2 Beekeeping 



Two classes of beekeepers. 



By one of those curious shiftings which are so frequent in 

 human activities, beekeeping is coming more and more to 

 be restricted to two rather distinct classes of beekeepers. 

 Of these the more important numerically is composed of the 

 so-called amateur beekeepers, who keep a few colonies pri- 

 marily for recreation and only incidentally for honey for 

 home use and perhaps a little to sell locally. The amateur 

 ranks are now made up to a large extent of dwellers in towns, 

 cities and suburbs. The other class, on which the honey- 

 consuming public must chiefly depend, is that of the profes- 

 sional or specialist beekeeper, whose chief if not sole business 

 is honey-production, and who is often a resident of a town or 

 city. Various factors, to be discussed later, make it increas- 

 ingly desirable that commercial honey-production be carried 

 on by experts, by men who are mentally equipped and trained 

 to get maximum results. While the present tendency is, of 

 necessity, toward the keeping of bees by professional bee- 

 keepers, there will always be thousands belonging to the 

 amateur class, and it is by no means intended in the present 

 discussion of the subject to leave out of consideration the 

 enthusiast who desires to keep a few colonies for pleasure. 

 It is probable that the larger part of our present professional 

 beekeepers began as amateurs, rather than as farmer-bee- 

 keepers, and, in all likelihood, the extensive producers of the 

 future will be recruited from the suburbanites and nature- 

 lovers who now keep bees for the enjoyment they get from 

 them, with little present thought of future gain. 



This source of future commercial beekeepers seems all the 

 more probable since it is difficult to begin beekeeping on a 

 large scale. The many minor details which go to make up 

 success in getting maximum crops cannot come solely from 

 reading nor can the needed information be bought with the 

 apiary. A small beginning is strongly to be advised and, as 

 the novice grows in experience, the colonies may be increased 

 in number. It is a commendable plan to make the bees pay 

 for themselves, almost from the start, as well as for the addi- 



