THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



keep up the rearing of brood will carry 

 them through iu fairly good condition. 



The kind of feeder used I do not deem a 

 matter of very great importance. For feed- 

 ing for stores to a small extent in occasional 

 years a tin milk pan with a cloth is good 

 enough for me; if I had to feed much every 

 year I should want the Heddou feeder. For 

 brood rearing I prefer the Simplicity feeder 

 covered with wire cloth through which the 

 syrup is poured into the feeder. The top of 

 the hive is packed closely about the feeder 

 to confine the bees and the heat below. For 

 feeding stores late in the season or to weak 

 colonies this is the best feeder because the 

 heat of the colony is better preserved, and 

 by using warm syrup and feeding more fre- 

 quently the bees will take it much more 

 rapidly than they will from any large feeder. 



Lapeeb, Mich., July 10, 181)2. 



Comments on a Beginner's Day Book. 

 No. 10. 



E. E. HASTY. 



IHIS is really the first article in the 

 series, although nominally the tenth — 

 only way I could devise to begin in 

 January a series of monthly experiences 

 which really began in October. So you are 

 to forget for the present the previous nine 

 articles, and think of the beginner as nine 

 months more raw than when you met him 

 last. If he keeps on at this rate he'll be 

 green enough for a side-show before long, 

 sure enough. 



"October 4th, 1879. Bought of John P. Hasty 

 the apiary containing 63 colonies of bees, togeth- 

 er with this year's crop of honey, the fixtures 

 and supplies on hand, a lot of thin lumber, a 

 box of tin— everything pertaining to the apiary 

 except the foot power saw." 



This opening experience shows pretty dis- 

 tinctly that there are exceptions to almost all 

 general rules. A very excellent general rule 

 is, never buy an apairy; buy two or three 

 colonies, and at one and the same time 

 learn your rather abstruse trade, and create 

 your apiary. But I bought an apiary be- 

 cause by so doing I could get immediately 

 out of a very unpleasant financial trade. 

 Had inherited some wild land that inherited 

 no income. Special taxes were piled on, 

 more than I could pay. A sale could not be 

 forced except at a fearful sacrifice, property 

 was so depressed. Under these circum- 



satances a brother of mine offered to buy 

 some of the land, at a plump brotherly 

 price, if I would take the apiary off his 

 hands as part payment. The cash payment 

 proposed was enough to supply my needs. 

 He had learned (a thing that perhaps some 

 beginner reading these lines may need to 

 learn) that he could not farm as he wished to 

 farm and run an apairy properly too. 



May I also call attention to the fact that 

 those who sincerely commit the direction of 

 their lives to the Lord find him at hand when 

 he is needed — at hand with some providen- 

 tial opening leading out of difficulty, and 

 into the place where he wants us to be. I de- 

 voutly wanted to be a preacher and teacher 

 of religious truth. As for going at it in the 

 regulation way, salaried and ordained 

 something within me pleaded against it. 

 Many have felt that deprecatory pleading 

 I imagine; and I think it is from God's il- 

 luminating spirit. Religious professionalism 

 seems to me to be suspicious, if not plainly 

 wicked. Moreover I did not like to keep 

 myself in the attitude of even silently hold- 

 ing out my hands for contributions, like a 

 beggar. God met me half way in the matter 

 by makiug a bee-keeper of me, sans cere- 

 monie. 



A general rule of piety which is in high 

 repute is to spend much time in reflection 

 and prayer over important steps which we 

 have to take. I wished to follow 

 the rule on this occasion; but the logic of 

 events seemed to call for a speedy answer 

 to the proposition and I gave it accordingly. 

 The Christian experience of years has im- 

 pressed me that the general rule has excep- 

 tions also. At least I remember a very un- 

 usual experience, with very important and 

 far-reaching consequences in which I had to 

 put some of the most blazing prayers a 

 human soul could send up in the silent 

 form, and limit myself to about one minute 

 of time before saying what I could do about 

 a momentous proposition. Rules are good 

 things; but to know how to break rules 

 properly is quite as important as to remem- 

 ber the rules. 



"October 5th. Contracted the entrance to stop 

 robbing." 



The apairy previously to any purchase had 

 been almost totally neglected for some time. 

 Where swarming prevails as it does here a 

 percentage of the colonies in the yard will 

 turn up queenless late in the season, get 

 weak, infested with fertile workers, and very 



