ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 13 



proportion to its cost, no investment brings the bee-keeper greater 

 profit than the securing of superior stock. 



Having secured a good location, and good stock, the bee-keeper 

 should adopt such hives, implements and methods as will enable him 

 to branch out, establish out-apiaries, and keep a large number of 

 colonies. At the present time the greatest failing of professional 

 bee-keepers is the keeping of too few bees — of clinging to some 

 other hampering pursuit. Many keep enough bees to furnish them 

 a fair living in a good season, but when winter losses, and poor 

 honey seasons follow one another in quick succession, there is suffer- 

 ing; or, at least, great inconvenience. If a man is going to follow 

 bee-keeping as a profession, his only hope is in a good location, good 

 stock, and the keeping of bees in such numbers that when a good 

 year comes he can pile up the honey ton upon ton — enough to keep 

 him several years. The larger a business the more cheaply can it 

 be conducted in proportion to the results; not only this, but the very 

 fact that bees are scattered about in out-apiaries several miles apart, 

 adds to the certainty of the crop; as one locality often yields a fair 

 crop while another a few miles away yields nothing. 



It has been urged against bee-keeping as a sole pursuit that, 

 while it keeps a man very busy during the summer it leaves him idle 

 in the winter. Bee-keeping, rightly managed, will keep a man busy 

 every day in the year. Too many bee-keepers fail to realize that the 

 selling of a crop is fully as important as its production. The busi- 

 ness part of bee-keeping has been sadly neglected. No set rule can 

 be given as to how a-man shall dispose of his crop, but it does seem 

 like very poor business management to send away a crop of honey 

 to some commission merchant, and then sit around all winter when 

 good wages might be made selling honey direct to consumers, or to 

 retail dealers. The selling of the crop, and the preparations for the 

 coming season, may well occupy a man during the winter. 



It should be understood, however, that bee-keeping is not an 

 occupation in which one can easily become wealthy. In this respect, 

 it is much like other rural pursuits. Rightly managed, in a locality 

 adapted to the business, it can be depended upon to furnish a com- 

 fortable living, and perhaps enable a man to lay up a few thousands 

 of dollars, but such fortunes as are sometimes amassed in merchan- 

 dising or manufacturing can never be hoped for by the bee-keeper. 

 Fortunately, however, the perfection of a man's happiness bears but 

 little relation to the size of his fortune; and many a man with the 

 hum of the bees over his head, finds happiness deeper and sweeter 

 than ever comes to the merchant prince with his cares and his 

 thousands. 



