Bcc-kccpiug as a Business ii 



living in a good season ; but when winter losses and poor honey seasons 

 follow one another in quick succession, there is suffering, or, at least, 

 great inconvenience. If a man is going to follow bee-keeping as a 

 profession, his only hope is in a good location, good stock, and the 

 keeping of bees in such numbers that, when a good year comes, he 

 can pile up the honey ton upon ton — enough to keep him several years. 

 The larger a business the more cheaply can it be conducted in proportion 

 to the results ; not only this, but the very fact that bees are scattered 

 about in out-apiaries, several miles apart, adds to the certainty of the 

 crop ; as one locality often yields a fair crop while another a few miles 

 away yields nothing. 



It has been urged against bee-keeping as a sole pursuit, that, while 

 it keeps a man very bus}- during the summer, it leaves him idle in the 

 winter. Bee-keeping, rightly managed, will keep a man busy every 

 day in the year. Too many bee-keepers fail to realize that the selling 

 of a crop is fully as important as its production. The business part 

 of bee-keeping has been sadly neglected. No set rule can be given as 

 to how a man shall dispose of his crop ; but it does seem like very poor 

 business management to send away a crop of honey to some commission 

 merchant, and then sit around all winter when good wages might be 

 made selling honey direct to consumers, or to retail dealers. The selling 

 of the crop, and the preparations for the coming season, may well 

 occupy a man during the winter. 



Perhaps a dozen years ago I visited Mr. W. L. Coggshall, of New 

 York. Few bee-keepers have made a greater financial success than 

 has Mr. Coggshall. There have been stories about the thousands of 

 dollars that he has in the bank. Mr. Coggshall has never admitted nor 

 denied these reports ; but, let this be as it may, he is certainly well-to-do. 

 As I sat in the train, thinking the matter over while on my way home, 

 I tried to decide why Mr. Coggshall had been so much more successful 

 than many other bee-keepers, when all at once it came to me like a 

 flash, why, he "keeps more bees !" As I continued to think of the matter, 

 it seemed so strange that this point in bee-keeping had never been 

 brought home to me before. Then I thought there were thousands of 

 other bee-keepers, just like myself, fussing and struggling along with 

 a single apiary of 75 or 100 colonies, barely making a living, when, by 

 spreading out, and increasing the number of our colonies, and adopting 

 methods that would enable us to handle them, we might soon be in easy 

 circumstances. I felt almost as though I had made a "discovery," and 

 yet it was really such a simple matter. From that day on, I have 

 practiced and preached the "keeping of more bees." 



It is with a little elation, and much thankfulness, that I now receive 

 letters from men who have secured a residence on "easy street" by 



