FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 21 



two colonies more than the total number I had started 

 with, together with the four I had bought. But there 

 was a fascination in bee-keeping for me, and it is very 

 likely I should have kept right on, even if it necessitated 

 buying a fresh start each year. At any rate, my friends 

 could no longer accuse me of squandering m.oney on my 



Fig. j—T Super. 



bees, for there was that $10.40, and the time I had spent 

 with the bees w^as just as well spent in that way as in 

 some other form of amusement. Indeed, at that time 

 I am not sure that I had m.uch thought that I was ever 

 to get any profit out of the business. Certainly I had 

 no thought that it wo'dd ever become a vocation instead 

 of an avocatio-"". 



