BEES AS WAGE EARNERS
Average American boys and girls are a pretty sensible crowd and they don't expect to get much for nothing. If they make money they like to see "for value received" written on it. They may get enthusiastic over the work they undertake, but there is a difference between enthusiasm and gush. Enthusiasm helps you do the hard part of your job. Gush only makes you ridiculous. Is there anything worth doing that doesn't take time and work? The honey-producing business is no exception. But the people who keep bees like their job. "Yes," they say, "it takes thought and energy and some hard work, but it is such fun." The "little people" are so interesting that you forget that it is work. Compared to "butter money," "egg money," and "fruit money," the women of the household regard "honey money" as "easy."
How much can you count on your bees earning? General statements will give you some idea. You may do better or not so well as the average. A good colony ought to turn out thirty or forty pounds of comb honey a year beside what they need for winter, which is fifteen or twenty-five pounds if wintered in a cellar, twenty-five or thirty-five pounds if wintered outdoors.
The best market for honey is the home market, and the price is the best. You get the commission man's profit and the retailer's profit as well as the grower's. The last honey I bought was twenty-five cents a pound. If I bought your thirty pounds at that price you can see for yourself what you would get per hive. The new swarms add to your assets and you are out nothing except for supplies. Compare this with the expense of going into chicken or squab raising. The following is quoted from a good authority: "Two dollars a year clear profit per hive is the very lowest estimate and twenty to thirty hives infringe very little on one's time. This many colonies may easily be managed by a woman or by the younger members of the family."
The United States has to import two and a half million pounds of honey annually, and a half million pounds of beeswax. Will not our bees work just as cheaply as those in foreign countries? Let us have more bee-keepers.