32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULT URE 



FIK3M THETIELD OF EXPERffiNp^^ 



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Conversations with Beekeepers 



" I have kept bees for three years be- 

 ginning with three colonies, and now have 

 fifteen. I am thinking of taking up bee- 

 keeping as a business. Is it safe to depend 

 upon honey-producing alone for a liveli- 

 hood?" 



If the circumstances are right, it is safe 

 for nearly any person to make apiculture 

 his sole business. This is not saying 

 that no one except the specialist can keep 

 bees to advantage. M'any of our most 

 successful apiarists do not depend alone 

 upon beekeeping for their livelihood. In 

 fact, the majority of those entering the 

 ranks of apiculture mix general farming, 

 dairying, poultry, truck-gardening, or some- 

 thing of the kind with the bees. 



One of the very important things about 

 the keeping of bees as a business is the 

 location. There are localities so poor — that 

 is, so lacking in honey or nectar producing 

 flora — that it would be folly to attempt the 

 keeping of bees as a business. Suppose 

 the place to be one where nearly all the 

 land is used for the raising of wheat, 

 oats, corn, cabbage, and potatoes, thus be- 

 ing kept " under the i:)low " nearly all the 

 time. It goes without saying that ten or 

 even twenty square miles in such a locality 

 would not keep 100 colonies, to say nothing 

 of a surplus. But with plenty of willow, 

 maple, and fruit bloom to give the bees a 

 good start in the spring; clover and bass- 

 wood for the main surplus and buckwheat 

 and fall flowers for the " wind up," one- 

 half the square miles mentioned should 

 prove a bonanza to the man or woman who 

 has. a taste for beekeeping, and who is 

 able-bodied, diligent, active, and skillful 

 withal. 



More depends on the man than on 

 any other one factor unless we except 

 location. Some can build up a magnificent 

 business in beekeeping where others fail. 

 The beekeeper must have a love for the 

 business; perhaps this has more to do 

 with the successful outcome than any other 

 quality. One really in love with beekeep- 

 ing will leave no stone unturned, will con- 

 sider no hardship too great, will not be 

 turned aside by one or a hundred stings, 

 nor be tempted to sit in the shade on a 

 hot day. All hardships are but pleasuros 

 to one having the " bee fever." Have you 



ever watched the successful players in a 

 ball game? What do they care for the 

 hot sun or tlie strain of muscle necessary 

 to win? With me, a ball game is no 

 comparison to the pleasures of beekeeping. 

 However, our questioner may not consider 

 that pleasures have much to do with live- 

 lihood. Of course, the matter of dollars 

 and cents must bo looked after, or it will 

 be " over the hills to the poorhouse," But 

 I wish to go on record as saying that 

 dollars and cents come in the greatest 

 amount to the one who is carried away 

 with the love he finds in the chosen vocation. 



As to the number of colonies which 

 should be kept, there is a difference of 

 opinion. Some say from 250 to 300, 

 others 500 to 800. This is quite an im- 

 portant point, and one frequently over- 

 looked, especially as to how many the 

 locality will permit of keeping to the best 

 advantage. " If a man in a good locality 

 keei5s only enough bees to support him 

 in a good season or, possibly, in an ordi- 

 nary season, and then comes a succession 

 of poor seasons, some other business must 

 be added to the beekeeping." So said 

 a successful apiarist some years ago, and 

 then he added : " And the best thing to 

 add is some more beekeeping; but, strange 

 as it may seem, few seem to look at it in 

 that light." 



Men like W. L. Cogg-shall and S. D. 

 House, of this state, have gone into bee- 

 keeping extensively, established out-apia- 

 ries, managed their business as a busi- 

 ness, instead of merely a pastime, and 

 have succeeded to an extent which should 

 satisfy any intelligent person. One or two 

 good years with a large number of colonies 

 of bees in a good location enables the owner 

 to lay up enough to tide him over several 

 years of poor or indifferent crops. The 

 trouble with a small number of colonies 

 is that not enough honey is secured, even 

 in good years, to enable the owner to put 

 very much money in the bank, beyond 

 what is necessary to keep his family and 

 tlie bees over the poor seasons, and so he 

 has very little to carry his family along 

 wlien old age arrives, or when sickness lays 

 him aside for a few years in the prime 

 of life. It is for this reason that it is an ad- 

 vantage to have more bees scattered about 

 in several out-apiaries as this plan tends 

 to secure a crop each year. Localities 



