INTRODUCTION 
From frequent written articles and lectures on beekeeping we are 
led to believe that anyone, without preparation, can make a success 
in beekeeping. Too many times the drawbacks met by nearly every 
keeper of bees are not mentioned; neither is due importance placed 
upon the preliminary knowledge of beekeeping. Beekeeping today is 
coming to be restricted more to the expert than to the general 
farmer. The day when nearly every farm in the State had a few 
hives of bees has passed. It has been found that to keep bees in a 
hollowed out log or a soap box; to rob them once a year and get a 
mixture of poor honey and dead bees, is neither a pleasant nor a 
profitable business. Bees kept in these conditions have in many cases 
become so weakened, doubtless from disease—American and Euro- 
pean foul brood, or both—that the bee moth has easily overcome the 
colonies. To determine what trouble the general farmer is having 
with bees a blank has been sent to 3,000 persons in all parts of Ten- 
nessee, and the general complaint is that the “weevil” or “bee moth” 
is so bad that bees can not be kept in their locality. This is a sure 
indication that the persons reporting this trouble are not familiar with 
beekeeping, for the bee moth can not overcome a colony of bees when 
the colony is strong and healthy. The trouble resulting from bee 
moth really is secondary, and is a strong indication either that the 
bees are queenless or that foul brood is present, causing the colony 
to dwindle and weaken. That the prospective beekeeper may not be 
misled by flowery statements making beekeeping to the unexperienced 
a “get-rich-quick scheme,” that beekeeping on the farm may be built 
up, and that commercial apiaries may profitably be conducted in Ten- 
nessee are the purposes of this bulletin. 
It is a fact that beekeeping in Tennessee can be conducted profit- 
ably when managed carefully by putting into practice what has been 
found out by experts in the management and use of modern ap- 
pliances. Beekeeping should be encouraged, as it may well form a 
vocation for the young as well as for the old, for those living in the 
city as well as those living in the country, for the hale and hearty as 
well as those suffering from impaired health. Emphasis, however, 
should be laid upon the importance of beginning in a small way and 
developing as one’s interests and love for beekeeping enlarges. In 
the wintertime and on rainy days the beekeeper gets his hives in 
readiness for the coming honey flow. When spring comes and the bees 
begin to fly, a short time spent examining the bees will furnish infor- 
mation as to their condition. It is not advisable, however, that the 
hives be opened at this time if the weather is cool. The condition 
of the bees in the spring will usually be an index as to how they were 
prepared for winter. Bees which are strong and active are those 
which had plenty of honey and a strong colony. In this State bees 
winter well out of doors, but care should be taken to see that they 
have plenty of honey, a surplus of 25 to 30 pounds will be sufficient. 
