18 
Beekeeping 
they are not occupied for more than a small fraction of the 
time. Without entering into a moral discussion on the 
virtues of industry or the various things that Satan is said 
to find for idle hands to do, it is obvious that the professional 
beekeeper may use other occupations to add to his income 
just as the amateur beekeeper uses his bees. As the bee¬ 
keeper becomes more proficient he eliminates all unneces¬ 
sary manipulation so that the care of a goodly number of 
colonies may take a relatively short time. When the crop 
is off and sold he has little to engage his attention until the 
next season, especially if his bees are wintered out of doors. 
Where bees may be kept. 
It has been the pleasure of the writer to visit apiaries on 
the roofs of city buildings (Fig. 15) and in the almost desert 
valleys of Cali¬ 
fornia (Fig. 106), 
in city back¬ 
yards (Fig. 16) 
and in the moun¬ 
tain wilds, in 
small towns, on 
farms, in Canada 
and in the tropics 
(Fig. 17). In di¬ 
versity of loca¬ 
tion these api¬ 
aries are as varied 
as their owners. 
While recruits to 
the ranks of beekeepers may be found in all ages and 
conditions of men, so bees may be kept in places which 
would at first appear utterly unproductive, as well as in 
places which are obviously abundant in their nectar supply. 
The uninformed observer may fail utterly in his estimate 
of the value of a location from the standpoint of the bee. 
Most of the valuable nectar-secreting plants do not have 
