INTRODUCTION TO PART II.STARTING AN APIARY.
In apiculture, as in all other pursuits, it is all-important to make a good beginning. This demands preparation on the part of the apiarist, procuring of bees, and location of his apiary.
Before starting in the business, the prospective bee-keeper should inform himself in the art.
To do this, he should procure some good manual, and thoroughly study, especially the practical part of the business; and if accustomed to read, think and study, should carefully read the whole work. Otherwise, he will avoid confusion by only studying the methods of practice, leaving the principles and science, to strengthen, and be strengthened by, his experience. Unless a student, he had better not take a journal till he begins the actual work, as so much unclassified information, without any experience to correct, arrange, and select, will but mystify. For the same reason, he may well be content with reading a single work, till experience, and a thorough study of this one, makes him more able to discriminate; and the same reasoning will preclude his taking more than one bee-periodical, until he has had at least a year's actual experience.
In this work of self-preparation, he will find great aid in visiting the nearest successful and intelligent apiarist. If successful, such an one will have a reputation; if intelligent, he will take the journals, and will show by his conversation that he knows of the methods and views of his brother apiarists, and above all, he will not think he knows it all, and that his is the only way to success. Learn all you canof such, an one, but always let your own judgment and common sense sit as umpire, that you make no plans or decisions that your judgment does not fully sustain.
It will bemost wiseto take a course in some College, if this is practicable, where apiculture is thoroughly discussed. Here you will not only get the best training as to your chosen business, as you will study, see and handle, and thus will have the very best aids to decide as to methods, system and apparatus, but will also receive that general culture, which will greatly enhance life's pleasures and usefulness, and which ever proves the best capital in any vocation.
After such a course as suggested above, it will be easy to decide as to location, hives, style of honey to raise, and general system of management. But here, as in all the arts, all our work should be preceded by a well-digested plan of operations. As with the farmer and gardener, only he who works to a plan can hope for the best success. Of course, such plans will vary, as we grow in wisdom and experience. A good maxim to govern all plans is, "go slow." A good rule, which will insure the above, "Pay as you go." Make the apiary pay for all improvements in advance. Demand that each year's credits exceed its debits; and that you may surely accomplish this, keep an accurate account of all your receipts and expenses. This will be a great aid in arranging the plans for each successive year's operations.
Above all, avoid hobbies, and be slow to adopt sweeping changes. "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good."
To procure colonies from which to form an apiary, it is always best to get them near at hand. We thus avoid the shock of transportation, can see the bees before we purchase, and in case there is any seeming mistake, can easily gain a personal explanation, and secure a speedy adjustment of any real wrong.
At the same price always take Italians, as undoutedly they are best. If black bees can be secured for three, or even for two dollars less per colony, by all means take them, as they can be Italianized at a profit for the difference in cost, and, in the operation, the young apiarist will gain valuable experience.
Our motto, too, will demand that we only purchase strong colonies. If, as recommended, the purchaser sees the colonies before the bargain is closed, it will be easy to know that the colonies are strong. If the bees, as they come rushing out, remind you of Vesuvius at her best, or bring to mind the gush and rush at the nozzle of the fireman's hose, then buy. In the hives of such colonies, all combs will be covered with bees, and in the honey season, brood will be abundant.
As plans are already made, of course it is settled as to the style of hive to be used. Now, if bees can be procured in such hives, they will be worth just as much more than though in any other hive, as it costs to make the hive and transfer the bees. This will be certainly as much as three dollars.No apiarist will tolerate, unless for experiment, two styles of hives in his apiary.Therefore, unless you find bees in such hives as you are to use, it will be best to buy them in box hives and transfer (seeChapter VII.) to your own hives, as such bees can always be bought at reduced rates. In case the person from whom you purchase will take the hives back at a fair rate, after you have transferred the bees to your own hives, then purchase in any style of movable comb hive, as it is easier to transfer from a movable comb hive, than from a box hive.
It is safe to purchase any time in the summer. In April or May—of course you only purchase strong stocks—if in the latitude of New York or Chicago—it will be earlier further south—you can afford to pay more, as you will secure the increase both of honey and bees. If you desire to purchase in autumn, that you may gain by the experience ofwintering, either demand that the one of whom you purchase insure the safe wintering of the bees, or else that he reduce the selling price, at least one-third, from his rates the next April. Otherwise the novice had better wait and purchase in spring. If you are to transfer at once, it is almost imperative that you buy in spring, as it is vexatious, especially for the novice, to transfer when the hives are crowded with brood and honey.
Of course the market, which will ever be governed by supply and demand, must guide you. But to aid you, I will append what at present would be a reasonable schedule of prices almost anywhere in the United States: For box hives, crowded with black bees—Italians would rarely be found in such hives—five dollars per colony is a fair price. For black bees in hives such as you desire to use, eight dollars would be reasonable. For pure Italians in such hives, ten dollars is not too much.
If the person of whom you purchase, will take back the movable hives after you transfer the bees, you can afford to pay five dollars for black bees, and seven dollars for pure Italians. If you purchase in the fall, require 33⅓ per cent, discount on these rates.
If apiculture is an avocation, then your location will be fixed by your principal business or profession. And here I may state, that if we may judge from reports which come from nearly every section of the United States, from Maine to Texas, and from Florida to Oregon, you can hardly go amiss anywhere in our goodly land.
If you are to engage as a specialist, then you can select first with reference to society and climate, after which it will be well to secure a succession of natural honey-plants (Chap. XVI.), by virtue of your locality. It will also be well to look for reasonable prospects of a good home market, as good home markets are, and must ever be, the most desirable. It will be desirable, too, that your neighborhood is not overstocked with bees. It is a well-established fact, that apiarists with few colonies receive relatively larger profits than those with largeapiaries. While this may be owing in part to better care, much doubtless depends on the fact that there is not an undue proportion of bees to the number of honey-plants, and consequent secretion of nectar. To have the undisputed monopoly of an area reaching at least four miles in every direction from your apiary, is unquestionably a great advantage.
If you desire to begin two kinds of business, so that your dangers from possible misfortune may be lessened, then a small farm—especially a fruit farm—in some locality where fruit-raising is successfully practiced, will be very desirable. You thus add others of the luxuries of life to the products of your business, and at the same time may create additional pasturage for your bees by simply attending to your other business. In this case, your location becomes a more complex matter, and will demand still greater thought and attention. Some of Michigan's most successful apiarists are also noted as successful pomologists.
For position and arrangement of apiary seeChapter VI.