CHAPTER III 
MAKING A START WITH BEES 
Untess one has had rather extended experience and obser- 
vation, it is nearly always advisable to begin with only one or 
two colonies and grow into a business as extensive as inclination 
or opportunity will permit. 
Proper Equipment.—Only a small percentage of bee-keepers 
start right and select equipment that will continue satisfactory. 
Hundreds of men have started with hives or other equipment 
unsuited to their locality or the system that they have chosen 
to follow, which later caused a heavy expense to change. Not 
long since the author visited a young man who is employed 
in a large machine shop. His spare time is taken up with his 
bees, to which he hopes before long to give his entire attention. 
He has been very fortunate in making his selection of equipment, 
for everything which he has purchased is likely to prove of per- 
manent value. Ilis hives are of the best, his combs are straight 
and built on wired frames, and everything indicates the bee- 
keeper of long experience, instead of a beginner. 
Getting Experience.—If one is so situated that he can do so, 
it is very desirable to spend at least one season in a large apiarv. 
This is not only very desirable to any one who expects to make 
honey production a business, but doubly so to one who wishes to 
start on a liberal scale and increase rapidly. One should select 
the most successful bee-keeper, of whom he can learn under simi- 
lar conditions to which he expects to work. Systems that are 
adapted to one locality may fail in another. To serve such an 
apprenticeship is not altogether essential, for many successful 
bee-keepers have developed their own systems from their own 
experience, with the help of ideas gleaned from the bee journals 
and books relating to the subject. A course in bee-culture in one 
of the agricultural colleges offering such a course is very 
desirable. 
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