THE HEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



379 



EXTRACTED. 



BEGINNING IX BEE-KEEPING. 



Some Good Advice in Regard to Learning the 

 Business, and Sticking to it. 



Occasionally a man gets the "bee- 

 fever," ano in his haste to get into busi- 

 ness, he spends a lot of money foolishly, 

 and does many things that are unprofit- 

 ble. After he gets nicely started he meets 

 with losses, becomes discourged, and 

 makes a sacrifice to get out of the busi- 

 ness, or else adds something else to the 

 bee-business. Any reader who finds him- 

 self in any of these positions, or is likely 

 to so find himself, may read with inter- 

 est and profit the following from the 

 Wisconsin .Agriculturist. It was written 

 by Harrj- Lathrop of Browntown, Wiscon- 

 sin. 



I advise those who have mastered some 

 other branch of agriculture, and are doing 

 well in it, not to take up bee-keeping for 

 the purpose of making money out of it; 

 belter invest more time and capital in 

 the business you are already in than to 

 take up something new. Of late I have 

 become somewhat interested in sheep- 

 farming, and thought strongly of starting 

 in the business, as I have some land that 

 is well adapted to sheep; but after more 

 thought and deliberation, have decided 

 to enlarge my bee business instead, rather 

 than take up something in which I have 

 had no experience; although I am satis- 

 fied there is more money in sheep than in 

 bees if one has the necessary capital and 

 e.xperience. The case is different with 

 those who wish to keep a few bees for 

 pleasure or pastime ( with the stings 

 thrown in). The question has been ask- 

 ed. Is it best for one to work a season or 

 two with an experienced bee-keeper or go 

 ahead and learn by experience. The 

 school of experience is all right, but the 

 tuition is often too high. 



If one, knowing nothing about bee- 

 keeping, isdetermine<l to take it up as a 

 business, I think it would pay them well 

 to work a season or two wnth a succes.sful 

 man, even if they had to pay for the priv- 



ilege. As a matter of fact, though, one 

 can usually get small wages if they can 

 find a man who needs help. 



There are three ways of gaining know- 

 ledge, all of which are necessary to a 

 practical understanding of the business 

 in question — study, observation and 

 practice. I advise every beginner to get 

 one or more standard works on bee cul- 

 ture and study them; as to which is the 

 best, I do not propose to give any pub- 

 lisher a free advertisement, but if any one 

 asks me privatelv I will give them my 

 opinion. By observation, I mean keep- 

 ing one's eyes open and making careful 

 note of what they see. Practice alone 

 can make the theoretical knowledge, 

 gained by reading, a benefit tons. 



Then comes the question. How many 

 colonies should one have to begin with ? 

 I started with one, and during the first 

 year of my bee-keeping I had but the one, 

 as there was no increase. I now think 

 I am more competent to properly care 

 for one hundred colonies through a sea- 

 son than I was that first year to care for 

 one. I would saj' then, it depends on 

 how much you know about the business 

 and how much time and money you 

 have to put into it. A very good and 

 safe way is to start with a very few colo- 

 nies, give them the best care you can, 

 and make them pay for all expense inci- 

 dent to increasing the plant. Thus you 

 are out only time over the first expense 

 of starting, and the loss of time is com- 

 pensated by the education one gets. 



The question is often asked, "How 

 much honey will a colony of bees make 

 in one season ?" One might as well ask, 

 "How many apples will one apple tree 

 bear ?" There are many conditions to be 

 taken into account. In a general way we 

 can say that an' average of fifty pounds of 

 surplus honey per colony each year for a 

 term of years is considered good returns; 

 some do better than that, but they are 

 those who occupy favored localities. My 

 bees have done well, but I cannot give 

 exact figures. .\s far as individual colo- 

 nies are concerned, I have had yields all 

 the way from nothing up to 225 pounds 

 of finished comb honey in a single season. 

 In good seasons I usually make my apia- 

 ries yield about 100 pounds of surplus per 

 colony, spring count, for the whole apiary. 

 It is well to remember that a small num- 

 ber of colonies can be made to produce 

 relatively much larger yields than a larg- 

 er number, therefore, don't be figuring 

 and be deceived into the conclusion that 

 you can make a great fortune out of an 

 extensive bee business because some one 

 has reported making twenty or even forty 



