150 



THE AMERICAISI BEE JOURNAL. 





Kor Ihe American Bee Journal. 



Bee-KeepiLg as a Specialty. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I was very much pleased with Dr. 

 Miller's article, '• Who Shall Keep 

 15ees y" on page 86 of the 15ee Jour- 

 nal, and also willi one given on page 

 10 of the Bee-Keepers^ Exchange, which 

 was read before the N. J. B. K. Asso- 

 tiatiou; title, "Too Many Eggs in 

 Our Basket." Both of these articles 

 give the opposite side of bee-culture 

 from what is generally presented, and 

 is just what is needed to guard the 

 beginner against going recklessly into 

 bee-Ueeping. by putting his last dollar 

 into a business he knows nothing of. 

 It is this getting crazy over a business 

 which looks to be a good thing, but 

 with whicli we are not acquainted, 

 and investing all we have in it, ex- 

 pecting to make a fortune, which 

 ruins so many. To be successful in 

 anything, a man must "grow up" 

 into it, l)y years of patient toil and 

 study, till he becomes master of the 

 business, when in 99 cases out of 100 

 he will succeed. I was brought up a 

 farmer, and educated by my father as 

 such, so that, were I to change my oc- 

 cupation at any time, it would be to 

 that of farming, unless I could have 

 time to study up some business better 

 to mv liking, before I left bee-keep- 

 ing In the winter of 1868-69 I be- 

 came interested in bees, by reading 

 the first edition of King's bee-keepers' 

 text book, which chanced to fall into 

 my hands. Next I subscribed for the 

 Bee Journal, read Quinby's and 

 Langstroth's books, and in March 

 bought two colonies of bees, and the 

 liives I needed for two years paying 

 $30. 1869 being a poor year, I had but 

 one swarm from the two, and had to 

 feed $5 worth of sugar to get them 

 through the winter. In 1870 I received 

 enougn from them to buy all the fix- 

 tures I wished for 1871, and a little to 

 help on my other expenses from the 

 farm. So 1 kept on making the bees 

 pay their way, as I had resolved, at 

 the outset, that after paying the first 

 $35 I would lay out no more money on 

 them than they brought in, believing 

 that if I could not make two colonies 

 pay, I could not 200. In the fall of 

 1873 I found I had an average yield of 

 80 pounds of comb honey trom each 

 colony I had in the spring, which was 

 sold so as to give me S559 free of all 

 expense incurred by the bees. I also 

 bought an extractor that season. As 

 I was determined to give my bees the 

 care they needed, and knowing that 

 the time the bees needed the most at- 

 tention came in haying time. I hired 

 a man to take my place in the hay- 

 field It so happened that he com- 

 menced work on the day basswood 

 opened. Previously I had hived a 

 single swarm in an empty hive, and 

 concluded to devote them to extracted 

 honey. The man worked 16 days at 



$1.75 per day, and I extracted, during 

 tliose 16 days, honey enough from this 

 swarm to pay the man for his work. I 

 state this to showttiatone new swarm 

 of bees was equivalent to myself in 

 the hay-field for 16 days, yet how many 

 keeping 30 to 50 colonies of bees leave 

 them to go into the hay or harvest 

 field, and then tell us bee-keeping 

 does not pay. You can hire a man to 

 take your place in the field, but if you 

 expect to become master of the bee 

 business, so as to make it pay, you 

 cannot hire a man to take your place 

 in the apiary during the honey season. 

 But to return : In 1871 my honey was 

 sold so as to bring $970 free of all ex- 

 pense. At this time I began to think 

 of giving up the farm, but finally con- 

 cluded to hold on to it one year more, 

 to make sure that I could make bee- 

 keeping pay as a specialty. After de- 

 ducting the expense of the bees from 

 the sales, I found that I had the next 

 year (1875) the amount of $1,431, and 

 hesitated no longer, but gave up farm- 

 ing and embarked in the bee business, 

 with nothing else as a source of 

 revenue. 



As it may be interesting to know 

 how I have succeeded since then, I 

 will carry the report up to the present 

 time. In 1876 my net income from 

 the bees was $774; in 1877, $2,266 ; in 

 1878. $772 ; in 1879, $-537 ; in 1880, $781 ; 

 in 1881,31.078; 1882, $822; making a 

 total of $9,990 during the past 10 years. 

 The average number of colonies in 

 the spring of each year, worked to 

 produce this result, was about 48. 

 Had it not been for existing circum- 

 stances which required my keeping so 

 limited a number of colonies, I believe 

 I could have taken care of 100 colonies 

 (spring count), and secured nearly 

 double the amount. 



In the above showing all expenses 

 have been deducted except my time, 

 which you will see gives a salary of 

 $999 a year, as will be accorded by all. 

 But what about the first four years 

 during which I was experimenting, 

 reading and thinking about bees all 

 my wakeful hours, many of them 

 hours when I ought to have been 

 asleep, giving the subject as much or 

 more study than any lawyer ever 

 spent on his profession. To be sure 

 the bees paid their way, but to what 

 shall I look for my pay V To be just I 

 must divide my $9,990 by 14 years, 

 which gives me about $714 a year as 

 the real pay I have received for my 

 labor. Is this enough pay for the 

 labor performed ? Well, many would 

 not be satisfied with it, and multi- 

 tudes would be glad to get such a 

 salary. P. H. Elwood (one of the 

 largest honey-producers of our State, 

 though never ■ heard from of late 

 years) once said to me, " that a man 

 who was capable of successfully man- 

 aging 100 colonies of bees would com- 

 mand $1,000 salary a year in any 

 business." If we accept this state- 

 ment as a fact, then, like Dr. Miller, 

 I can say, " 1 should be better off in 

 this world's goods if I had never kept 

 bees.'' But when I turn my eyes to 

 the thousands who do not get one- 

 half $714 a year, working in factories, 

 in the shop, on the farm, and doing 

 drudgery of all kinds anddescriptious, 



I turn my eyes back with pleasure to 

 our fascinating and health-giving 

 pursuit (bee-keeping), and say : It is 

 enough; I am satisfied. 



My advice to all thinking of bee- 

 keeping as a business, would be, get 

 one or two colonies of bees ; post your- 

 self by reading of and experimenting 

 with them, as you can find time to do 

 so from the business you are already 

 in, and thus find out for yourself 

 which is the better for a livelihood, 

 the business you are already in, or 

 keeping bees. If successful after a 

 series of years, you can be able to take 

 bee-keeping as a specialty, and not be 

 obliged to exclaim with the writer of 

 the article in the Exchange, " Too 

 Many Eggs in One Basket." 



Borodino, N. Y. 



For tbe American B^e JournaL 



Will Freezing Eradicate Foul Brood? 



D. A. JONES. 



In reply to Mr. O. E. Burden's 

 query, on page 134, as to whether 

 freezing will eradicate foul brood, I 

 would say that I am quite satisfied 

 that freezing will not kill the germs ; 

 honey subjected to a temperature of 

 from 20^' to 35° below zero will not 

 kill the germs. When fed to a nucleus, 

 the following spring, frozen honey 

 gave them the disease. Combs sub- 

 jected to the same test and temperature 

 were not freed. I do not believe that 

 a tin of " foul-broody" houey, kept 

 frozen in a solid cake of ice in the 

 Arctic regions for five years, would 

 be cured of the disease ; nor do I be- 

 lieve that combs can be cleaned by 

 subjecting them to a temperature of 

 from 403 to 6(P below zero. I most 

 certainly should advise all to render 

 the combs into wax, boil the honey 

 and scald the hives and frames. You 

 only lose your own time, which will 

 not amount to more than one hour to 

 each colony. The cost of making up 

 the wax into foundation, should not 

 be more than 10 cents per pound and 

 the freight each way. 



Beetou, Out., March 10, 1883. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Small Sections, Honey. Eggs, Etc. 



DR. J. R. BAKER. 



In my last communication to the 

 Bee Journal, I referred to James 

 Heddon as one of the apiarists who 

 advised caution in the adopting of the 

 half-pound sections ; but I see in a 

 later article in the Journal that he 

 intends to use the Lilliputian affairs 

 quite extensively, sol must have been 

 mistaken as to what he said on the 

 subject previously. Still, I am of the 

 opinion that the safer plan will be for 

 the majority of honey-producers to be 

 slow in adopting so small a section. I 

 think a reaction will set in before 

 many years in this matter. At all 

 events, I believe the better way is to 

 make the change gradually, and feel 

 our way as we go. Experience is the 

 best test for all untried theories ; but 

 it is not always safe to experiment 

 very extensively in the outset. 



