One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

Need of Specialists in Beekeeping

The war revealed an insufficient number of available scientific apiarists in the United States capable of giving instruction to those desirous of engaging in commercial beekeeping. There are many sufficiently trained, but they are reaping such financial returns from their bees that they can not be induced to take up the work of training others. The increasing educational work of the Federal Government and of the several States in bee culture will afford men desiring to undertake such work opportunities to secure positions. For this service thorough theoretical training is required as well as good apiary practice on a commercial scale. The teaching of beekeeping is a new field for agricultural colleges and one which they gladly enter when scientifically trained apiarists can be secured for giving instruction. Were qualified teachers available the list of colleges at the close of this monograph offering instruction in beekeeping would be much longer. However, intensive and thorough short courses are being conducted as indicated in the list, and these present exceptional opportunity. Many more short courses will be arranged. The training is, it is true, mainly theoretical, but it can and should promptly be made practical by forming a connection with some successful apiarist.

Other Branches of Agriculture as Side Lines to Beekeeping

It is quite possible to combine beekeeping with other branches of agriculture, provided they do not necessitate much attention at the time when the bees require every care and thought of the beekeeper. General farming and beekeeping do not combine well, for the reason that swarming usually comes at a season when the farmer is busily engaged with his cropping. However, you might, as a bee specialist, form a business combination with the farmer and develop a paying apiary, and also give attention to some useful side lines. Gardening, fruits, poultry, Belgian hares, flowers, etc., combine profitably with beekeeping, but before engaging in any combinations, careful inquiry should be made of successful beekeepers of the region regarding the time of the principal honey flows. Information should be obtained also from persons following the suggested side lines as to when these occupations require most attention. This will enable one to determine the best combination to adopt. The beekeeper who neglects his bees during swarming time, or when nectar is coming in freely, may expect to lose fully nine-tenths of the crop. Honey, like hay, must be made while the sun shines. Side lines must not interfere with the apiarist being ready, with colonies strong, when the sun shines sufficiently to cause honey plants to bloom and nectar to flow freely.

Many garden crops may be grown and small truck farming may be followed on areas located in close proximity to the apiary. Crops should be selected that will require the least amount of time when the apiarist is busiest with the bees. The tomato, greatly in demand for canning supply, does not materially interfere in its planting, cultivation, or harvest with the principal honey season.

Bees Valuable to Horticulture

By careful management and by employing some help in certain seasons, horticulture—small fruits and orcharding—may likewise be profitably undertaken without interfering with apiary work. Bee culture and horticulture may in fact be combined to mutual advantage. The nectar from the fruit bloom is always regarded as an advantage and comes when nectar from other sources is not available.

In flying from flower to flower bees carry pollen and thus produce cross-pollination. They are of value also in the pollination of buckwheat, the clovers, and of many other farm crops. Horticulturists have learned to appreciate this service so highly for orchards and small fruit gardens that few commercial fruit growers will be without a good-sized apiary in the orchard if there are no bees in flying reach. It is impossible to measure the good that is accomplished in this way, but since many varieties of fruits are not fertile to their own pollen, it is obvious that were it not for the bees and other insects which carry pollen there would be much less fruit. Of course not all the pollen is carried by honey-bees, but this is the only species of insect which may be taken to the orchard to insure pollination.

The Work of the Beekeeper

The average citizen has but a vague idea of the duties required of the beekeeper for success. The idea prevails commonly that bees require but little care. That is all wrong. Careful study, frequent attention, and real work are essential. The work of the year may be briefly summarized as follows: First, the beekeeper provides such conditions as will encourage the colonies to produce young “workers” to the fullest capacity of the hive before the secretion of nectar begins from the principal honey plants. Second, he prevents a division of the working force of the colony by swarming, through the well-understood means of discouraging it. In addition to these activities, he provides the additional space for storage of the surplus honey crop at the right time. To have the bees reach their greatest strength in time for the first honey flows taxes the skill of the best apiarist, but by a careful study of the flowers from which the principal nectar crop is obtained in this locality the beekeeper is able to create sufficiently in advance conditions which will greatly multiply his working bees. Failure to do this and failure to appreciate the importance of being prepared has caused many beekeepers the loss of the best honey flows of the year. In such cases the beekeeper often does not know that he is missing the largest flows, because his colonies do not acquire their full strength until after these flows have terminated.