SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 73 



but yet the bee-keeper in his apiary, supplying the needs of his bees, with 

 millions of tiny drops of honey pouring into his apiary from a thousand hills, 

 may be the happiest man in all this world. 



PROFIT IN BEE-KEEPING. 



Profit in any kind of business is apt to be the first thing considered by the 

 prospective or enterprising man ; and if he concludes from what he can learn 

 from others who are engaged in a certain line of work that there is profit 

 in it he will embark; but if he concludes there is but little if any profit in it 

 he may try it on a small scale, or turn his attention to something else. Bee- 

 keeping seems not to have been considered as a profitable business but by 

 few of our enterprising men in the South. 



The common public here is skeptical when it comes to consider the honey- 

 bee and its usefulness. It may be that they have not been sufficiently educated 

 or informed in regard to the industry, or it may be that the honey-bee is too 

 insignificant-looking an insect to be considered profitable. Many bee-keepers 

 are skeptical when it comes to the cents and dollars in bee-keeping; but I 

 have yet to meet a bee-keeper or a man who has kept bees 

 who says they did not pay him a greater per cent, of profit 

 than any other investment he ever made so long as he gave them 

 intelligent attention. No one in the South has ever lost any money by invest- 

 ing it in bees, and this is more than can be said of any other industry here. 

 Many times has the question been asked, "Is there any money in bee-keep- 

 ing?" I always answered, "Yes, if it is done with enthusiasm and intelli- 

 gence." Then, again, another question comes, "Can I get rich by making 

 bee-keeping my business?" I always answer that there is such a thing as a 

 bee-keeper spreading his bee-business out over the country, and saving enough 

 of the vast amount of honey that is going to waste each season to gather 

 up a large amount of this world's' goods around him; but, like all other 

 business, the profit can be estimated only by the amount of capital invested 

 in it, and the constant care it receives. If bee-keepers would work in their 

 apiaries as the farmer works in his fields I don't know what the results 

 would be; but I can safely say that they would be satisfactory. When it 

 comes to giving the profit in cents and dollars on bee-keeping in the South 

 I can not do it, for in this respect locations and sections vary much here; 

 but go to your nearest bee-keeper and find out what he has got invested in 

 bees, and the amount of intelligent attention he gives them, and the amount 

 of honey, wax, and swarms he gets from them, and this will give you some 

 idea of the profit in bee-keeping in your location. 



