16 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



visited, books or papers borrowed or bought, improved hives and 

 methods adopted, and, as the bees increased, so did the enthusiasm 

 and interest, until, finally, the bees received more time and attention 

 than did the regular business; thus did bee-keeping eventually be- 

 come a specialty or the sole business. 



When a man has decided to embark in bee-keeping as a business, 

 he should in some manner learn the business thoroughly before in- 

 vesting extensively. No hard and fast rules can be laid down; so 

 much depending upon circumstances. A young man with no estab- 

 lished business, would do well to pass one or two seasons in the em- 

 ploy of some experienced bee-keeper, as has been already suggested, 

 while an older man already in business, with a family to support, 

 may find it advisable to gradually v^^ork into bee-keeping, reading 

 and studying as his bees increase. Whatever the method employed, 

 let the work be thorough; and, especially, let there be plenty of actual 

 experience before venturing extensively. 



As a rule, a man already has some bees when he decides to be- 

 come a bee-keeper. Perhaps he never formally makes any such de- 

 cision. He captures a stray swarm, or cuts a bee tree and saves 

 the bees, and the stock increases with such wonderful rapidity that 

 the owner becomes a bee-keeper ere he scarcely realizes it. This 

 wonderful rapidity with which bees increase is one strong argument 

 in favor of a man securing a few colonies and building them up into 

 an apiary, instead of buying a large number of colonies at the begin- 

 ning. By rearing' queens with which to furnish the newly made col- 

 onies, and furnishing them with full sheets of comb foundation, the 

 extent to which bees can be increased in a favorable season is some- 

 thing almost beyond belief. Just how, or where, the first colonies 

 shall be secured may well be considered. As a rule, the man who 

 has steady work, at good wages, better buy bees in such movable 

 comb hives as he intends to use. If he can get them near home, of 

 some reliable bee-keeper, so much the better. Of course, there are 

 instances in which a man has more time than money, or there may 

 be a trace of the sportsman in his make-up, and, in either case, the 

 hunting of bees, or the putting out of decoj^ hives to catch stray 

 swarms, will make to him a strong appeal. In those parts of the 

 countrj' where many bees are kept, yet there is not much timber, as 

 in Colorado or California, there is no difficulty in catching swarms 

 in decoy hives; in fact, there is difficulty in keeping swarms out of 

 chimneys, and the walls of buildings. While out riding one day with 

 Mr. Gill, of Colorado, he pointed out one house in the walls of which 

 five colonies had their homes. In California Mr. Mendelson set away 

 three empty hives in his wagon shed, and when I was there swarms 



