Beekeeping as an Occupation 



FIG. 6. Gravenhorst hive, a combination of 

 skep and frame-hive. 



greater part of the 

 fruit set is the result 

 of the labors of the 

 honeybee, and many 

 fruit-growers are 

 taking up beekeep- 

 ing solely for its use- 

 fulness in this re- 

 gard. It is conserva- 

 tively estimated 

 that the honeybee is 

 more valuable to 

 American agriculture 

 in its work of cross- 

 pollinating than it is 

 as a honey-producer. 

 In all * matters per- 

 taining to the advancement of the beekeeping industry the 

 beekeeper should therefore find a warm ally in the fruit-grower. 



Relation of apparatus to the development of beekeeping. 



It may perhaps be considered as characteristic of human 

 endeavor that when a new piece of apparatus is invented 



it is first made as com- 

 plex as possible and, if it 

 becomes widely adopted 

 and is used commercially, 

 much of the later develop- 

 ment is in the direction of 

 simplification. This is cer- 

 tainly true of the appar- 

 atus used by the beekeeper, 

 and the stage of the de- 



-German^hive, opening at the velopment o f the industry 



in any country may be 



approximately judged by the complexity of the apparatus 

 used. 



