NOVEMBER 15. 1916 



1075 



were free from disease, but I was discour- 

 aged any way, and told him so. " Stick 

 to your bees," he said, and I thought it 

 over and decided to stick. I even persuad- 

 ed a friend to make plans to go in with me, 

 and I started out to look for. a new location. 

 I found one too, a good one, and I came 

 home bubbling over with enthusiasm. We 

 were just going up there and clean up a for- 

 tune in about two years, and then we could 

 spend the rest of our lives telling about it. 



During part of the time I was buying my 

 bees. As I said before we lived in town. 

 But the renter didn't do vei'y well, and so we 

 moved back to the farm. My brother and 

 I both had a little agTicultural training, and 

 so we took hold of things and began to work 

 out some methods of our own. The farm 

 hadn't been paying very well; but since we 

 started " book-farming " things look much 

 more promising. It noAv appears that if we 

 stick together the old home farm will come 

 back to what it used to be. But it is diffi- 

 cult to handle bees and a farm at the same 

 time. Anyway, this is a poor location for 

 bees, and I felt that it would be a waste of 

 time to keep them here 

 any longer. As it 

 would be impossible to 

 tend the bees if I 

 should move them, and 

 farm too, it became 

 necessary to give up 

 one or the other. 

 At this time I got to 

 figiu'ing, and suddenly 

 got cold feet when I 

 saw what it would be 

 necessary to make in 

 order to come out even. 

 I suppose cold feet is 

 a " catching " malady ; 

 for in the next letter 

 from my friend there 

 were plain indications 

 that he, too, was afflict- 

 edi and we agi-eed to 

 quit before beginning. 



Right here I will say 

 that he has made more 

 from his bees than I, 

 and lost more, too. 

 He lost about sixty 



colonies one winter — nearly all he had — 

 and he Avas to ship the empty hives to me 

 to be filled with bees. But he is under the 

 necessity of making a living the same as 

 T, and can't afford to leave a sure position 

 for one as uncertain as beekeeping has 

 proved to be with us. I know that, if some 

 of our rich men had never taken a chance, 

 they would still be poor; but if some of 



our poor men hadn't taken a chance they 

 would still be rich. As it is with us we 

 are very doubtful about taking the chance. 



I have learned a few things that will be 

 valuable to me if I go on or quit, either 

 one, so my time has not been entirely wast- 

 ed. I have been interested in other lines of 

 agriculture, and have noticed that there is 

 nearly always some one yelling against edu- 

 cation in certain lines for fear of overpro- 

 duction. The fear of overproduction does 

 not frighten me in the least. I have yet to 

 see the time when I couldn't sell many 

 times as much honey as I could pi'oduce, 

 and at a good price too. I know there are 

 hundreds of localities where honey is as 

 scarce as it is here. When we get a greater 

 production of honey, these places will be 

 supplied with a good quality of honey, and 

 the i^riee will not drop because of overpro- 

 duction. 



There is one thing that I shall remember 

 for a long time. That is this: No amount 

 of good management will enable the bees to 

 gather honey where there is none. In other 

 words, if you would have success you must 





iii*nmy^ 



:^!sissi!i'.ii»siih 



Display by W. I. Measer. Mr. Measer is an old standby who always 

 puts up a creditable exhibit. He is a live wire every time. 



have a good location. I would rather face 

 foul brood any time than tiy to keep bees 

 in a poor location, and I know what foul 

 brood is too. I don't think I made a worse 

 mistake than starting in a poor location. 

 However, one can't tell what the location 

 will do without trying it. 



Perhaps some one will ask if I would ad- 

 vise against beekeeping for a living. I 



