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 CHAPTER VII

HOW TO KEEP FROM KEEPING TOO MANY BEES

THE PROBLEM

", there's the rub!" For the beginner who wishes to keep a few bees, this is the most difficult problem to solve on the bee-keeper's slate, and it must finally be solved by each according to his own capacity and method.

We confess frankly that we were once driven out of the bee business because we were too successful. Caring for fifteen or twenty hives was a delightful avocation. We kept our colonies strong, for we wished to make comb-honey; consequently, splendid swarms came off, and we had the fatal gift of seeing them when they came and of hiving them successfully. Thus our avocation began to intrench upon our vocation in a most alarming manner. While we enjoyed taking care of our bees, we were nevertheless following the vocation which we had chosen, and which we liked best; and the time came when we were obliged to decide whether we would leave our regular business and become bee-keepers, or abjure bee-keeping and attend to our regular business. 73