BEEKEEPING 
CHAPTER I 
BEEKEEPING AS AN OCCUPATION 
The keeping of bees for the pleasure derived from studying 
them and also for the profit arising from their products is 
the vocation or avocation 
of many thousands of peo¬ 
ple in all sections of the 
United States and Canada. 
In former times, the bee¬ 
hive, or more properly the 
skep, “gum” or box-hive 
(Fig. 1), was found on al¬ 
most every farm, in im¬ 
portance occupying a place 
similar to that which poul¬ 
try does to-day. Then as 
now, beekeeping was usu¬ 
ally not the sole business 
of those interested. The 
number of farmer-beekeep¬ 
ers is now being reduced 
in most parts of the 
United States and bees are 
no longer quite so commonly seen in the country as in 
earlier days. 
Fig. 1. — A primitive box-liive. 
B 
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