The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-05-29
Can EyeTy Farmer Keen Bees /?

80 keep bees. 1t is sad mat the farm
er should keek bees, the merchant
should keep bees, the lawyer, doctor,
mechanic. preacher and teachershould
keep bees-eyerybody should keep
bees. There can be no objection to
everybody keeping them, yet that
every one can and will keep them
properly seems already sufficiently
answered by the many failures that
occur every year, as the fruits of
neglect and mismanagement
If there is one class to which bee
keeping seems more especially adapt
ed than to any other it is the farmer;
surrounded as he is by all that is es-
sential to the prosperity of the bees.
The bloom of his orchards, pastures,
fields and forests, furnish q bountiful
harvest of delicious sweets which the
bee alone knows so well howto gather,
and the farmer loves so well to enjoy.
His trees and shrubs afford a pleasant
shade for his hives, which, if rightly
arranged add much TO the beauty and
adornment of home, while the care
necessary to attend to his little untir-
ing laborer is mere matter Of recrea-
ton and pleasure, and which is repaid
hundred fold by them in return. 1t
is no exaggeration to say that it re-
quires less labor to care for stock of
bees than to raise cali, pig or lamb,
while the profits are many times.
greater.
Everythingin beekeeping, however,
does not depend on location. The
manner in which many farmers keep
their bees, almost forces one to con
clude that they are either too indo-
lent or Ignorant to keep them sue
cessfully, and that in reality should
not make the attempt. l will enum-
crate the kind of farmers who can
keep bees, at least enough to supply
themselves with honey sufficient for
the wants of their own families. The
farmer who has sufficient sense to
plant corn at the right time, and ener-
gy to eradicate the weeds and stir the
soil to insure good crop, can keep
bees He who has sufficient knowl-
edge to raise fine horse, COW or hog,
can keep bees. The man that adorns
bis home with shrubs and flowers,
raises delicious fruits for his table,
and desires the education of his chill
dren in every useful art that agrictl-
ture and home affords, will keep them.
On the other hand the one who has
not the interest or energy to do all
these things need not expect to get
either money or honey from bee cul-
ture. Some of their requisites to care,
even for few stocks of bees, are,
First. A love for the bees. No one
succeeds well who keeps bees with
only large profits in view, for in this
business she who maketh haste to be
rich" will surely fall into snare
Second. knowledge and energy to
do the right thing at the right time.
This can be attained by reading and
observation, and time and money thus
expended will prove a good invest
ment Third. Faith that bees will
pay if rightly kept. A like faith is
necessary in this vocation as that
which the farmer exercises in all his
farm matters. When horse OF COW
dies, or his hogs have the cholera, he
by nomeans stops keeping horses or
raising hogs, and says he has no luck in
that kind of stock. When bugs eat
his potatoes, the drouth DESTROYS his
corn, and the fly kills his wheat. does
he Immediately go out of the business?
No; because he has faith in his call
inc. He plows again, and instead of
trusting wholly to chance tries to
avoid a like disaster by making use
of such knowledge as he has gained
by his former experience. The faith
full apiarist works upon the same
plan. If his bees die, he buys more.
If the flowers fail to produce honey,
be cares for his bees til tIle~ do. and
then when times Of prosperity do
come a reward of 200 to 500 per cent.
amply repay him for all his care and
anxiety. When farmers begin to
keep bees on business principles, in
stead of the uncertainties of old dame
chance, then will they fully realize
that for pleasure, profit and health
there is no business in agriculture
that can compare to the care of bees.
g. w. Veiharot, IN the Bee Keep
iris Guido.