Beekeeping as an Occupation 3 



tional apparatus needed in increasing the apiary. This they 

 will do in the average locality, as well as show some profit. 

 If the work then proves congenial, the transition from ama- 

 teur to professional is often so gradual as scarcely to be recog- 

 nized. 



Those beekeepers who are also engaged in general farming 

 or who specialize in one or two farm crops are usually too 

 busy elsewhere to give the bees the necessary attention at the 

 time when they most require it and consequently few of this 

 class of beekeepers rise to the ranks of the specialists. This 

 is not so true of amateur beekeepers, since some of the 

 many occupations which they follow usually permit the 

 time and study necessary to the making of the proficient 

 beekeeper. 



No genuine beekeeper will admit that any other occupation 

 is more interesting than the care of bees. In fact, beekeepers 

 are, in a sense, bound together by a common tie in their in- 

 terest in bees, and this sense of union finds expression in their 

 conventions, in the fraternal tone of their articles in the 

 journals devoted to bee-culture and in their intimacy with 

 each other. This sympathy arises from the fact that they 

 recognize the fascination in the study of the bees and possess 

 in common an absorbing interest in an insect which from the 

 earliest times has aroused the curiosity of mankind. For 

 the amateur beekeeper, this study has the marked advan- 

 tage of being a recreation which pays its own way and, under 

 proper conditions, produces no mean profit. 



Beekeeping is from its very nature one of the minor 

 branches of agriculture. ' It is the means of conserving for 

 human use the nectar of the multitude of flowers, which is 

 usually so abundantly secreted in all sections of the country, 

 and which, if not collected by the bees, is immediately lost. 



The raw material of honey costs the beekeeper nothing. 

 The proper care of the bees in order to obtain the maximum 

 crop and the preparation of the product of their labors for 

 market take time and study, but for these the beekeeper is 

 well repaid by the returns. 



