ILrUNOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



197 



of it! I bought another lot and did 

 the same. I gave my wife half of the 

 profits, and she got so fond of it that 

 she tried to make out she even liked 

 the smell of that wax press on that 

 stove. She said, let's send and get 

 another press and we will get the wax 

 out that much quicker. We did so. 

 It went on, day after day, week after 

 week and m(jnth after month and we. 

 made sufficient profit to buy a new 

 press. We went on and workei away; 

 I was farming and my wife running 

 the press. That came up to haying 

 time — the 4th of July — and she said, 

 we will have to quit this, I want the 

 stove to cook on. I figured up and I 

 found we had shipped $970 worth of 

 beeswax. I just began to realize what 

 I might have done if I had gone at it 

 in a business-like way. We gathered 

 up that much within a radius of ten 

 miles. My brother was at it also, and 

 he gathered up nearly as much as I 

 did, and the wax we gathered up 

 arounJ there brought us in over 

 $1,500. We found lots of places where 

 it was too late; they had ploughed it 

 : under or burned it up. In the mean- 

 time I had taken $350 of this money 

 and purchased 100 colonies of bees, 

 the rest was in the bank, and I took 

 particular pains to have those bees in 

 my yard just before the opening of 

 the 'Clover flow. To cut it short, I 

 took $1,200 worth of honey ofC that 

 yard that year, and at the end of the 

 season when I came to figure up the 

 net receipts in my business just as a 

 side issue and compare them with the 

 receipts from the farm, which was my 

 main issue, the thing looked so lop- 

 sided I didn't know what to make of 

 It. I showe'3 her the figures. Here 

 was the bee business with over $2,000 

 M^orth of business done on the side, 

 and here was the farm and only $900 

 worth of business. She said to me. 

 It looks like a clear case of the tail 

 wagging the dog. We have not been 

 able to duplicate that every year right 

 along. I 



The President — ^I should hope not. 



Mr. Manley — ^Don't think I took ad- 

 vantage of my neighbors, I just took 

 advantage of their losses. I always 

 paid ten cents a hive for their combs, 

 and they were well satisfied and I 

 was well satisfied. 



Another point I took notice of that 

 fall. In speaking of the foul brood 



problem some one remarked that there 

 was no use of our being so vigilant 

 with our own bees if our neighbors 

 allowed their bees, which have foul 

 brood, to die and let their combs stay 

 there. If you do not look after his 

 combs and get him to melt them up 

 your bees will visit and rob his bees 

 out and bring the disease. Let me 

 say that if you just exercise a little 

 common sense and go over and buy 

 up his combs, you could clean up on 

 him in nice shape, and it would pay 

 you well. I question if I haven't 

 cleaned up more foul brood than our 

 state inspector. A neighbor wrote me 

 he had one hundred colonies of bees 

 to sell, to come down and buy them. 

 I waited a while and then he had only 

 sixty. When spring finally came he 

 had a fine sample of foul brood. He 

 said. What in the world will I do with 

 these old combs? My brother said. 

 Sell them to Will, he will handle 

 them. He said. What will you give 

 me for them. I says, I will give you 

 25 cents a hive straight through. He 

 said. You can have them. I said, Will 

 you help me cut them out? And he 

 said. You bet I will. I went home and 

 got my galvanized tank and we got 

 them out, and in two and a half days 

 I cleaned up $57. 



We buy bees all over the country, 

 and our neighbors wonder how we can 

 keep in the bee business year after 

 year and still make it pay. We won- 

 der how in the world these bee- 

 keepers who never lose their bees can 

 possibly avoid becoming millionaires. 



I am an extracted honey producer. 

 I did, before I knew better, run for 

 comb honey; I adopted the plain sec- 

 tions and all these things as they 

 came along. I had the bee fever. 

 Those that have the fever are out of 

 their heads about half the time. I 

 have eliminated all these expenses 

 and am willing to accept bees in any 

 kind of hive. This work is done after 

 supper; you can put a hundred sets 

 of combs in an hour's time. We learn 

 from Mr. Doolittle that there is noth- 

 ing about the apiary that you should 

 value so much as empty combs. In 

 this way we have the expense bill al- 

 most entirely elifminated, and what 

 we get out of the business seems 

 clear profit. I only had fifty colonies 

 this spring and I have sold a trifle 

 over $700 worth of honey from those 



