The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-05-27
THURSDAY, MAY ~, 1920.
BEES IN THE RAckWooDs

In these days of increasing costs Of
farm machinery, higher wages for
farm help and more money needed for
commercial fertilizers, the annual bal
ances from the operation of many
small farms in Vermont might per-
haps be shifted from the wrong to
the right side of the ledger by the adj
dition of a small apiary. To be sure
hives to house the colonies cost more
than they did before the prices of
lumber went up, but the bees are not
asking for higher wages, they began
saving daylight long before human be-
ings ever heard Of such thing as a
Iclcck and they are as ready as ever
to work from sun to sun.
The experience Of Mrs. II NJ. Smith
of Landgrove in the production of
honey is cited as an example of what
may be accomplished through little
patience and perseverance, Land
grove is one of the mountain towns
Of Bennington county, the land is
rough and rocky and hard to till but
fully as productive as in many
other localities that formerly sup
ported much larger popula ions.
Mrs. Smith began keeping bees sew
eral years ago with the variable re
suits that attend the efforts of most
beginners in the bee business During
the 1919 season, however she began
to realize that she had embarked up
on a prof able venture. She has been
keeping an accurate account of her in
come and expenses so that she knows
the exact amount of profit she is de
irving from the business.
In Sep 'ember, 1918, she had seven
colonies to carry through the winter
and she was obliged TO incur an ex
pense OF S12 for sugar to keep the
bees until the fruit bloom of 1919
When the season opened the sever
colonies were in excellent condition
and before freezing weather forced
them to qui. working they produced
SIP worth of honey. The colonies
also doubled their number through
swarming, thus adding an inSentoried
valuation Ct $40 each to their seasons
worl.
New hives for seven addi ional col
onies, wax for brood frames. founda
Itions and sections cost S4S6S. The
largest item Of expense was S26.1S fol
hives, which, of course, is permanent
investment.
There is always market for gcoC
honey Mrs Smith found no Difficult
ity in disposing of her crop in the
Immediate vicinity OF her home mucf
of It being purchased by the summer
residents Of Peru,
Perhaps bee keeping might solve
the living problem on many of The
backwoods homes in Vermont. There
are numerous instances in which tht
"old place" has been deserted excep
by the "old folks" and perhaps sol
or daughter or an orphaned grand
child. Raspberry and blackberr!
bushes have crowded the pas ures un
til there Is not so much feed for tn,
sock as in the days when rheumatic
joints were unknown and the busl
soy hes played havoc with the en-
croaching bramblcs. The grass
grown road is hedged with scrubb.
black cherry, pin cherry and an oC
cas!onal unpruned apple tree. VIII,
grape and clematic vines almost hid
the rickety fences or the ancien
stone walls laid before the day o
stock.lacerating barbwire. Bramble
sapling and vine and even many OF tn
detested weeds all bloom in their sea
sons and nearly every blossom const
tutes a harvest field for the bees,
harvest created without the turning
of a furrow
A net return such as that obtaine,