DECEMBKR 1, 1914 



933 



be handy with tools; and, above all, you 

 must be resourceful. There are ever so many 

 Ijroblems turning up which must be solved. 

 If you are of the right kind you will enjoy 

 tliis part of it immensely. On the other 

 hand, if you are of the helpless kind, if you 

 can't drive a nail straight, if you cannot act 

 in an emergency, if j^ou are so easy-going 

 that you hate to exert yourself, then take 

 my advice and leave it entirely alone. The 



hustler, however, will win, even against 

 great odds. 



I like to tell my friends the beginning of 

 Mr. A. I. Root's beekeeping career — how 

 that absconding swarm which passed over 

 his head one day in 1865 turned him into a 

 beekeeper, and that he became one of the 

 most important figures in the beekeeping 

 world, and is still living to witness the bless- 

 ings bestowed upon him by the Lord. 



BEEEEEPING AS A HOBBY 



BY A. J. JAMES 



Amateur beekeeping is a most fascinating 

 hobby. When once inoculated with the gei'm 

 of bee fever by one's own bees the malady 

 is almost impossible of cure. In fact, there 

 are but few cases of complete recovery on 

 record. It develops rapidly when once 

 started, and leads the victim along with an 

 iiTesistible attraction to the delights which 

 come from a growing intimacy with the 

 emblems of industry. 



few colonies of bees can be attested by the 

 thousands of amateurs who are getting both 

 enjoyment and profit from their little work- 

 ers. 



For the business or professional man 

 whose mind is harrassed by the duties of 

 these strenuous times there is nothing that 

 will give such a relief and relaxation to the 

 tired brain as the time spent in the open 

 air attending to a few colonies of bees. It 



To the artistic eye there are interesting possibilities in the arransement of the apiary." 



A. J. James, San Antonio, Texas. 



The uninitiated may scoffs at the idea of 

 delights in such a pursuit, and think only 

 of stings, sticky fingers, climbing trees on 

 hot days to hive swarms, and so on ; but 

 the real beekeeper knows that these things 

 can be controlled to the point where they 

 are not of any great importance. That there 

 is a gi-eat pleasure in the ownership of a 



is a form of recreation that is within the 

 reach of all. All cannot own an automobile 

 nor indulge in the luxury of golf, but any- 

 body can affiord a hive or two of bees. It 

 is not necessary to have a large number of 

 colonies; in fact, such a thing would not 

 be desiral)le for the amateur. It is better 

 to begin with a few and let the increase of 



