180 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



get a good crop, and I began to look upon 

 the business as a certainty, and made my 

 plans accordingly. I built a honey house, 

 started out-apiaries, etc. : but had it not 

 been for the factory and farm during those 

 three years, the balance would have been on 

 the wrong side of the ledger. 



•Judging from my experience, there is no 

 business that will permit of something in 

 connection with it. any better than bee- 

 keeping. In making this statement, I know 

 I am in direct opposition to some of our 

 best writers on this subject, but I cannot 

 help it, as I have my own experience, not 

 theirs, to judge from. 



Bell Bbanch, Mich. Oct. 21, ISS'J. 



As a Matter of Dollars and Cents, One 

 Trade is Best. 



DB. C. C. MILLEK. 



' 'sM^ ^ *° mixed vs. exclusive bee-keeping, 

 (1^) I am myself somewhat mixed. I for- 

 ^!^^ merly held the view that no one 

 should give up all other business and 

 depend on bee-keeping alone until he had 

 enough ahead to keep him at least one year 

 without any income from his bees. An ex- 

 perience of three successive years of failure 

 makes me think it might be best he should 

 be prepared at all times for three such years 

 — possibly more. ( )f course that strikes a 

 pretty hard l)low against exclusive bee- 

 keeping, but it might not apply in general, 

 for I have by no means the best location for 

 bee-keeping, depending almost solely on 

 white clover. 



I have not the statements before me, but I 

 have a general impression that I have a num- 

 ber of times heai'd or read something like 

 this: "I got more money from my bees than 

 from my whole farm." Now I want to put 

 a problem in arithmetic. If Mr. -Jones 

 makes more money from his bees than from 

 his farm, would he not gain by getting rid 

 of his farm and keeping double the number 

 of beesV To put the matter in a more con- 

 crete form, suppose his farm nets him Sf.iM) 

 and his bees ij^OOO, his total income is ifU,l(K). 

 Now give up the farm, double the bees, and 

 would not the income be i5;l,200? Hardly, 

 for it does not follow that if he makes :f;(!00 

 from 100 colonies of bees he can make 

 double the amount from 200. But he might 

 keep more than double the number, for 

 coupled with the statement given above, 

 very often, comes the statement that the 

 bees took very much less time than the farm. 

 But the risk. If bee-keeping is more risky 

 than farming, then it may be better to hold 

 onto the farm. 



If some business is connected with bee- 

 keeping which can be prosecuted during a 

 time when bee-work is not pressing, then it 

 is possible that the combination might be 

 advisable. But those who engage largely in 

 bee-keeping are apt to say that they find 

 plenty to do at all seasons of the year. Still, 

 a business might be found which could occu- 

 py part of the time when bee-work crowds 

 least. I think small fruit raising has been 



recommended more than any other as com- 

 bining nicely with bee-keeping. I have had 

 a little experience with small fruits, having 

 had at one time some two acres in strawber- 

 ries, two more m raspberries, and 125 cherry 

 trees. The busy time comes at picking and 

 marketing, and that comes wlien bee-work 

 crowds harder than any other time in the 

 whole year. So if the bee-keeper can make 

 more to give half his time to small fruits, I 

 think he might make more to give up bees 

 entirely and give all his time to small fruits. 

 The truth probably is that one man can 

 make more on small fruits and another on 

 bees, but I doubt if anything is gained by 

 mixing. 



A man doing a large business as merchant, 

 lawyer, or what not, might profitably mix in 

 a little bee-keeping by way of recreation, 

 but as a matter of dollars and cents he'd 

 better stick to his trade. If a man, on the 

 average, can make more at bee-keeping than 

 at any other business, then I can hardly see 

 how he can gain by mixing in other business. 

 But he may i)refer bee-keeping to any other 

 business in spite of its being less profitable, 

 on account of its health giving and home 

 keeping qualities, in which case it may be 

 propel for him to combine some other busi- 

 ness to which he is well adai)ted and to 

 which he can attend when his bees need 

 least care, provided he can find such a busi- 

 ness. 



So you see, Mr. Editor, that whether a man 

 should "mix" or not dei>ends upon a good 

 many things. In general, however, I sup- 

 pose that bee-keeping follows the general 

 rule. We get shoes cheaper because there 

 are large establishments that have no other 

 business than making shoes; so of clothing 

 and other things, and it is probable that the 

 general public will get its honey cheapen- and 

 of better quality the more nearly honey 

 raising is carried on extensively as an exclu- 

 sive business. 



Maeengo, 111., Nov. 2, 188t). 



Specialty Better for one Man, "Mixture" for 



Another; Room for Both— A Well- 



Considered Anicle. 



J. HASBKOUCK. 



'°^'!Sf' OU ask me to say something on "Spe- 

 cM^ cialty vs. Mixed Bee-keepiug." If I 

 <yj^ do so, I will, like "Brudder Gardner," 

 "talk on bof sides ob de question," 

 because I believe botli in specialty and m 

 mixed bee-keepiug. A number of years ago 

 when I wrote a good deal for the bee-keep- 

 ing public, I was constantly receiving letters, 

 asking for advice, from people wiio wanted 

 to give up all otiier basiuess and place their 

 dependance for a living tor themselves and 

 families upon from 20 to 100 stocks of bees, 

 to buy which they generally proposed to 

 borrow the money. They were led into 

 their ridiculous [)laus by extravagant repre- 

 sentations in some of the older bee-books 

 and advertisements — generally in religious 

 papers. With specialty on such a founda- 

 tion, I have no patience, and always tried to 



