Fublisbc Weekly at 118 Michigan iSt. 



George W. York, Editor. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 15, 1898. 



No. 37. 



Is Bee-Keeplag Overdone ? — How About It ? 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



Once In awhile we come across a bee-keeper who thinks 

 the business is overdone, that there Is too much honey pro- 

 duced, and that the editors of the bee-papers are to blame for 

 inducing people to enter into an already overcrowded pursuit. 



Are there really too many bee-keepers? or is so much honey 

 produced that there is more than the world can consume ? 



To answer the first of these questions it is only neces- 

 sary to travel over the country a little. I have lately taken 

 a trip to Omaha, to see the Exposition, and have stopt with 

 friends at different places on the way. Nearly everywhere I 

 was struck by the almost entire absence of bees in spots where 

 hundreds of colonies could be kept profitably. In fact, one 

 would almost think there were no bees in the United States if 

 one did not know just where to find the bee-keepers. As you 

 pass by the villages on the train you can see plenty of chick- 

 ens, pigs, horses, cows, and even sheep ; fields of all kinds 

 and meadows covered with bloom, and often an endless waste 

 of lowlands where nothing is produced but wild blossoms, the 

 honey of which is wasted one year after another ; but the api- 

 ary is an exceptional sight. Does one farmer out of every 20 

 keep bees ? I much doubt it. And in many instances when 









The Great Willow-Herb in Full Bloom {See page S80) — From the Bee-Keepers' Review. 



