42 



THF BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



we kuow juBt which are the best, and it was to 

 settle that point that led me to make the ex- 

 periments recorded io these articles, and I 

 am writing them with the main purpose of 

 benefitting bee-keepers who are possessed of 

 no capital but bright minds and willing 

 hands. In this class I am greatly interested 

 for I am compelled to feel that our beloved 

 government is fast becoming only a shrewd 

 money making inuchine for piling up gigan- 

 tic fortunes for the rich. On the other side, 

 I see great armies of young boys and girls 

 growing up for whom there seems to be no 

 place but that of creatures of necessity — 

 wage slaves — and to aid and encourage such 

 to secure even the humblest homes that are 

 their own is the highest duty, and in my next 

 article I shall give my experience with the 

 best bees and the best way to cultivate them 

 for profit. 



FoEESTViLLE, Minn. 



Feb. 7, l.Sit.'). 



Many Bee-Keeping Specialists Will be Com- 

 pelled to Go to the Flowers, or Else Make 

 of Bee - Keeping a Side - Issue. 



K. O. AIKIN. 



TT was in Nov. 

 1 lt<89 that the 

 question of " Spe- 

 cial versus Mixed 

 Bee- Keeping" was 

 discussed in the 

 Review. Your 

 I) r esen t topic 

 "Will the Bee- 

 keeping of the fu- 

 ture differ from 

 that o f the past ?" 

 brings us back 

 in a measure to the former one. It is 

 also closely related to the topic for Decem- 

 ber, IWH—" Remedies for I'oor Seasons." 

 Some lines of business cannot well be car- 

 ried on except as a specialty, or in a whole- 

 sale way. Specialty in one sense means 

 concentration of capital. Such enterprises 

 as railroads, mills, mining and many other 

 branches requiring large capital and many 

 laborers, must of necessity employ both con- 

 centrated capital, and such specialists as 

 telegraphers, book-keepers, superintend- 

 ents and many others. 



Then there is a class of pursuits that re- 

 quires neither the large capital nor the spe- 

 cialist in particular lines. The pursuits 

 mentioned in the preceeding paragraph are 

 massive, comprehensive and intricate, 

 while farming, gardening, stock raising and 

 apiculture, etc., may be operated extensively 

 or on a small scale as one chooses, and witli 

 about the same proportionate gain. 



If I were going into the iron manufactur- 

 ing business, I would locate near fuel, trans- 

 portation and other facilities. To manufac- 

 ture flour, I would locate in the wheat belt. 



If I were located as a honey specialist, 

 and because of changed conditions it ceased 

 to be profitable, I would quit the business or 

 go where it did pay. Whether I would go 

 elsewhere would depend very largely on 

 whether I could dispose of property in the 

 old location, or whether there was any thing 

 that I could turn my attention to that I 

 might make a living, etc., etc. A man with 

 a family or otherwise encumbered, must 

 do as he can, even if he cannot follow his 

 chosen pursuit. 



Previously in these columns I have argued 

 that a poor man cannot afford to be a spe- 

 cialist to the extent of doing — or knowing 

 how to do — but one thing. Such get along 

 quite well when business is flush, but when 

 the business drags they are crowded out and 

 are at a very great disadvantage as is shown 

 so forcibly by their condition right now in 

 the general commercial stagnation. Though 

 it is true that the highest attainment is for 

 those who are specialists, especially in the 

 matter of dollars and cents, yet it is too 

 risky for the poor man and not for the high- 

 est degree of iutelligence and general pleas- 

 ure and iiappiness, to follow one thing to 

 the exclusion of every thing else. 



There are practically two classes of people 

 — whether so from choice or from force of 

 circumstances. The one class is laboring 

 for a living, the other to amass or lay up 

 wealth. To make a living is not so diflicult ; 

 but to live and amass wealth requires all the 

 advantages one may be able to find in the 

 most favoretl locations. Unless there is a 

 change soon in the social and business cus- 

 toms, and a more sound and carefully ad- 

 ministered national financial policy, we will 

 be driven to the old way of being independ- 

 ent — produciiif.; our own clothing, meat, 

 bread and v( ■^|etables, or to the other ex- 

 treme, of combination of both capital and 

 brain. The hilter is by far the more proba- 



