ESTABLISHED -1651 

 'the OLDEST BEL-PAPER -AMER 



T'uhlisTieKj '\V^e^li:ly, at ^l^OO per axuiiizn. Sample Cop>' sent on ^ppJicafion, 



36th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JAN. 2, 1896. 



No. 1. 



rTlcleit 



specialty vs. Mixed Bee-Keepiug. 



BY F. L. THOMPSON. 



"I am one of those who hope yet to see a class of amateur 

 bee-keepers on the American continent, who will keep bees for the 

 love of the thing, and not merely for the money they may make 

 out of it." — Bee-Master, on page 409 of the Bee Journal for 1895. 



" Essays advising that bee-keeping as a business be made a 

 specialty by the persons engaged therein, have been written from 



speak on this subject, with an invitation to everybody, and the 

 seats would be crowded with eager listeners."^ — R. L. Taylor, on 

 page 603 of the Bee Journal for 1895. 



In view of the above sentiments, it seems appropriate at 

 this time to inquire whether the keeping of bees by farmers 

 would make them more intellectual than they are. 



It must be admitted that in districts where the honey 

 crop is a total failure for one, two, or three years in succes- 

 sion, that specialty cannot well be pursued. But there are 

 left large areas where there is always something every year. 

 Shall bee-keeping in these places be in the hands of a great 

 many side-issue farmers, or would it be of more benefit to the 

 country by being in the hands of specialists ? 



Let me also say that Bee-Master's words touch a respon- 

 sive chord in my nature. Very much pleasure and benefit in 

 this world have no connection with money. In spite of the 

 cant of " practical " men (who would do well to confine them- 

 selves to business, and not settle every question in heaven and 

 earth by " practical" standards), they can neither be bought 

 nor sold. I prove that every day of my life, and I pity those 



^ 



Apiary of Mr. J. B. Tucker, Wallingford, Conn. — See pnae 8. 



time to time. The essayists are often eloquent in their advice, but 

 never, I believe, practice what they preach." — W. G. Hewes, 

 quoted with approval by Mr. Abbott, on page 2T0 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal tor 1895. 



" Beekeepers' conventions are not always well attended, be- 

 cause only bee-keepers are invited, and they, in order to attend, 

 must generally go long distances; but let competent men go into 

 the country school-houses, in districts where the farming com- 

 munities are starving for want of social and intellectual excite- 

 ment, during the months when they enjoy comparative leisure, to 



people who don't see it. But, Bee-Master, don't you think 

 there is as much poetry in three or four colonies as in 20? 

 The argument of poetry and pleasure is not in itself sufficient 

 to turn over the main bulk of bee-keeping from specialists to 

 amateurs. 



Mr. Abbott, on page 173 of the Bee .Journal for 1895, 

 would solve the question by making a groat number of small 

 specialists, letting a younger member of the family have the 

 exclusive care of the bees. He says he is confident that api- 



