THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIKW 



207 



as a specialty — of dropping' all hamper- 

 ing' pursuits, and turning' the whole 

 capital, time and energ'ies into bee- 

 keeping. If bee-keeping can not be 

 made profitable as a specialty, then it 

 is unprofitable as a subsidiarj' pursuit. 

 If bee-keeping must be propped up 

 with some other pursuit, then we bet- 

 ter throw away bee-keeping, and keep 

 the prop. General farming is very 

 poorly adapted for combining with 

 bee-keeping, yet the attempt is proba- 

 bly made oftener than with any other 

 pursuit. There are critical times in 

 bee-keeping that will brook no delay, 

 when three or four days' or a week's 

 neglect may mean the loss of a crop, 

 and these times come right in the 

 height of the season, when the farmer 

 is the busiest. Leaving the team and 

 reaper idle in the back field while the 

 farmer goes to the house to hive bees 

 is neither pleasant nor profitable. 

 Drawing in a field of hay, while the 

 bees lie idle because the honey has 

 not been extracted to give them storage- 

 room is another illustration of the 

 conditions with which the farmer-bee- 

 keeper has to contend. The serious 

 part of it is that the honey thus lost 

 may be worth nearly or quite as much 

 as the hay that is saved. Some special 

 lines of rural pursuits, like winter- 

 dairying or the raising of grapes, or 

 winter-apples, unite with bee-keeping 

 to much better advantage than general 

 farming; but when bee-keeping is capa- 

 ble of absorbing all of the capital, 

 time and energy that a man can put 

 into it, why divide these resources 

 with some other pursuit? It has been 

 said that bee-keeping is a precarious 

 pursuit, that it can not be depended 

 upon, alone, to furnish a livelihood, 

 and, for this reason, it should be join- 

 ed with some business of a more sta- 

 ble character. It is true that there are 

 many localities where there is often a 

 season in which little or no honey is 

 secured, and, in the Northern States, 

 winter-losses are sometimes very heavy, 



hence it would be risk}' to depend 

 entirely for a living upon keeping bees, 

 in a limited way, in such localities; 

 but, if the average profit from bee- 

 keeping, one year with another, is not 

 the equal of other rural pursuits, why 

 keep bees? The truth of the matter is 

 that it is more profitable; and if bee- 

 keepers would only drop everything 

 else, and adopt methods that would 

 enable them to branch out and keep 

 hundreds of colonies where they now 

 have dozens, they would secure enough 

 honey in the good years to more than 

 carry them over the poor years, and 

 thus not only make a living, but lay 

 up money. 



When a man decides to cut loose 

 from everything else and go into bee- 

 keeping extensively, making ithisonly 

 and his life-business, the question of 

 all questions is that of locality. There 

 are few localities in which a small 

 apiary might not yield some surplus, 

 but when a man is to make of bee- 

 keeping his sole business, the securing 

 of the best possible location is time 

 and money well spent. What a good, 

 solid foundation is to a "skyscraper," 

 a good location is to the building up 

 of a successful, extensive bee business. 

 Having settled in a locality, the bee- 

 keeper can not study it too thoroughly. 

 Especially must he understand its 

 honey resources; the time when each 

 flow begins, its probable duration, its 

 quantity and character. He must 

 know whether to expect a spring-flow, 

 like that from dandelion, hard maple, 

 or fruit-bloom, that will build up the 

 colonies for the main harvest that is to 

 come later. If there is likely to be a 

 season of scarcity between the early 

 flow and the main harvest, it must be 

 known and preparations made to keep 

 up brood rearing b}' means of feeding 

 or the uncapping of honey. The man- 

 agement will depend largeU' upon the 

 source of the main honej'-flow, whether 

 it be raspberry, clo^er, basswood, 

 buckwheat, alfalfa, sage or fall floW' 



