132 THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



I could not expect anything of that poor fellow but failure, but 

 several of his neighbors told me when I made investigation that 

 he started out to the bee yards several times when his new wife 

 would cry to him as he would start and say, "If you like Wilder's 

 bees better than you love me, go out and stay with them, but 

 be sure you don't come back when you do," and of course he would 

 immediately return with a broken heart and tears streaming from 

 his eyes. 



I mention this because the best help obtainable will do likewise 

 and therefore you can't trust it too far. You must watch it or 

 have it done by a trusted overseer. 



No experienced help that has ever come to me from time to 

 time has remained with me long. In the first place, they wanted 

 far more for their services than they were worth to me or I could 

 afford to pay. The next thing their ideas about certain work would 

 not run the same way mine did and to do as I said work had to be 

 done was totally out of the question with them and when they 

 were fully awakened to the fact that the business under their 

 direction was fast drifting into a failure they would many times 

 quit before they would change their already set or fixed ideas. 

 Many would come under this agreement: "I will do the work just 

 as you say it must be or follow your instructions fully," but no 

 one has ever yet complied fully with this promise. The fact remains 

 that qualified apiarists are in businesses of their own and those out 

 for the services of others are not our best apiarists and in the 

 truest sense of the word can't be depended upon as all-around men. 



The best way I have found to use labor is to let bees out on 

 shares to those whom I have schooled or trained in the bee work 

 who have proven to be energetic and trustworthy and fully qual- 

 ified for the work. This allows such apiarists a chance to make 

 more than ordinary wages and they will, as a rule, do it and get 

 very enthusiastic over the business instrusted to their care and 

 more and more bees is their desire. In this way the business must 

 progress, which means greater business and returns. Such apiar- 

 ists can very often handle labor to great advantage and this will 

 enable them to successfully carry on a good sized business. In 

 such cases apiarists are not allowed to have bees of their own or 

 any other business or job. Keeping bees on shares for me is their 

 sole occupation and their part or share is one-half of the honey 

 and wax. All increase is mine and in no case is decrease allowed, 

 spring counting. But if so much increase is made as to affect the 

 honey crops, I pay them from 50 cents to $1.00 per colony, depend- 

 ing upon amount of increase. 



