

 just received an invitation from a large 

 jobbing house to give an address on bees 

 and honey before their traveling men. This 

 was entirely unexpected and unsolicited. 

 Of course T accepted. I told them I would 

 be " delighted." This, of course, shows that 

 the great jobbing houses are becoming in- 

 terested. Then the local or home trade 

 shows just as healthy growth. It is a 

 fact that there is more honey sold at one 

 store in my home town now than there was 

 in the whole town (with perhaps a dozen 

 stores) thirty years ago. 



Some are in the habit of saying that 

 lioney at present prices is too much of a 

 luxury to come into general use with the 

 masses. But what about the breakfast 

 foods? It strikes me that ten cents a pound 

 is a pretty stiiT price for wheat; yet the 



