Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-08-14
PROFIT IN KEEPING OF BEES
AllenLaha Speaks at Stons Upon Commercial Side of
Agrcultwe-Gives Practical Advice-Poultry Raisers
or Small Fruit Raisers Could Well Combine Bee Keep
ing With Their Other Industry

At Storrs on Friday at the sixth an
nual field meeting of the Connecticut
Beekeepers' association one of the
principal addresses Of the day was by
Allen Latham Of this city, who spoke
upon the practical subject OF Apicul-
| ture as g. Business Enterprise.
Mr.. Latham's address was as fol-
lows:
My subject, which in simple words is
Bookkeeping as q Business, must, ]
| hardly need say, be limited in its scope
| to Connecticut. The question, Can
bees be kept with profit in Connecti-
cut? must be answered. We must also
lend one a livelihood, and then in turn
| discuss the possibilities of combining
beekeeping with other pursuits.
Depends on the Sufnac.
Though our state will scarcely COM
pare with others Of the union in the
possibilities Of honey production, it
does offer opportunity to make a living
out of bees alone. Those parts of Con-
necticut which are covered with the
ground moraines of ancient glacial
sheets are localities where one can
count with almost certainty upon an
annual crop of honey. 1t is here
where the sumac aboundS- This plant
blooms in July and weather conditions
almost never conspire to cause a fail
though we cannot boast the tremen-
dous honey yields which We hear about
as occurring in other parts of the
country. We almost never have to be-
moan a total failure as those more
blessed localities do.
The parts of Connecticut which lack
the stony pastures and hence lack the
sumac are not so reliable. The honey
sources are scattered and various. They
may combine in some years to produce
a good crop, while not infrequently
they merely keep the bees alive till
another year. Huckleberry. clover, To-
Gust and fall flowers golden rod and
asters) are the sources to be reckoned
with in almost all parts Of the state.
Then there are places wheree the tulip
tree is abundant enough to influence
the crop, and a few favored localities
have the Eastwood.
Question of Income.
Where an apiary has access to a
large arceage Of sumac and is also
within reach Of Eastwood and good fall
sources, it is ideally situated Such a
location will bear the stress Of large
apiary, even 200 colonies. A person
could alone care for such an apiary.
With a helper he could run that apiary
and one or two out-apiaries, caring
for from 500 to 400 colonies. He could
count on an average of SIS per colony
per year. In some years he would
barely make a living, in others he
could put into the bank from $1,000 to
1000.
One had better not try to make a
living from bees alone in a locality
where the sunac does not grow. He
would be almost doomed to failure.
Where sumac alone is depended
upon it would be perfectly safe to de-
pend entirely upon the bees. but the
income, though certain, would not be
large. AS this plant, s1mac, is the
great honey producer Of Connecticut,
and Is widely scattered over the state,
from now on my statements should be
understood as dealing with keeping
bees where sumac is source OF
honey.
Won't Mix With General Farming.
Though beekeeping Is a business that
can be combined with other pursuits,
general farming is not one of those
pursuits. Many OF those present may
wish me to say otherwise, but accord
ing to my view the average farmer
had better let someone else produce
his honey for him There is an old no.
ton that is hard to kill. namely, bees
are something that will take care OF
themselves, and the farmer need only
get the honey when he chooses. This
was a partial truth when bees were
kept in box hives All that the farmer
had to do was to hive such swarms
the fall Of the year take up" some Oh
the hives. But the farmer now feels
that he must buy a modern hive, think
ing to run that modern hive just as his
father or grandfather ran the box
hive Result, failure. I say here, as ]
keep bees, let him keep them in box
hives just as of old. Both he and
others will be the gamers.
Why, even though a farmer might
wish to keep bees in the modern way
is he doomed to failure? For Just
this reason: Those very times when
the bees will require the most careful
attention are the times when the
farmer can give them no attention
One cannot let his corn and hay crops
be sacrificed for the bees.
Modern Methods for Big Results.
1t might be stated here, for the bene-
fit of those who are not fully versed
in modern agriculture, that an apiarist
of today expects to get from IS to
$50 pounds of honey per hive. while
Il the old days a farmer was delighted
to get 10 pounds Modern hives have
made this possible, but modern hives
Jun on ancient principles are not going
to give even 10 pounds to the hive. II
is only by combining modern methods
with modern hives that the apiarist OF
today gets big results 1t was that
combination that enabled DIR. Miller
the sage OF Morengo, to get 402 sections
Of honey from one colony two years
ago. He averaged 26T sections per COL
ony, and he was over so years of age
at that time. 1t is that combination
that has enabled me this present sea-
son to make some colonies pass the
$50 section mark
Chickens and Beekeeping.
Poultry is a possible business to
combine with beekeeping. Modern
poultry raising calls for lively work
for many weeks of the year, but the
bulk of that work falls most heavily in
the early spring months, when bees
demand only a small fraction of the
time. When June and July come and
the bees demand more than half the
time, the chickens are large enough to
require less attention. If one can
like both the keeping of poultry and
the keeping of bees, then this should
be an ideal combination But rare il
the man or woman who can serve both
those masters. He is pretty sure to
hate one of them.
Raising Small Fruits Combines Wen,
Small fruits and bees are a COM
bination which does not call for the
statement made Of poultry and bees
PURE, RICH BLOOD