10 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



/atiiiaty 



tive, a few take distinctly opposite 

 views. The opinions entertained by 

 the latter class will in no way in- 

 fluence those who already keep bees 

 and derive profit therefrom, but it 

 does affect a considerable number of 

 would-be bee-keepers, who are deter- 

 red from entering into the pursuit by 

 these adverse reports. It may, there- 

 fore, not be out of place to consider 

 why such varying results should fol- 

 low equally well-meant efforts made in 

 the same direction. 



Many people — attracted, may be by 

 some glowing report of success, but 

 knowing almost nothing of the salient 

 points of bee management — start bee- 

 keeping with a rush, expecting to 

 realize a big profit at once. 'J'hey 

 fail, as a matter of course, and are in 

 consequence fully persuaded that 

 " bees don't pay." Of this class it 

 may be said, "and a good job too ;" 

 for if bees could be made to pay with- 

 out an effort at something like intelli- 

 gent management, backed up by a fair 

 knowledge of " the art of bee-keep- 

 ing," the pursuit would be swamped 

 by the very number of its votaries. 



Others, again, start bee-keeping, 

 and in their mind's eye see " fortune 

 in the bee-hive," if the thing is only 

 gone into on a sufficiently extensive 

 scale. They hear of "big takes" 

 from single hives, and by the use of 

 the multiplication table jump to all 

 sorts of extravagant conclusions. A 

 few have been known to spend large 

 sums in the purchase of bees and ap- 

 pliances in starting bee-farms as a sole 

 means of income ; but Dame Fortune 

 is shy ; a season or two of honey-fail- 

 ure comes, and the looked for full 

 coffers remain empty ; consequently 

 the bee-farmer becomes discouraged 



and disheartened, and his "bees don't 

 pay." Another of the " failure " class 

 takes the bee-fever badly, procures a 

 few stocks of bees, and at once goes 

 off his head about them for a short 

 time, but the reaction sets in, or a new 

 hobby is taken up, the bees are neg- 

 lected, and failure follows as a matter 

 of course. 



A still further and more numerous 

 example is found in those who get 

 bees and think they have done all 

 that is necessary ; who never feeds 

 nor give them any attention whatever, 

 begrudging every farthing it becomes 

 necessary to spend upon them ; who, 

 in fact, never do anything to or for 

 their bees save talk ; and when a sup- 

 er requires putting on or taken off, go 

 to the bee-man of their village, or to 

 some willing neighbor, and ask him to 

 do it for them. Denial is, to say the 

 least, not easy ; and so those who of- 

 ten can ill spare the time have their 

 good nature imposed upon in a way 

 that is unfair, if not worse. In this 

 class we also find those who, when 

 advised to undertake some little nec- 

 essary operation for the bees, welfare, 

 say, "Oh, yes, we will do it by-and- 

 by ;" hut they don't. The natural con- 

 sequence is that, so long at others 

 tend their bees for them, all goes well, 

 but once they are thrown on their 

 own resources they come to grief, and 

 later on help to raise the cry " bees 

 don't pay." I could put my finger on 

 many belonging to what may be term- 

 ed the " awful examples " of this class, 

 and it is eventually in the apiaries of 

 such that we find disease, dirt, and 

 everything that to a bee-keeper of the 

 right sort is abominable. 



There is yet another class who, no 

 matter how much thev make out of 



