12 Beekeeping 



are less simple than the hive here mentioned, but such 

 hives are usually of brief popularity or are adapted for a 

 limited number of beekeepers. 



In future references to apparatus in this book, emphasis 

 is placed on the fact that tools alone do not suffice but that 

 the prime essential to business beekeeping is knowledge 

 of the bees. However, it is only just to give credit to our 

 apparatus as the best lot of tools ever devised for beekeeping 

 work. The American manufacturers of beekeeping supplies 

 are to be commended for their efforts to make the apparatus 

 simple and to a large degree standard. The American bee- 

 keeper is to this extent far in advance of beekeepers else- 

 where. The American apparatus is standard in Australia. 



These remarks are not intended as derogatory of European 

 beekeeping. The American beekeeper owes much of his 

 scientific knowledge of bees to European investigators and 

 beekeepers. It is nevertheless true that commercial bee- 

 keeping is an American institution. 



Who should be a beekeeper f 



Beekeeping^ is a peculiar occupation in that it can be 

 followed in town or country, by young or old, by rich or 

 poor. Many women are numbered among the ranks of 

 beekeepers. To the professional or business man, it offers 

 a change from the confinement of office or laboratory. To 

 the mechanic, it serves equally as well for recreation. Many 

 teachers find it a desirable occupation during vacation, at 

 which time it adds not a little to the meager incomes pro- 

 vided by parsimonious school-boards. Lawyers, artists, 

 farmers, ministers, merchants, brokers, professors in uni- 

 versities and laborers are numbered among its devotees. 

 Several old men known to the writer are kept mentally 

 alert by their work and interest in the bees, while one boy 

 friend of eight summers is a veteran in enthusiasm. Among 

 the ranks of professional beekeepers are found well-educated 

 and uneducated men of all ages and with all the mental and 

 physical defects or advantages in the category. 



