For those of us who are interested in beekeeping history, there is a treasure of information in the American Bee Journal. The first volume was published in 1861 and then publication was suspended for the duration of the Civil War. In the December issue of Volume One, I found this sage advice on beekeeping economics.

> A moderate increase of colonies in any one season, will, in the long run, prove to be the easiest, safest, and cheapest mode of managing bees.The formation of new colonies should ordinarily be confined to the season when bees are accumulating honey; and if this, or any other operation must be performed when forage is scarce, the greatest precaution should be used to prevent robbing. 

> The essence of all profitable bee-keeping is contained in Oettl's Golden Rule : keep your stocks strong. If you cannot succeed in doing this, the more money you invest in bees, the heavier will be your losses; while if your stocks are strong, you will show that you are a bee-master, as well as a bee-keeper, and may safely calculate on receiving generous returns from your industrious subjects.

http://bees.library.cornell.edu/b/bees/browse/title/6366245.html

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm