MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTEODUOTION. 



WHO 3IAY KEEP BEES? 



Those of any profession or business, — who can give a little time in spring, 

 summer, and autumn, who may desire to be associated with, and study natural 

 objects, and supplement their present means of increasing their income, — pro- 

 vided, they have a little ground three or four rods from the street. Thus, citi- 

 zens of country, village, or city, male or female, who wish to add to the pleasures 

 and profits of life, will here find an ever-waiting opportunity. To the ladies, 

 so often shut out from fresh air and sunlight, till palor and languor point sadly 

 to departing vigor, and to those men, the nature of whose business precludes 

 air and exercise, the apiary offers special attractions. 



INDUCEMENTS TO BEE-KEEPING. 



This has been called the poetry of rural pursuits, and very j)roperly too. 

 There is a fascination about the apiary that is indescribable. Nature is always 

 presenting the most pleasurable surprises to those on the alert to behold them. 

 And among insects, especially bees, the instincts and habits are so inexplicable 

 and marvelous, that the student of this department of nature never ceases to 

 meet with exhibitions that startle him, no less with wonder than with admiration. 

 Show me a scientific bee-keeper, and I will show you an enthusiast. A thorough 

 study of the wonderful economy of the hive, must from its very nature go hand 

 in hand with delight and admiration. Said I, a short time since, to an exten- 

 sive apiarist who also owns a fine large farm, "Why do you keep bees?" The 

 reply was characteristic : "Even could I not make a good deal the most money 

 from my bees, I should still keep them for the real pleasure they bring me." 



Again, there is no other manual labor pursuit in which the returns are so 

 large, compared with the labor and expense. An experienced apiarist may 

 invest in bees any spring in Michigan, with the absolute certainty of more than 

 doubling his investment the first season, while a net gain of four hundred per 

 cent, causes no surprise to the bee-keepers of our State. During the past season 

 an investment in bees has returned to me five hundred per cent., and though 

 this has been a good season for honey, yet I have done better than this several 

 times. No less than three farmers of our State who possess good improved 

 farms, and also keep about one hundred colonies of bees, have told me within 

 a few weeks that their income from their bees far exceeded that from their 

 farms. "What greater recommendation has any vocation? Money getting, even 

 with the greatest privations is attractive, and is slighted by no class. Money 

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