One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money
introduction of prohibition has unquestionably caused the use of more
2465 words | Chapter 367
honey and of all kinds of sweets. This has already become quite evident.
The sugar stringency resulting in the war-basis distribution had its
application in many States simultaneously with prohibition. It was not
difficult to enforce the curtailment of sugar to confectioners in wet
States, but most difficult, and in fact impossible, in the prohibition
States, where it was actually necessary to increase the sugar allotment
to candymakers. Investigation proves that former users of alcoholic
beverages were large buyers of candies and other sweets.
There is an abundant opportunity for the development of local trade in
honey in almost all parts of the country. The future of beekeeping is
inviting. There is every reason to expect that it will continue to
develop rapidly for several years and that it will long continue to be
an important minor branch of agriculture. From its very nature, owing to
the limited supply of nectar, it can never be one of the leading
branches of agriculture, but there is abundant nectar to build up
beekeeping to ten times its present capacity.
NEED OF TRAINING
From the requirements indicated for good beekeeping, it is evident that
you will need all the information obtainable before engaging in the
business on a commercial scale. Such training you may secure through the
agency of the Federal Board for Vocational Education from courses in
beekeeping in some of the agricultural colleges. After you are well
equipped with all that one of these colleges can give you, then a good
plan probably will be to arrange for a season, or part of a season, in
the apiary of a thoroughly good commercial beekeeper. This selection
must be made with great care. Not all beekeepers who are fairly
successful in honey production are as careful in their work as they
should be, and by working with the wrong man you might get into
beekeeping habits that should be avoided. A man should be chosen who
makes a study of the behavior of his bees, one who is familiar with the
literature of his vocation, and if possible, one who is able to succeed
in regions where most of the beekeepers fail to get the full crop. After
a season with such a man--and there will be many who will be glad to
have your services in this way--you should be able to care for 100
colonies managed for extracted honey, provided your disability does not
prevent you from doing the work necessary. By that time you will have a
good idea of the amount of work which 100 colonies require.
You should avail yourself of every opportunity to visit apiaries and
talk with expert bee men. Visits to and careful surveys of the apiaries
of others who are successful may be worth almost as much to you as a
season’s close application.
Beekeeping means outdoor life under healthful conditions, well suited to
facilitate recovery from incipient tuberculosis, neurasthenia from shell
shock and other afflictions. At first in some of the manipulations of
the apiary there will be more or less difficulty which will arise
directly from your disability, but by the exercise of ingenuity you will
be able to devise ways of doing the work. If you have lost an arm, you
will need an artificial arm or some device for lifting the hives and
hive parts. Racks to hold frames while working with them, trays and
small tables are used and you will improvise other conveniences. If your
disability prevents your getting about easily, you will be able to
arrange your apiary so that there is the least possible amount of
walking. Light stools are employed for sitting while working over hives.
After training, the sooner you get to work the better. You will find
that actual work with artificial limbs and devices has a greater
theoretic value than mere exercises and work is incomparably more
interesting.
_AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE COURSES IN BEEKEEPING_
One of the best ways to acquire a thorough knowledge of beekeeping is to
take a course in one of the agricultural colleges which offers such
work. It must, of course, be understood that the knowledge so gained
must of necessity be largely theoretical, for there is not time in a
college course for much practical work. However, if the work is properly
presented the student should be able at the close of the course to begin
with 100 colonies and then he may work up in beekeeping practice as he
increases the number of colonies. The following colleges offer good
courses in this subject:
University of Minnesota, College of Agriculture, St. Paul, Minn.
College of Agriculture. Ames, Iowa.
Agricultural College, Storrs, Conn.
College of Agriculture, New Brunswick, N. J.
Agricultural College, East Lansing, Mich.
Agricultural College, College Station, Tex.
Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kans.
Your time will not be fully occupied with the beekeeping course and
practical training at any of these institutions. You can at the same
time take valuable courses in other subjects, such as fruits, gardening,
flowers, and poultry, which combine well in practice with beekeeping.
Farm mechanics (see Monograph on the subject) may be made a part of your
training, and prove a valuable winter side line after you become a
beekeeper, as the bees will not require your time during the winter
season.
The Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, has
held and has announced many valuable short schools for beekeepers in
various parts of the United States and there is contemplated a course of
intensive training for disabled soldiers who desire to take up
beekeeping. These will probably be arranged in several of the principal
beekeeping regions, and in proximity to the district offices of the
Federal Board for Vocational Education.
_SHORT SCHOOLS IN BEEKEEPING_
San Diego, Calif., November 25-30, 1918.
Davis, Calif., December 1-7, 1918.
Visalia, Calif., December 9-16, 1918.
Ithaca, N. Y., February 24-March 1, 1919.
Lafayette, Ind., April 7-12, 1919.
Ames, Iowa, April 14-19, 1919.
St. Paul, Minn., April 21-26, 1919.
California five weeks beginning November 17, 1919.
_LITERATURE FOR THE BEEKEEPER_
BULLETINS FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION
Farmers’ Bulletin 447. Bees.
Farmers’ Bulletin 653. Honey and its Uses in the Home.
Farmers’ Bulletin 695. Outdoor Wintering of Bees.
Farmers’ Bulletin 820. Sweet Clover: Utilization.
Farmers’ Bulletin 961. Transferring Bees to Modern Hives.
Farmers’ Bulletin 1005. Sweet Clover on Corn Belt Farms.
Farmers’ Bulletin 1012. Preparation of Bees for Outdoor Wintering.
Farmers’ Bulletin 1014. Wintering Bees in Cellars.
Farmers’ Bulletin 1039. Commercial Comb Honey Production.
BEE JOURNALS PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
American Bee Journal, Hamilton, Ill.
Gleaning in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio.
Domestic Beekeeper, Northstar, Mich.
The Western Honeybee, Covina, Calif.
Beekeepers’ Item, New Braunfels, Tex.
BOOKS OF INTEREST TO BEEKEEPERS
These may be obtained from dealers in beekeeping supplies, from
publishers of bee journals, and from general book dealers:
ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, A. I. and E. R. Root.
Beekeeping, E. F. Phillips.
Langstroth on the Hive and Honey Bee, revised by C. P. Dadant.
Fifty Years Among the Bees, C. C. Miller.
Advanced Bee Culture, W. Z. Hutchinson.
Productive Beekeeping, F. C. Pellett.
Practical Queen Rearing, F. C. Pellett.
First Lessons in Beekeeping, C. P. Dadant.
Bee Primer, C. P. Dadant, Free to Soldiers from Bee Journal.
PLAN No. 1235. FARM MECHANICS AS A VOCATION
Acknowledgment is due E. B. McCormick, Chief Division of Rural
Engineering, United States Department of Agriculture; American Society
of Agricultural Engineers; Curtis Publishing Co.; Vacuum Oil Co.;
International Harvester Co.; Domestic Engineering Co., and A. W. Shaw
Co., for data, suggestions, and illustrations; also to Dr. John
Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.
The war, just over, has been a war of machinery. The observing soldier
has seen the effectiveness of the tank, the airplane, the truck, the
motor transport, and the ambulance. He will remember them almost as
comrades in the great struggle. He has seen the systematic care required
to keep all this equipment in shape to deliver maximum service.
Many of the returned soldiers have been truck, ambulance, or automobile
drivers, or at least have seen the vast field of work that has been done
by the gasoline engine in some form and have developed an admiration for
machinery. If you have driven any of these machines and experienced the
thrill of pleasure on getting your machine out of some tight place, or
in overcoming some difficulty by your own ingenuity, you have the best
evidence that you will enjoy the vocation that is spoken of in this
monograph.
In selecting your future vocation you should aim to profit by your past
experiences as much as possible and at the same time select such work as
will best enable you to enjoy life and health. You have had an
experience in the “great outdoors,” possibly a prewar experience in
agriculture, and can readily decide whether you will be contented under
such conditions as are found in country life. The majority of soldiers
have, barring injuries, been greatly benefited by their Army life.
Uncle Sam having called several million men into his service, many of
whom have been injured, is employing the best experts available to
restore these to a condition of maximum usefulness. Just as the expert
surgeon is restoring to useful condition the injured, so there is need
of a mechanical expert to keep in good order the machinery of the farm
and to restore to usefulness that which may have been injured.
The farmer is realizing that one of the chief problems of the modern
farm is that of getting sufficient help when needed. He has been in the
habit of depending on floating labor for extra help. During the past few
years this help has been getting more and more uncertain, inefficient,
and expensive, and during the war it has in fact often been impossible
to get help at any price. To meet this condition a more general use is
being made of modern machinery, which enables more and better work to be
done with fewer workers.
Modern farming depends to a large extent on machinery. The average
farmer is not a mechanic and must employ expert help to get the maximum
service from his equipment. You may have had training and experience in
mechanical work, and with a little special training this may become a
valuable asset to you as a farm mechanic. A person properly trained for
this work can save many machines for future usefulness and increase the
life of all the mechanical equipment of the farm.
The chart shows the relative amount of power on American farms as
compared with power used for manufacturing. All of this power on the
farm is utilized through machinery, and the large investment in farm
machinery makes it important that the best of care shall be given to
insure long life and efficient service.
When the call came for greatly increased production many farmers who
doubted their ability to handle the modern farm machinery hesitated to
undertake the larger acreage. In some cases crops already started were
not harvested for want of help and lack of ability to use the machinery
that might have taken the place of man power.
The more complicated machinery becomes, the more important becomes its
proper care and management. Neglect or improper usage shortens the life
of the machines and often causes breakage, necessitating repair or new
parts. The services of a man who has ability and training in the repair
and operation of such implements are needed to secure the best results.
If maximum life and service is not secured from farm equipment the
farmer can not afford to have it. With maximum service the farmer can
not afford to do without it.
THE FARM TRACTOR
The tractor is the most important recent addition to farm equipment. Its
use is increasing because it enables one man to do the work of several
and do it better.
Many farmers hesitate to invest in the tractor and other modern
machinery now available, because realizing that they are not mechanics,
they doubt their ability to operate such equipment satisfactorily.
Manufacturers employ mechanics to care for and operate their machines.
Farmers must adopt similar methods. They are recognizing that in heavy
farm work the tractor will accomplish more and do it better than horses,
and that the tractor does not require feed or care when not being used.
The use of the tractor involves so many changes in methods of work that
farmers are often staggered by the new problems to be solved. Every
farmer has grown into the use of horses and horse-drawn equipment. He
knows he can handle them, but he has not the same conscience in his
ability to handle the tractor and the machinery that goes with it.
The farm mechanic will be expected to operate the tractor in plowing,
seeding, cultivating, harvesting, and various other operations. He will
be able to get more and better work out of the tractor and other
machines than one who does not fully understand them.
If the services of a trained farm mechanic were obtainable, many farmers
would adopt the methods of the manufacturer, and they would find it
profitable to use such modern machinery as is adaptable to their needs.
This machinery, to give the best service, must be kept in first-class
condition, which requires the attention of a mechanic familiar with farm
machinery, not a machinist trained to do one, two, or several things in
a fully equipped up-to-date machine shop, but an ingenious all-round
mechanic who can keep the equipment in condition for operation at all
times.
A NEW VOCATION
This opens a new field of employment, that of farm mechanic.
The farm mechanic will have employment the year round, and the farm
owner who has a competent mechanic in his employ will find his machinery
in good order when needed.
The farm mechanic should not think that he is above doing regular farm
work, when that is more important. He may be called upon to repair
buildings, build fences, or even plant potatoes, but his duties should
be primarily the operation and upkeep of mechanical equipment.
With the machinery cared for by a competent farm mechanic there will be
less loss of time due to breakdowns and the equipment lasts longer. If
anything goes wrong with any of the mechanical equipment while in
operation it will receive the immediate attention of an expert. When
there is a need for repairs to any of the buildings a competent man is
available to do the work.
Some large scientific farmers who have made their farming truly
commercial propositions have introduced as one of the economic features
of their business a department of farm mechanics with an expert mechanic
in charge. The time is ripe and the need urgent for the general
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