Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1896 — KEEPING BEES. [ARTICLE]

KEEPING BEES.

Each Hive Brings hi from *5 to $lO a Year if Properly Cared For. “Keep bees if you want to add to your income,” said an old beekeeper. “They are mighity little trouble, anyway, and need attention only during the latter part of May and June, aud women hui give that. In fact, there are a great many women who manage

the bees entirely, and make quite a little money by it Folk that live in suburban towns and have good-sized lots are well situated, and even those who live in the thickest part o t the city can keep them. For years several hives were kept on the roof of the Broome street tabernacle, also on tops of the buildings In Park place, just west of Broadway. “Bees must be placed so that persons will not be continually passing near them, unless a high board fence protects them. In this way a large aptary was kept for several years In a vacant lot next to one of the busiest streets in Chicago. Most bees are harmless enough, unless acting from fright or In defense. If you have an old outbuilding of any kind, put your hives In that, close to the wall, and make a hole through so that the bees can crawl in directly. In this way yon can keep away thieves, both human and brute. “From $5 to $lO a year on each hive Is a fair return. You know, bees never make the honey, they simply gather it. A hive of bees requires about twentyfive pounds of honey to live on through rlie winter, and besides this. It will produce from twenty to fifty pounds, which is the profit. In this locality It is no trouble to get from fifteen to twenty cents a pound. In the small towns of New Jersey It lias sold at eighteen cents a pound during the last two years, and ench hive lias averaged about forty pounds, which made $7.20. Besides this, each hive produced one swarm, which the next year furnished as much honey as the parent hive. “As one progresses In the work he learns to extract honey, which nia-. terially Increases the supply, anil several other professional secrets, so that one can safely count profits at nearer $lO a year than $5. Ten or a dozen hives make a fair working number, from which one can safely count on $75 to SIOO a year profit. In some places one can carry twice or three times that number, and one of the best known beekeepers in this country makes over $2,500 from Ids bees, which he keeps on a town lot about 100 feet square. In the heart of a Michigan town of 5,000.—N0w York Press.