Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-06-13
Bookkeeping for Farmers.

A writer in the Kansas Farmer, says:
The idea prevails in some localities
that Bookkeeping should be confined to
specialists, and that it Is In no way
suited to the ordinary farmer. 1t is
also thought that it is unusually remu-
nerative to those who make specially
of it. and that large sums OF money can
be made in this pursuit with little
effort.
Both OF the above are mistaken ideas.
The time has gone by for making fabu-
lous sums by the production OF honey,
and there is no question but that the
business of Bookkeeping should be fol-
lowed in connection with some other
pursuit. While it is true that large
sums OF money cannot be made by bee
keeping alone, it Is also true that it can
be made very remunerative as one oil
the industries of q we'll regulated farm.
Every farmer, who lives within the
reach OF bee pasture, should keep a few
colonies of bees, and he will, no doubt,
find it profitable to do so. l can illus
trate what mean by actual facts bet
ter than any other way. Last
spring l sold neighbor col
ony Of Italian bees for six dollars.
During the season they gathered
forty pounds of surplus honey and gave
off one good swarm that gathered hon.
ey enough to winter on. Last season
was very poor one for honey and the
parent colony failed to store enough in
brood chamber to keep them alive, and,
owing to the continued illness, they
died early in the fall. These are the
facts with regard to the special colony
OF bees, and now let us see what we can
get out to Them. The cost of the original
colony was SO. The est Of a hive
for the swarm $l.75, made up and paint.
ed. Had the parent colony received
proper attention and been fed one dol.
lars worth OF sugar, would have carried
them through the winter, and up TO the
time of fruit bloom. The sections and
foundation in which the forty pounds oil
honey was stored cost 40 cents. We
have now an entire outlay of SO. 10.
That forty pounds Of surplus
honey was worth So this season. There
is left two colonies OF bees in good hives,
assuming that they both had lived
through the season, which have cost
the purchaser $l.l5 over and above
what he received for honey. Assum-
ing that both colonies are worth the
price paid for the original colony there
Is net profit OF Sl0.S5. Or, If you take
the condition of things as they are with
the original colony dead, the hive and
empty combs are worth, at a very low
estimate, $3.50. By deducting the 81
expense given for sugar, there yet re-
mains. Notwithstanding the loss OF the
OLD colony, q net profit OF 1885.
You may say that this seems to con-
tradict the statement made above that
large sums of money cannot be made at
Bookkeeping. 1t illustrates the exact
point at which a great many people are
deluded when they begin to think
about embarking in bee keeping as
business. They do some figuring like
the above, and say If you can clear Se
on one colony of bees, you can clear
$500 on hundred colonies, and Sl,6OO
on two hundred colonies. Now here Is
where the difficulty comes In. You
can't do 1t.
The figures first given above are all
right for few good strong colonies OF
bees If they have proper attention, but
when yor undertake to do the same
thing with two hundred colonies q
great many difficulties arise which 1t Il
not necessary for me to explain, and II
can't be done.