Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-08-14

One can serve these two masters and
keep on loving both Bees are coming
more and more to be recognized as
essential to successful fruit culture,
and that very fact Jokes these two
businesses together. Then 1t Is very
easy to regulate the work required by
/ these two Industries so that one will
| not demand attention while the other
| IS being treated Each OF these pur-
| suits furnish opportunity for work In
| winter months, spring months. and all
| months. but the heavy stress OF work
| in one does not fall simultaneously
| with the heavy stress Of work Of the
| other.
| 1t is extremely doubtful whether
bees could be well combined with the
business of market gardening. L have
known a few market gardeners who
successfully kept a few colonies. but
| they kept these largely for pleasure
and the honey for their own table
never knew of a market gardener who
| also was an apiariSt. Here, as with
| the general farmer, the bees would
when the vegetables are being rushed
| to market. The stress of work with
the bees would fall with the stress of
work with the vegetables. and one of
three things would break down-the
market gardening, the beekeeping, or
the Bookkeeping market gardener.
There are other rural pursuits which
might be mentioned, but to cover all
l16 NOulQ De W0dL OF
the professional pursuits? Does not
literature abound with instances of
bees being kept by school teachers and
clergymen? Why SO many teachers
keep bees and why so many ministers
find pleasure in the same property is a
deep question, possibly more ethical
than otherwise. That many persons
of these two professions do find great
pleasure in the keeping Of bees is be-
yond Question-can they also find
financial profit in the same?
Teachers Could Keep Bees.
Custom has given to the teacher a
long summer vacation. and custom
vacation. Also, both these profess
| sions call for short hours of undivided
attention 1t thus follows that men
| of these professions find it possible to
care for a rather large number of COL
onies of bees without interference with
their professional duties.
1t is especially true in Connecticut
that DeekeepIng can be taken up by
| teachers As the big honey flow comes
in July. while school is not in session,
the teacher can give his whole atten-
| ton to his bees. He must adopt some
system Of beekeeping which will allow
| him to give but little attention to his
bees while school is keeping. His af
ternoons and his Saturdays are more
or less at his disposal, and he can
II
| the spring months. He must be COM
placent over the loss of sWarms. But
| If swarms do get away in May, his
July crop is still safe Several colonies
/ of mine which sent OFF swarm in May
gave me this year so and 70 sections.
| From one point OF view my loss Of
| swarms the past spring might be reck-
| oned as serious. amounting to possibly
$125- But that is not loss in my case,
| for it is one of the certainties when
| h0nlx6aTirlr NJ
| combined If, in spite of those run
| away swarms in May, ! can produce
| several thousand sections Of honey
| without letting the two businesses
is proved that beekeeping and certain
professions can be happily combined.
A Noble Pursuit.
Bookkeeping itself is a noble pursuit
| There are some pursuits which dwarf
a mans nature. which embitter his
| soul, or render callous his opportuni-
| ties for growth. One might possibly
| in the keeping OF bees apply himself
/ so closely and keep his mind SO cen
| tered upon the financial side OF the
business that he would become sordid-
| There are instances of this. But in
| my wide acquaintance with beekeepers
/ find them far from sordid- I find
them bright of eye. mellow in character
/ and alert in interest There is some
Il
that keeps one mind young The dear
| old man out in Marengo, Ill, calls him
| self 30 years young. Our own dear old
man from Madison, this state, who has
| kept bees over so years. is one of the
1olltest spirits at our meetings.
Keeps Close to Nature.
Agriculture keeps us close to nature.
We came from the earth, and we must
| get into it once in a while to keep
ourselves in trim. The city man runs
| of to the seashore, or to the noun
tains- He gets new life from his fish
ing trip. and his tramps through the
woods yield him energy to carry on
his strenuous work in the city. His
| way Is a mighty good one, but il has
a weakness. He takes his medicine all
/ in a dose Livingstone, in his early
| African travels, tried the experiment
| of giving out to his native porters a
weeks supply Of food. supposing each
/ man would look out for his own Each
| man did so by eating his entire weeks
| rations at the nights camping place.
| For the busy city man to get all of
| his touch with nature at once and go
| without it for II months is question
| able policy. Is IL not that beekeeping
| in sprinkling the touch of nature along
| over the months gives us the best re-
| suits? So it is not a livelihood alone
| which comes from the bees. Keeping
bees as a business brings in the train
| OF financial gain, profits which cannot
| be balanced up on the ledger. When
one can put happiness down in units,
health in figures, and measure out
whole-souled lives by gallons then one
can state in numbers the gain which
/ heakeRninR affords