The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1885-02-11
Starting in the Bee Business.

To begin with the start, then, it will
depend altogether on the extent to which
you intend to go. Hyou want only one
or few colonies for honey to be used at
home, for study or as an ornament to
your place, any of the standard works on
bee culture will give you sufficient theo-
retical knowledge to begin with. In con-
nection with this, you should ifpossible,
visit some practical bee-keeper, watch
him through the various ,manipulations
in the apiary, and ask the "why and
wherefore" of anything you do not un-
derstand. The same course may be pur-
sued if you intend eventually to go into
Bookkeeping ON larger scale, having at
present some other business on which
you depend, or to which you are confin-
ed, but which you hope some time to
leave for the more congenial culture of
bees. You should also subscribe for one
or more of the principal bee papers.
There has, within the last decade, been
such radical change in the management
of bees that no sensible man would now
think of keeping them as his grandfather
did. But there is at the same time such
constant progress in details and inn
provements that only by studying the
bee papers can you keep up with the
times. Though new books are occasion
ally published, they soon for this reason
become obsolete i'll some respect, and it
has been necessary to revise and add
something to each new edition.
THE TYRO,
Who intends to enter into bee culture on
a scale sufficiently large to enable him
to make living thereby from the begin
ming, should serve an apprenticeship of
a year or two with practical extensive
beekeeper, where he may thoroughly
learn all the various details of the bust
ness. There is no hard or violent work
to contend with in the business itself,
but the Bookkeeping of to-day is made up
of an indefinite number of little matters,
which can only be learned by constant
study, close application and daily prac-
tice. 1t is mistaken idea that bee-keep-
ing is easy work. There is, perhaps, no
other occupation where the hand and
brain have to work as faithfully togeth-
er to insure success and prevent failure
and disappointment, as in the bee bust
ness. Like any other occupation, it has
it's bright and it's dark side, it's ups and
downs, good seasons, followed by bad
seasons, frequently low prices, losses
through hard winters, unfavorable sum-
mers or by disease, and only he, who has
genuine love for his vocation, coupled
with perseverance, intelligence and
economy, will be likely to stick to it till
the end.
SELECTING A LOCATION.
Look in the first place to the pasture.
A location, be it ever SO desirable in
every other respect, will be useless, I'M
less there is an abundance of honey-pro-
ducing plants. After the season opens
with the Towering of the willows, there
should, if possible, be a continuous
bloom until fall. Fruit trees, small
fruits, locust and other small shade trees,
wild or yellow alfalfa, the sages, sumac,
the cultivated alfalfa, buckwheat brush
and many others yield nectar in large
quantities, when the atmospheric condi-
tions are favorable. Some plant GER
tain honey yielding crops to fill up a
gap in the honey flow, such as rape and
buckwheat. The latter is, however, not
always to be depended on for honey
U|m. M'th- Rasmussen, IN Pacific Rural
Press.