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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



mate of the profit from the business— that 

 is, if run wholly for the production of 

 honey without any special care to see 

 what might be accomplished; but if run 

 by an expert on high-grade methods, then 

 SI 5 or $20 per colony. 



Here is where the specialist has a 

 great advantage over the man who divides 

 his capital into two or more channels. 

 These men soon find that they have twice 

 or three times the trouble to contend with, 

 and only a third or a half the capital to 

 use in making a success of any cne of the 

 several lines they have taken up: but the 

 lack of necessary capital is only a small 

 lactor, for that can be got at the bank, 

 but the necessary intellect, business capac- 

 ity, and experience cannot be borrowed, 

 and without these elements to success 

 there is only one alternative, and that is 

 and always has been simply iailure. 



Then there is another thing to take into 

 consideration. It is pleasant to have a 

 paying business that requires your time 

 only about half the year, and that the 

 pleasant part, when ycu can be out dcors 

 and enjoy ail the pleasures of nature's 

 spring and summer. With me it is a real 

 pleasure to breath free air unsoiled by 

 either bell or whistle calling me to labor. 



I will now take it for granted that you 

 have spent one or two seasons in learn- 

 ing all that you could during that time 

 from some comipetent person, and you 

 still want to follow bee-keeping. I can 

 not advise you to go slow, as some do. 

 That "go slow" is a blight on any man. 

 First be sure that you are right, then go 

 ahead with willing hands and a good stock 

 of perseverance ever ready to overcome 

 the unexpected troubles as you meet them. 

 Make up your mind from the first to take 

 good bee literature; have good bees; use 

 good tools and hives, and then produce 

 good honey. Take pride in your business. 

 If you have taken up queen-rearing, form- 

 ing nuclei for sale, or increasing your col- 

 onies for sale, or producing comb or ex- 

 tracted honey, don"t forget to look well to 

 quality. Then advertise and let the 

 public know what you have, and you will 

 in a short time not only surprise your 

 friends but yourself with your success. 

 You now have a clear track and a light 

 grade compared with what some of I's 

 older men had fifty years ago. We then 

 had a hard time oflt— no bee journals- 

 no Italian bees, no comb foundation, no 

 honey-extractors, no bee-smokers, and no 

 market for the little honey we secured. 



How different now, with our large 

 markets established, where our honey is 

 annually sought for, either in small lots or 

 by the carload, and with our new inven- 



tions and improved methods enabling us 

 to produce five times the amount per 

 colony we did then ! To me bee-keeping 

 now seems like quite a good business. 

 Still I never advise one to take it up. not 

 even my own sons, for I have always 

 thought that, when it comes to choosing a 

 life business, each one should choose for 

 himself. While it is true that man to a 

 great extent makes his circumstances, 

 still it is also true that circumstance to 

 a great extent make the man. 



1 am well acquainted with a man who 

 was born on a farm, and worked hard on 

 it for several years after he was married. 

 He was temperate and of excellent habits, 

 working early and late; but still his farm 

 life was a perfect failure. After toiling in 

 close circumstances for several years his 

 wife's friends got him a situation in New 

 York city Then the scale turned. He 

 struck a place that God had fitted him 

 for, and lor the past thirteen years he has 

 had a net income of over twenty thousand 

 dollars a year. I speak of this case to 

 show that many of us are trying to make 

 a success of some business to which we 

 are not at all adapted; also to show the 

 importance of trying hard while young to 

 start right. 



You should look upon your business as 

 your bank; and whenever you can add a 

 dollar to it, do so, and it will return in due 

 time many fold. Take pride in having a 

 good apiary, and remember there is far 

 more in the man than in the business. If 

 the bee-keeper in the future will take our 

 leading bee journals he can, through their 

 advice, shun so many troubles that we 

 older men had to bear, that it is almost 

 like another business— not but that it is 

 still subject to many discouraging condi- 

 tions; and our inability to have any con- 

 trol over the season is and always will be 

 its worst feature. But all lines of busi- 

 ness have some troubles with which to 

 contend. When the farmer loses his stock 

 it is hard and costly to replace, and it 

 often takes some time to do it; or when 

 his crops are ruined by untimely frosts or 

 protracted drouths the loss is hard to bear 

 and overcome. But when the bee-keeper 

 loses a large per cent, of his bees he still 

 has the hives and combs left; and if he 

 has some good colonies he can soon have 

 his original number again with but little 

 expense, and usually secure some surplus 

 bssides. 



Here is one great advantage our busi- 

 ness has over many others. Taking our 

 bees safely through long cold winters and 

 very changeable spring weather, with 

 small loss, has been a hard problem to 

 solve; but this part of the business is now 



