18 



GLteAiJliJGS ti^i feEfi CULTURE 



January, 1922 



until the best part of the flow has passed. 

 Some Unattractive Features. 

 From the foregoing it might be inferred 

 that this is a good country for the honey 

 business — and it is. However, I don't want 

 to paint too rosy a picture. I myself have 

 sold out all my interest in this line, and am 

 now developing an enormous cattle and ma- 

 hogany plantation. I might also mention 

 that three other men T^^ho have come down 

 here with the idea of staying have given it 

 up. Now why? Not because it *is not a 

 good bee country; but simply because the 

 conditions in some cases are too difficult to 

 surmount to recompense for the gain. These 

 countries are extremely attractive in many 

 ways and offer many chances for an ambi- 

 tious man; but before anyone decides to 

 settle here for good he should make a trial; 

 especially if he has a family he should con- 

 sider the many handicaps. Bad roads, prac- 

 tically no foreigners, a strange language 

 and peculiarities of climate that we are not 

 used to make the life here too difficult for 

 most American families. It is different 

 when one is the owner of a great plantation. 

 In that case he may live like a prince; but, 

 all in all, I would not advise Americans to 

 come here to start in this business. It is 

 true that as a strictly bee proposition I be- 

 lieve there is no place in the United States 

 its equal. No bee diseases, cheap and good 

 labor, ideal climate, a sure crop every sea- 

 son with big results; but when one consid- 

 ers the difficulties of marketing, the reduced 

 price and the fact that one is spending the 

 best years of his life in a strange country, 

 I for one would rather make smaller profits 

 and live in my own country. 



I should like to see this business develop 

 and be controlled by Americans, since we 

 have been the ones to start it. I truly think 

 this is the best way to conquer these coun- 

 tries, industrially and commercially, for 

 once we have made ourselves felt in that 

 direction it will not be necessary to resort 

 to the crude methods of military strategy. 

 Guatemala, Cen. America. 



[Beekeepers are quite like all mortals and 

 liave the usual traits of mankind, one of the 

 most outstanding being that the average 

 beekeeper believes that the other fellow 's 

 meadow is the better one. Our foreign mail 

 continually brings to us letters from one 

 country asking for information regarding 

 another. A New Zealander will write de- 

 ■siring to locate in the United States, one 

 from Australia regarding locating in the 

 Argentine, etc. 



Beekeeping in Guatemala is of the mush- 

 room variety. Four or five years ago there 

 was no- one in the republic keeping bees un- 

 der modern conditions, or producing honey 

 as a commercial proposition but today there 

 are possibly 50,000 colonies or more in mod- 

 ern equipment. A young American who 

 had been interested in beekeeping in Cali- 

 fornia arrived on the Pacific Coast of Guate- 

 mala possibly four years ago with the idea 

 of becoming interested in beekeeping; his 

 capital being very limited indeed prevented 

 him from venturing on any large scale, and 

 the only thing he could do was to make an 

 attempt to interest some of the large pro- 

 gressive owners of coffee plantations or 

 ' ' fincas. ' ' Finally a few of the large ' ' finca ' ' 

 owners were induced to put in a few colo- 



Castor oil trees or cheaply constiucted sheds are frequently used in this land of hot sunshine to supply 



shade for the hives. 



However, in the case of some young men 

 with ambition who know the business, this 

 is not a bad field, and beginning with this 

 they may pass into other opportunities of 

 which there arc many. I myself want to see 

 more Americans enter these countries and 

 develop them and bring them under the in- 

 fluences of American ways of doing things. 



iiies of bees, and the interest in beekeeping 

 and honey production is so strong today that 

 the American Consul at one of the ports of 

 entry stated that if this activity continued 

 to grow in the future as it had grown in the 

 last three years, honey would be in a very 

 few years the third or fourth export of the 

 Republic. — Editor.] 



