The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-08
Bees, Poultry and Fruit Make
Good Combination for Farmer
Convenient Side Lines That
Are Mutually Advan.
tageOus.
BY g. r. SMITH.
Author and Practical Pou,trymau

| The vocation" must not be con-
quered by the 'avocation." All things
! must be kept well balanced The
poultryman who gets too deeply into
other things dwarfs his principal oc-
cupation. His trunk line becomes
!, branch road. His business at once
, shows symptoms of confusion.
| 1t Is best to boom with all possible
power the chief line Everything else
must take secondary place. ii you
are pOultryman. let no side issue
rival the big scheme in your vision
! of results. But this principle does not
, interfere with taking on two or three
naturally related lines of work.
| The combination here suggested will
, adapt itself to the little backward BUSH
ness. conducted for recreation ana a
! little incidental pr6fit. or It will fit
the thousand-acre plantation. booming
with the biggest noise and searching
for the largest financial results.
! No poultry bushes Is quite right UNI
til it stands firmly on sure and per-
manent commercial basis. The man
who banks everything on fancy prices
for fancy stock--that is, whose hope
of the future is based on fine feathers
rightly arranged, without any regard
to the everyday country store and city
stall market value OF his products-is
running great risks of failure
If everything is kept and conducted
on the commercial basis, the financial
outlook will always be bright and
cheerful At the same time all that it
is possible or prudent for man to do
along strictly fancy lines can be done
with almost no element of hazard.
Where one keeps from a dozen to 20
I; fowls in the little back lot there is
small risk at any rate: for pleasure
and recreation are two Of the main
considera tons. His living Is not in
volved. His eggs are not all in this
one basket. But where 500 fowls are
kept. and thousand or more are
raised every year. 1t is well to see to 1t
that the commercial basis is main
tanned with utmost certainty.
Bee Culture an Easy Side Line.
Thousands of people are cultivatng
bees for the pleasure Of it. Incidentally,
they are gathering nice profit. One
good hive of the little honey getters
will store for your use from 40 to 30
pounds in one season. This ought to
be worth $3.50 in cash right at the
. door. 1t is easy to see that hundred
colonies at this rate should challenge
the interest Of any man who has the
space to devote to their care. Not
! much space" is required though
| This Is one reason why the apiary can
be easily accommodated ION the side"
| One bookkeeper in the west worked
| his bee business up as side line tin
he had 165 colonies working most ef-
fectively on a lot only so by 10 feet
Honey to the value of $1.4OO was pro-
duced one season. All the work was
performed mornings and evenings, with
, the cooperation Of an industrious and
sympathetic wife. Colonies are placed
IN pairs. the two being only few
inches apart. Three or four feet al
least should intervene between the
pairs. Many hives close together in a
continuous row will be likely to work
confusion among the bees. besides
r making it much more difficult to care
! for any particular colony without seri-
. ously disturbing others.
Any poultryman has space for bee
n culture to some extent. This is evil
, dent from what has already been said
:. A pair Of colonies in the small back
e yard will not interfere in the least
e with the care of the little family flock
' The larger grower can increase hi.
k holdings according to the scope of hi.
r business. A five-acre poultry farm
: should easily carry from 80 to 1O'
|. hives. A farm of from so to 100 acre.
: has almost limitless capacity for be,
e culture as a secondary industry.
I In fact. the man in the dense city Il
;. not altogether excluded from the priv
: lege of the small home apiary. Colo
:, MES may be kept on the flat roof o
# a town house. All the bees ask is
& good place for their little house L
d stand. They will willingly travel mile
to gather their wealth. never failing
to get back we'll loaded to the HON
hive. When once well at work the car
of the colony is almost nothing. 4
= all other times the thing that the
y above all things desire is to be lei
alone.
Fruit Growing Convenient.
N 1t has long been known that fru
~ culture and poultry culture go well TO
ID gether. Each one supplements tn
no other, But fruit growers have recent
is. discovered that the honey bee is or
lv Of their greatest co-workers in the pre-
IL duction of the biggest and choices
&c crops. The little worker sees the show
rs. flower at a distance. and seeks it f
sc the honey that he can extract. Il
.ly pushes resolutely to the center OF
no fruit blossom, and comes forth bearir
en- not only the sweet nectar which
ell sought. but also the pollen dust, whit
he somehow must be borne to anoth
he blossom of different variety on son
h distant tree. On he goes, and witho
as intending it. he bears the pollen du
his to the other blossOms-and the esse
in tial work OF cross pollination Is a