The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-01-12
Fa!in& Your Way Into Bcckccpins.
(DiNie Beekecpcr).

'Pf 1t IS given the proper amount OF .
experience and the necessary capital /
HHht on INTO far greater business
IL Is indeed poor business, if il proD- /
| cry carried out all the way through
| IN an economic manner. Beekeeping
| - certainly business that will. even
almost from The start
! There are Thousands Of progressive
+ beekcepers in Our land who have illSI
q Il good start in the bee business and
IN" business at Just such point that
they don't know which way to turn.
/ Wen, ii is just this way they haven't
icnOugh TO give them a support 20 RELY
upon 1t solely and too much capital
ana interest at stake to continue il
Oh a mere side line. ! believe this is
lllc most critical time or point in a
Dce-keeperS life. If my experience
ana tdVlce is in order let me give it
riSht here for the serious considera-
uon OF such beekeepers The first
money L ever borrowed to invest in
pees was just at this critical point
ana / had to do it or let my bee bus
mess suffer the loss Of some of my
most valuable time that il should
have, for there was other work pend
ing and i needed the returns to de-
fray living expenses.
AT this critical time / decided in
faV0r OF keeping more bees and |
dldnt have the necessary capital to
DO this for up until this time | had
been investing in bees every cent /
realized from them. Well, the situa-
ton is easily seen. l did this: l bor-
rowcd money to carry my bee busi-
ness on further, and make it pay me,
and paid cents per month interest
on it, which would have cost me 4S
cents on the dollar had | kept il for
three months and for security gave "A
mortgage on everything / had in the
world. This Of course was an unrea-
sonable rate Of interest but was the
best | could do, and / made good ev-
CRY time and l kept this up for sew
eral years in succession. Money was
scarce then, and hard to get but there
was one old fellow who happened to
have few hundred surplus dollars.
This good old fellow is dead and
gone now, but l always believed that
he wanted my bees and real estate for
he kept coming around looking over
1t and about it just as if it was his
very own. At the end of this time
which was about four years from the
time borrowed my first money, l had
gotten on my feet and did not need
TO borrow any more capital. Two
years later 1 had $1,000 to my cred
II at the bank at the close OF the
season. l took this money and went
70 Florida and bought up seven
hundred swarms Of bees in log gums
ana box hives, not a modern hive in
the lot, leaving me SO TO buy sup
plies for them, which | did as far as
the money would go. l had some ex-
ira supplies left over from the pre-
vious season. These I added to the
bunch, and in order to make them
go as far as they would, made my
own hive bodies, bottoms and covers
Money gave out, and there l was
again. 1 went to my banker and
tried TO borrow $500, which would
tide me on until | could make and
sell my first lot of honey for that
season. The bank denied me the
loan, but, they told me that l might
borrow this amount from a widow
lady and they gave me her name
went to her at once. She did not
deny me, but put me off and told me
TO come back in 80 days and she
would see what she could do. | went
home very much discouraged My
wife told me (seeing that 1 worried
so much), that she had an uncle who
was a banker and that if I were to
write to him maybe he would make
me loan. This / did and got a re-
ply at once, stating he would, and
cent me filed out note 10 sign and
said that he could not loan me but
5000. | signed the note and returned
IL and he sent me SIG. charging ,ae
II per cent interest. l paid up my
helper and some past due accounts
and at the end of 80 days / went back
10 see the widow lady and she said
that she could make me a loan of $500
at IL per cent interest. l took this
and put it in my business and at the
close Of the season ] paid back these
two loans, leaving me out of debt and
n little ahead. but it was a poor year
in Florida and | made no spring hon
cy crop az ALL I paid the man I had
placed in charge of the bees up and
told him 10 go. ] was up we'll with
my work in Georgia then and went
at once TO Florida and took his place
late honey flow came along and
made over $500 worth of surplus
honey from those bees that we had
been transferring and getting them
in shape to work. [ bought the
needed supplies for the coming year
and had $500 left to meet my run
ming expenses with. During that
summer, Mr.. r. w. Hevlong of Fort
White, Fla., died, leaving his widow
with some eight hundred colonies Of
bees. Toward fall she wrote me to
come and buy her bees, that she
wanted to sell. j went TO see her and
we traded and the consideration was
$3.50 and ! paid her $3.50 and gave
her my notes for $4,000, $1,000 fall
ing due each year. There was some
surplus honey left on around at all
j IL