GLEANED BY 



W. J. Andrews, - Columbia, Tenn. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Great National Industry. 



Agriculture in its various branches, min- 

 ing, and manufacturing, are tlie great 

 industries wliicli lie at the foundation of 

 individual and national wealth. They are 

 the great producing factors. Upon them all 

 other pursuits depend. To add to these 

 another productive calling, which can be 

 followed by any who desire, in all parts of 

 our country, will be to add to the general 

 wealth, and to give a means of competence 

 and happiness to our people. The modern 

 Improvements in bee-keeping— including 

 the movable-comb hive, the honey extractoi', 

 comb-foundation, and the safe methods of 

 wintering— make it a pursuit which may be 

 indefinitely developed. Indeed, it may be 

 so followed, that, from its wide diffusion 

 over our country, and from the value of its 

 products, it may be truly called a great 

 national industry. 



1. The products of some kind of labor, 

 for instance some branches of fruit-grow- 

 ing, are so perishable that they must be sold 

 as soon as ready for market, and as they 

 will bear transportation but a short dis- 

 tance, the producer is put to a great disad- 

 vantage. The products of bee-keeping, 

 honey and wax, may be kept an indefinite 

 time, and may be transported to all parts of 

 the world. 



2. The demand for honey and wax may 

 be increased beyond all of our present 

 conceptions. Since the great success of 

 cotnb-foundation, there is no doubt but all 

 the wax produced will find a ready sale at 

 advanced prices. Honey, at present, can 

 scarcely be' called an article of diet. It is a 

 luxury met with now and then; but in the 

 larger number of families, hotels, and res- 

 taurants is never seen. When its excel- 

 lence and cheapness as an article of diet 

 becomes known, it will be more widely 

 used, and all that can be produced will be 

 readily consumed. 



3. Bee-keeping can be followed in all 

 parts of our domain, north, south, east and 

 west. In nearly all localities bees will do 

 well. There is scarcely any locality in 

 which they will not more than pay their 

 way. In the country and in villages, there 

 is little probability of over-stocking for 

 years to come. In case a locality becomes 

 over-stocked, some keepers must remove to 

 unoccupied territory. In cities, a few 

 hives can be profitably kept, as is shown by 

 the good success of Mr. Muth, of Cincinnati. 



4. Any intelligent person, who will give 

 attention to it, can learn the business of 

 bee-keeping. The theory of it is plainly 

 taught in books and the Bee Journal. The 

 practice can be acquired by any intelligent 

 person who will get a hive of bees and go 

 to work to apply the theory he has.learned 

 by careful reading. 



5. The business can be begun with small 

 capital, and on a very small scale. Any 

 industrious person can get one, or a few 

 swarms of bees in box-hives. He can trans- 

 fer them to movable-comb hives. Then as 

 he acquires knowledge and skill in the 



work, his bees will increase. He can make 

 his income from his bees more than pay all 

 the outgo, and soon have a stock as large as 

 he desires, as the product of the one or few 

 with which he begun. 



6. If he des'res, he can increase his bus- 

 iness to any extent. His own hives will 

 give him the bees. He can establish apia- 

 ries at as many points as he chooses. He 

 can superintend these apiaries, and attend 

 to purchases and sales. Followed in this 

 way, bee-keeping may become a business 

 demanding the best efforts of the ablest 

 business men. The report is just at hand 

 that Capt. Hetherington, of Cherry Valley, 

 N. Y. has 3,000 colonies, and that his income 

 from them the present year will be about 

 $30,000. This is only an instance of what 

 may be done by many others. 



7. No business can succeed in the long 

 run which does not give a fiair profit- 

 Without going wild over the reports of the 

 immense profits realized in a few instances 

 from keeping bees, there seems no doubt 

 that when taken up as a regular business, 

 and intelligently pursued from year to year, 

 it will pay a profit as large as most other 

 callings. Possibly, for a few years, men 

 already in the business, and ft)llowing it 

 with energy, may make a larger profit than 

 most other callings give. But this will not 

 continue long. Labor and capital will flow 

 in this direction until profits are equalized. 



A calling that produces valuable staple 

 articles, that may be followed in all sections 

 of the country, of which intelligent people 

 can readily acquire the theory and the 

 practice, that may be undertaken on a small 

 scale and with a very small outlay, that 

 may be developed to such dimensions, as to 

 give scope to the powers of the ablest busi- 

 ness men, and that yields a fair profit on 

 the investment,— such a pursuit surely has 

 in it such elements as may enable it to 

 grow into an industry that may truly be 

 called national. 



But it is said by some that there are such 

 great risks to be run in bee-keeping, that 

 the business partakes of the nature of a 

 lottery, and that no such business can 

 become of national importance. These 

 objectors will enumerate the moth, foul- 

 brood, poor seasons, dangers of wintering, 

 and over-stocking the market, as good rea- 

 sons why the business of keeping bees can 

 have no large development. 



1. As to the moth, the bee-keepers, who 

 have had the widest experience, say, that 

 it gives no trouble when Italians are kept 

 in hives that have no lurking places for the 

 enemy. Upon this point the testimony is, 

 in effect, unanimous. 



3. Foul-biood has been in some places a 

 serious difTiculty. But care can, in most 

 cases, keep it out, or eradicate it when it 

 appears. Some of the best bee-keepers, 

 who have had to contend with the disease, 

 tell us that salicylic acid, used according to 

 their direction, is a sure cure. 



.3. Poor seasons are an injury, but poor 

 seasons come to nearly every business,— to 

 bee-keeping no more than to others. In cal- 

 culating the profits of bee-keeping, we must 

 make allowance for poor seasons. After 

 making this allowance, the experience of 

 the best established keepers shows a good 

 profit. 



4. The dangers of winternig seem about 

 to disappear. Perhaps it is not too much to 

 say that they have disappeared. Those 



