20 Texas Department op Agkiculture. 



deal of pleasure and profit, and the outdoor exercise in the pure air 

 and sunshine promotes better health. Thus, many women who suffered 

 ill health or were feeble and weak, have been restored to health and 

 made robust by following beekeeping. For l)usy housewives, ami 

 others, too, who need occasional rest and recreation, there is noth%j 

 better than these "pets" to occasionally take their minds away fi»i 

 their daily cares and worry. ^ 



As a specialty, beekeeping is very profitable for either man or 

 woman, if proper attention is given to it. It would be folly to .tty 

 to pursue it as a business in a poor locality, or to attempt to getsffl- 

 isfactory results if managed in anything short of a business-like ffli- 

 ner. Effort to do so is what has caused many failures in beekeeping. 



MAKING A BEGINNING. 



3wa 



There are many ways in which, a person may stai't beekeeping 

 this is one reason why so many questions are asked regarding how" 

 beginner may best start out in this new field. Others make a begin- 

 ning without any questions and work themselves in, as it were. 

 while still others plunge heavily into the new undertaking on a large 

 scale, only to discover later that they are not capable of handling it 

 properly and, as a result, find themselves, often at the end of a single 

 season, without any bees, but in possession of a lot of empty _hiveB. 

 Some valuable but costly experience is the only remuneration obtained. 

 It is in such instances that beekeeping is pronounced a failure when, 

 in reality, the blame rests on the operator. To be successful in bee- 

 keeping one must make up his mind to go slowly, be willing to read, 

 and think and study, and be content with only a few colonies until 

 experience permits an increase in numbers. It is the really intef^^, 

 energetic, industrious, and hustling person, who has his mind on his 

 business, studies everything pertaining to the subject, observes care- 

 fully and does things, that will make a successful beekeeper in the 

 truest sense of the word. 



THE STUDY OP GOOD BOOKS. 



The very first thing that should be procured is one, or more, books 

 on beekeeping, which should not only be read, but studied to become 

 well posted, or "book learned" as some call it, before getting thf 

 bees. This will familiarize a beginner with the mysteries of tht 

 hives and the care of the bees and the appliances required, and fit hii i 

 to intelligently undertake apiculture when bees are procured. 



Besides the large number of books on beekeepino- there are publishe ] 

 numerous excellent bee journals. Often the information gained froi i 

 a single article is worth more than the price of a year's subseriptiffl 

 All beekeepers of any importance subscribe for not only one, butB 

 eral, bee journals, as it is impossible to keep up with" the times'fp i 

 make a success of the business without reading them. For this re 

 son, it is always advocated that at least one or more bee journals h,^ 

 subscribed for as soon as, or even before, the bees are obtained, in a|i 

 dition to (.■,ettinu' books, as already advised. 



