CHAPTER III 

 MAKING A START WITH BEES 



Unless one has had rather extended experience and obser- 

 vation, it is nearly always advisable to begin with only one or 

 two colonies and grow into a business as extensive as inclination 

 or opportunity will permit. 



Proper Equipment. — Only a small percentage of bee-keepers 

 start right and select equipment that will continue satisfactory. 

 Hundreds of men have started with hives or other equipment 

 unsuited to their locality or the system that they have chosen 

 to follow, which later caused a heavy expense to change, l^ot 

 long since the author visited a young man who is employed 

 in a large machine shop. His spare time is taken up with his 

 bees, to which he hopes before long to give his entire attention. 

 He has been very fortunate in making his selection of equipment, 

 for everything which he has purchased is likely to prove of per- 

 manent value. His hives are of the best, his combs are straight 

 and built on wired frames, and everything indicates the bee- 

 keeper of long experience, instead of a beginner. 



Getting Experience. — If one is so situated that he can do so, 

 it is very desirable to spend at least one season in a large apiary. 

 This is not only very desirable to any one who expects to make 

 honey production a business, but doubly so to one who wishes to 

 start on a liberal scale and increase rapidly. One should select 

 the most successful bee-keeper, of whom he can learn under simi- 

 lar conditions to which he expects to work. Systems that are 

 adapted to one locality may fail in another. To serve such an 

 apprenticeship is not altogether essential, for many successful 

 bee-keepers have developed their own systems from their own 

 experience, with the help of ideas gleaned from the bee journals 

 and books relating to the subject. A course in bee-culture in one 

 of the agricultural colleges offering such a course is very 

 desirable. 

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