August, '16] PETTIT: BEEKEEPING 409 



princi/:s must learn them by the successes and failures of many 

 experiments. 



The extent to which the teacher may abstract principles from meth- 

 ods will depend on his own knowledge and on the previous mental 

 training of his class. 



It is a very important part of our work to secure a status for the 

 subject in agricultural colleges, and it is gratifying that the deadly in- 

 difference if not open ridicule to which it has been subjected in times 

 past is being overcome, although there is room for a great deal of 

 improvement yet. 



We consider it a great advantage at the 0. A. C. that the subject 

 is compulsory with all first-year students. It gives every student an 

 opportunity to learn something about it. Those who become inter- 

 ested are as far as possible given work in the Apiculture Department, 

 or positions are secured for them with successful beekeepers for the 

 ensuing summer vacation. 



In the second year every student of the college has a thesis to write 

 and he may choose a beekeeping subject. Those whose interest 

 continues are given more important work the second vacation, perhaps 

 as inspectors of apiaries. This is continued in the third-year vacation, 

 and they are advised to take the biology option and write their gradua- 

 tion thesis on a beekeeping subject. 



So far our efforts to secure a larger place on the curriculum for 

 Apiculture have been without avail, and as there are no elective sub- 

 jects, except the main divisions called "options" in the graduating 

 year, the difficulty of getting a new subject on the junior years is greater 

 than it is in colleges where electives are common throughout the course. 



Two men have already graduated as Apiculture specialists in the 

 Biology Option, and have gone immediately to good positions. The 

 increasing demand for men with this sort of training will doubtless 

 compel our college authorities to give us a proper place at an early date. 



(b) With Short Course Students. 



The Ontario Agricultural College has no general short courses, but 

 has short courses for different subjects such as dairying, poultry, 

 beekeeping, etc. In the Beekeeping Short Course, we aim to cover 

 practically the same ground as with the long course students; the 

 difference being that the lectures are given consecutively six or seven 

 each day for a period of two weeks, and the services of instructors 

 from other colleges, also successful inspectors of apiaries in Ontario, 

 are secured to lighten the labors of the Provincial Apiarist. 



Printed programs are prepared and mailed to a large number of 

 beekeepers and others who will be interested. The attendance varies 

 from fifty to one hundred, depending largeh' on the nature of the pre- 

 vious honey season. 



