116 
BEES ON SHARES 
increase of swarms (artificial or natural) 
to belong to said owner. It is further mu¬ 
tually agreed and understood that in case 
no honey is secured, or the amount runs 
below ten (10) pounds per colony, said 
owner shall pay to said employee, as and 
for his compensation for all labor done and 
provided by him on and about said bees, an 
amount not exceeding—cents per hour for 
each and every hour of labor so performed, 
and provided by said employee on and about 
said bees, and in such case all honey to be¬ 
long to said owner. 
Signed in duplicate by said parties, the 
day and year first above written. 
Signed in presence of ' 
The foregoing comprises the essential 
features of a contract - , but local conditions 
may render it necessary to make some mod¬ 
ifications. 
The contract as drawn would be very 
favorable to the owner of bees, provided 
he could always have a competent man 
and a good season. If, for example, he 
had 500 colonies, and secured an average 
of 100 pounds per hive, he might make 
something like 100 per cent on his invest¬ 
ment. But if the employee is incompe¬ 
tent, or not strictly honest, or* if the sea¬ 
son were poor or a failure, the owner 
might actually lose money. The contract, 
as drawn, assumes that the average em¬ 
ployee will not get as much out of the 
bees as the owner. Moreover, if the em¬ 
ployee is a little careless, foul brood might 
get started among all the bees. Even if 
the season Avere good, the cost of treating 
the entire apiary, and the reduction in 
crop by reason of the ravages of disease, 
might likewise cause an entire failure. On 
the other hand, the employee, even if he 
had done his best, might lose out also, if 
the season were a failure. Eor that rea¬ 
son the last clause in the contract is in¬ 
serted as a matter of fairness to him. 
If no honey should be secured, he has 
performed his part of the contract in good 
faith, and, moreover, has improved the 
apiary—perhaps increased it so that it 
Avill be in better condition the following 
year for a honey crop. For this better¬ 
ment it is no more than right that the own¬ 
er should pay his man a reasonable sum, 
whatever amount may be agreed on; or, if 
preferred, a certain number of colonies. 
One can readily see that, in case the honey 
season Avas an absolute failure, the em¬ 
ployee Avould suffer a total loss except for 
a provision of this kind, and the OAvnei 
Avould still have his bees, the increase, his 
implements, and everything necessary to 
carry on the business for another season. 
By the above contract it is to the interest 
of both parties to keep down increase. The 
employee must knoAv, if he is a practical 
beekeeper, that, the greater the increase, 
the less the honey; and he will, therefore, 
bend all his efforts and skill to keep the 
colonies in the best condition to obtain a 
crop of honey. 
Keeping bees on shares is practiced quite 
extensively in Colorado and California. It 
very often happens that a beekeeper lately 
arrived from the East desires to try a 
locality to determine Avhether it will be 
suited to his health, and whether or not he 
can make the keeping of bees a success. 
He accordingly finds a beekeeper Avhose 
other business leads him' to desire some 
one competent to manage his bees for him. 
But where one is Avell settled in a locality, 
and has the means whereby he can pur¬ 
chase the bees, he should do so. 
The business of keeping bees on shares 
has not always been ah unqualified success; 
and where one can buy bees outright, pay¬ 
ing for them out of his earnings, he would 
better do so. But the OAvner of the bees 
should, of course, be secured by a chattel 
mortgage until the last payment is made. 
BEES, STINGLESS.— Their habitat ex¬ 
tends from the boundary between the 
United States and Mexico doAvn to Buenos 
Aires in Argentina, embracing an area of 
8,000,000 square miles. One comparatively 
unimportant species inhabits most of the 
West India islands. There are a feAV spe¬ 
cies in Asia and Africa. 
By entomologists these bees are usually 
classed under tAvo great genera— Melipona 
and Trigona; but some naturalists are dis¬ 
posed to add another, Tetragona. There is 
an extraordinary variety of these bees, 
which is supposed to embrace at least 100 
species, whereas there are not more than 8 
species of Apis. The variation in size is 
also great, for some are no larger than a 
mosquito, Avhile others are considerably 
lai’ger than the hive bee. A number of 
