28 STUDIES OF OCCUPATIONS IN AGRICULTURE 



For the remaining workers in this supplementary list there is 

 scant printed information available. The work of each, however, 

 is fairly well known, especially in rural communities, and teacher 

 and pupil by inquiries among workers may easily supplement the 

 brief summaries presented here. They may also consult cyclo- 

 pedias, U. S. Census reports, reports of National and state agri- 

 cultural departments, and agricultural papers and magazines for 

 general information upon the industries concerned. The cotton 

 grower is a farmer in a special line, while the cotton picker is a 

 farm laborer. The planter also is a special farmer, growing one of 

 such crops as rice, potatoes, sugar, coffee, or tobacco. The term is 

 used mainly in the South, and frequently to indicate the owner of 

 a plantation. The milkman may be a farm employee or the em- 

 ployee of a commercial milk distributor. The teamster and wood- 

 chopper are often farm laborers but are also found in several other 

 industries, such as lumbering. 



The first of this supplementary list, the apiarist or bee keeper, 

 may be treated briefly by the plan followed with the leading occu- 

 pations presented in this study. 



13. THE APIARIST 



1. Importance : Scientific bee keeping began in the United States 

 in 1852 with the patenting of a hive with movable frames. 

 This made bee keeping profitable enough to be adopted in 

 many parts of the country where nectar-secreting plants were 

 found. The consumption of honey was greatly increased dur- 

 ing the World War and various new ways of using it were de- 

 veloped. As the supply of nectar-ptoducing plants in many 

 sections is practically unlimited there are great possibilities for 

 the future of bee keeping. 



2. Work done: Caring for the hives and for the swarms of bees 

 out of doors, extracting honey from the comb, bottling and 

 labeling it, and selling it. 



3. Advantages: The occupation of the apiarist is a clean, interest- 

 ing, out-of-door calling. It can be carried on in connection with 

 general farming or almost any other pursuit found in country 

 districts. It may produce a good financial return without severe 

 labor, and may be entered with small capital, a hive of bees 



