THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



123 



poses of sale and honey-gathering, 

 the Ligurian or Italian-Alp bee is 

 the principal one in demand ; but 

 •the very best race of bees will af- 

 ford but little profit unless the 

 queens are carefully' looked after. 

 As fast as signs of senility appear, 

 these should be removed and their 

 places supplied by younger and 

 more vigorous queens. The apia- 

 rist for profit should not only rear 

 queens, but know how, when and 

 where to replace them. He should 

 also know the requisites of a good 

 queen, and how to judge of her 

 progeny. 



Pasture to the beekeeper is ev- 

 erything ; if that be poor, his re- 

 turns will be poor ; hence he 

 should carefully examine his loca- 

 tion. Districts vary greatly in 

 their flora, and by a carefuPstudy 

 of this question before locating, 

 disappointment will be avoided. 

 The beekeeper should be a walking 

 calendar of the flora of his neigh- 

 borhood for miles around, then, as 

 the honey comes pouring in, he 

 can tell its source and label it ac- 

 cordingly. This knowledge w^ill 

 enable him to build up colonies, 

 and follow the old advice, '"Keep 

 your colonies strong ;" so that 

 when the honey does come, there are 

 bees to gather it in. 



Tlie management of bees kept 

 for profit will vary according to 

 the object of the beekeeper, whether 

 it be the production of honey or 

 the rearing of bees or queens. In 

 running for honey alone, we have 

 the swarming and the non-swarm- 

 ing methods. The experiences of 

 good bee-men are so diversified 



that one is reminded of the old say- 

 ing, "when doctors differ, the pa- 

 tient dies." The bee-man must 

 strike out his own line of action 

 suitable to his own special circum- 

 stances. In running for extracted 

 hone}', swarming is, to a great ex- 

 tent, controlled, for "Poverty mak- 

 eth humble ;" but I insist that the 

 good bee-man will know the condi- 

 tion of each hive, and act accord- 

 ingly. 



The specialist is a man who reads, 

 and although he may not get or 

 use a single one of the many traps, 

 or patent articles now off'ered, he 

 should know all about them ; for 

 at any moment, what he has read 

 about these things may give him 

 an idea, the successful carrying out 

 of whicli maj' help him over a diflEi- 

 culty. The capacity of the bee- 

 keeper to attend to a certain num- 

 ber of colonies, be it greater or less, 

 will have a great influence on the 

 profits of the pursuit. As a pur- 

 suit, beekeeping should not be en- 

 tered into without careful thought 

 and consideration as to the capital 

 required, the location and the suit- 

 ability of the employment to one's 

 temperament. To-day, before em- 

 barking in the business, it is possi- 

 ble for the intending beekeeper to 

 serve an actual and willing appren- 

 ticeship in the yards of well- 

 known and successful bee-masters. 

 I need dwell not upon the advan- 

 tages of this plan for they are ob- 

 vious. 



To the enthusiast with but small 

 experience, I would say, "Go 

 slow !" Read the good bee-liter- 

 ature now so easy to be obtained, 



