The American Apicultiirist 



% lournal iJtboteb to Sneittific ant) |PractuaI gctkecjDing. 



EXTEEED AT THE POST-OFFICE, SALEM, AS SECOXD-CLASS MATTER. 



Published Monthly. S. M. Locke, Publisher & Prop'r 



VOL. III. 



WENHAM, MASS., JUNE 15, i^ 



No. 6. 



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BEEKEEPING AS A PUB- 

 SUIT.^ 



By Arthur Todd. 



This subject ma}' be regarded 

 from two standpoints — that of the 

 man who, with income assured from 

 other sources, pursues beekeeping 

 for its pleasure ; and that of the 

 man who, wishing to increase his 

 slender income, or actually make 

 an income, turns to beelceeping 

 with a view to profit on the capital 

 and labor to be invested. But, as 

 to the latter are denied none of the 

 pleasures enjoyed by the former, it 



I Read at the Beekeepers' Congress, at 

 New Orleans. 



is from the latter standpoint alone 

 that I shall review the subject. 



Beekeeping is, strictly speaking, 

 a branch of agriculture, and many 

 a farmer is today getting a greater 

 return from his investment in bees 

 than that received from any of his 

 other stock ; but right here I say 

 that beekeeping as a pursuit has 

 to-day become a "specialty." The 

 man who enters upon this pursuit 

 (leaving the question of capital 

 aside) must be one endowed with 

 physical and mental ability ; a man 

 with open eyes and ears, one 

 ready for emergencies, prompt to do 

 what is necessaiy at once, and one 

 who is not easily discouraged. 



The physical ability is required 

 because beekeeping demands real 

 hard work — yes, back-aching work 

 — not suitable to the sick ladies 

 and gentlemen so often ill-advised 

 to go into beekeeping. The men- 

 tal ability is required to keep the 

 beekeeper abreast of the times and 

 its rapidly changing conditions. 

 Beekeeping is now a science, a 

 stud}', and the conditions which 

 govern one season, or colon}' of 

 bees, will be completely changed 

 for the next. Every stage in the 

 life of a colony of bees requires to 

 be understood, There must be no 

 "guessing," and this will bring us 

 to the cultivation of the habit of 

 (121) 



