A LIVING FROM THE LAND 



supply of nectar-secreting blossoms in the 

 area. 



The cost of engaging in bee husbandry is 

 nominal. An established colony of the preferred 

 Italian bees should cost about $8. The equip- 

 ment should include two fitted supers for 

 each colony in which the bees may store the 

 honey, costing about $3 each; a veil to protect 

 the head and face, linseed-oil-soaked canvas 

 gloves, a bee smoker, a hive tool and a bee 

 escape (needed for removing the bees from filled 

 supers), each item costing less than a dollar. 

 An additional piece of apparatus, a queen 

 "excluder," is needed for each hive, to keep 

 the queen in the lower chamber and prevent 

 the mixing of stored honey surplus and develop- 

 ing bees. 



The principal nectar-secreting plants are the 

 clovers, sumac, buckwheat, cranberry and blue- 

 berry blossoms, goldenrod, asters and mallows. 

 Since these plants bloom at varying periods 

 during the growing season, the beekeeper will 

 find it necessary to adjust his operations in 

 accordance with the nectar-producing capacity 

 of his own region. The experience of successful 

 beekeepers will be found helpful as a guide in 

 taking the successive and orderly steps necessary 

 to secure maximum honey crops. In many states 

 there are associations of beekeepers formed for 



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