18 



extracted honey, wMch is the most profitable maimer of handling 

 bees in that section and the most effective way of avoiding swarming. 

 The convenience of the modern hive and frame enables the increase 

 of colonies by division. 



Beekeeping Should Be a Specialty. 



Frequently one sees articles advocating the keeping of a few colonies 

 of bees so that one may have all the honey desired. This sounds rather 

 well, but such advice does not work out well in practice. Only those 



Fig. 16.— An apiary at Lares, Porto Rico. 



persons who study and devote themselves to the business are successful 

 beekeepers. They make money, some big money. One Indiana 

 man's 1918 honey crop exceeded $20,000. Success requires making 

 beekeeping the chief vocation, for the person who does not rely upon 

 it for his li-\-ing is likely to be busy when the bees most need his care, 

 and being constantly engrossed in other things he does not take the 

 time to study the problems of the beekeeper. Beekeeping is pre- 

 eminently a specialist's job, and it can not be recommended for the 

 disabled soldier except as a specialty. To be convinced of the necessity 

 for specializing you have only to visit farmers who have a few colonies 

 of neglected and sometimes diseased bees, in some out of the way place; 

 which never pay and are a menace to the success of all good beekeepers 

 in the neighborhood. 



