Beekeeping as an Occupation 
7 
greater part of the 
fruit set is the result 
of the labors of the 
honeybee, and many 
fruit-growers are 
taking up beekeep¬ 
ing solely for its use¬ 
fulness in this re¬ 
gard. It is conserva¬ 
tively estimated 
that the honeybee is 
more valuable to 
American agriculture 
in its work of cross- 
pollinating than it is 
as a honey-producer. 
In all matters per¬ 
taining to the advancement of the beekeeping industry the 
beekeeper should therefore find a warm ally in the fruit-grower 
Fig. 6. — Gravenhorst hive, a combination of 
skep and frame-hive. 
Relation of apparatus to the development of beekeeping. 
It may perhaps be considered as characteristic of human 
endeavor that when a new piece of apparatus is invented 
it is first made as com¬ 
plex as possible and, if it 
becomes widely adopted 
and is used commercially, 
much of the later develop¬ 
ment is in the direction of 
simplification. This is cer¬ 
tainly true of the appar¬ 
atus used by the beekeeper, 
and the stage of the de¬ 
velopment of the industry 
in any country may be 
approximately judged by the complexity of the apparatus 
used. 
Fia. 7. — German hive 
rear. 
opening at the 
