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

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