1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



139 



living and something over might be expected by 

 a progressive bee-keeper. 



In " Quinby's New Bee-keeping " I find this 

 statement: "A comparison of bee-keeping with 

 other avocations (farming, for instance) will, I 

 think, show a balance of profit in favor of the 

 former." 



Why is bee-keeping called an avocation? Is 

 it not a pursuit of sufficient reliability to give it 

 the rank of a vocation? it appears to me that, if 

 bee-keeping is nothing more than an amateur 

 pursuit, few men who have a living to earn, or 

 who wish to secure a competence, would care to 

 follow it. And, again, that being the case it 

 seems strange that agricultural institutions. State 

 and Federal, and experiment stations, devote so 

 much attention to it. 



Dairymen claim that the margin of profit in 

 their business, or, in other words, the balance of 

 profit of loss in their business, lies along a nar- 

 row ledge. Will not bee-keeping compare fa- 

 vorably with dairying, with less capital involved 

 and less hard labor? 



Osterburg, Pa., Jan. 15. 



[ There is much of truth in what is stated in 

 the quotation from the American Bee-keeper; but 

 just as it stands it needs material qualification. 



We do not believe that we are boasting or 

 misstating the facts when we say that we have 

 traveled more miles over the United States in vis- 

 iting bee-keepers than any other person. One 

 trip alone aggregated 7000 miles. On these va- 

 rious long and short trips we have seen almost 

 every impor'ant honey-producing section in the 

 country. There are some portions remote from 

 railroad lines that we have not seen. 



After having gone over this country in this 

 manner we are prepared to say that it is not true 

 that there are but comparatively few persons who 

 have amassed a competency in bees alone. The 

 correspondent of the American Bee-keeper could 

 not have gone over the country very extensively 

 or he would not have left us to infer that the num- 

 ber of those who have amassed a competency in 

 the business could be comprised within a dozen. 

 He does not say this exactly, but he leads us to 

 believe that he has traveled all over the country, 

 and in all this travel he has "not met a dozen " 

 who have made a living from bees. We venture 

 to say we can point out over a hundred, some of 

 whom produce honey by the carload. 



But, on the other hand, it is emphatically true 

 that the number who make bee-keeping a busi- 

 ness or profession is very, very small in compar- 

 ison with those who take up bees as an avocation. 

 The ratio might almost stand as one to five thou- 

 sand. By "avocation" we mean just what the 

 term implies — one who takes up bee-keeping as a 

 side issue for either business or pleasure, in con- 

 nection with his regular occupation or vocation. 



But bee-keeping is not unlike the keeping of 

 chickens. The number who depend on poultry 

 as a sole means of livelihood, in comparison with 

 the number who produce a few eggs, is very 

 small indeed. The great majority of people are 

 not so situated as to keep chickens on a large 

 scale even if they were competent to do so. 

 Practically the same thing may be said of bees. 

 It is no disparagement to either industry to say 

 that there are few professionals, comparatively, in 

 the ranks. 



So far as bee-keeping is concerned, most local- 

 ities will not support more than a comparatively 

 few colonies — say forty or fifty. Where clover 

 is the sole means of dependence we usually ad- 

 vise one not to depend on bees as a sole means of 

 livelihood. But, notwithstanding, there are some 

 who make a good living in such localities; but 

 these people run an elaborate system of out-api- 

 aries. While they work hard during the rush of 

 the season they have mu^h leisure at other times 

 of the year for other business or for the develop- 

 ment of the mind and body. 



Many localities are extraordinarily good some 

 yeais and very poor in others. One who has all 

 his eggs in one basket (bee-keeping alone) is like- 

 ly to have hard work in tiding over the poor 

 years. 



But bee-keeping in a small way, we say with- 

 out fear of successful contradiction, is one of the 

 most profitable side lines that one can engage in. 

 Just the other day a farmer told us that, for the 

 time and money invested, no other department 

 in his farmwork paid anywhere near as well as 

 the bees. When we suggested that he keep 

 niore, he stated that more could not be kept on 

 his farm; therefore he was content to practice 

 mixed farming and bee-keeping, and he was mak- 

 ing a nice business. There are something like 

 half a million of that class of bee-keepers in the 

 United States alone; aid they give character to 

 the industry as a whole, especially if they belong 

 to the professional class, the men who take up 

 law, the ministry, teaching, book-keeping, or 

 other office work. 



It is emphatically not true that bee-keeping is 

 a mere amateur pursuit. While amateurs may 

 keep bees, the great majority of them do so be- 

 cause there is money as well as pleasure in them. 



The bee-keeping industry is becoming so im- 

 portant throughout the United States that more 

 and more the agricultural stations are putting in 

 a department of bee-keeping; and the fact that 

 our dear old Uncle Sam has a corps of trained 

 bee-keeping specialists at his apicultural work 

 and investigation is only another index of the 

 high standing our profession has with the people. 

 —Ed.] 



FORCED TO ADOPT THE SECTION- 

 AL HIVE. 



Every Part of a Super Worked on Uni- 

 formly; Where to Put the 

 Bait Sections. 



BY C. B. PALMER. 



On page 1443, Dec. 1, you ask if any one has 

 observed the same conditions as Dr. Miller, in 

 regard to sections all being started at once. I for 

 one have, and I heartily agree with him when he 

 says it is the prettiest sight in a super he has ever 

 seen The glistening, sparkling, even construc- 

 tion is a sight never to be forgotten. The first 

 time I ever saw it was about six years ago; but it 

 was not caused by putting an empty super under 

 one partly completed. I had five or six colonies 

 in deep-frame hives similar to Langstroth in size. 

 I had been bothered to get the bees into the su- 

 pers, as they seemed to have too much room to 



