1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUPE. 



389 



INSTRUCTION IN BISK CIL,TITRK IN THE 



SHAPE OF PRACTICAL WORK 



IN THE APIARY. 



HAVE received Gleanings for July and Aug., 

 which you have kindly forwarded me. It is a 

 glorious publication, and I sincerely hope re- 

 pays you for the labor that must be expended upon 

 it. I enclose $1.00 in payment of my subscription 

 for IST9, and should feel obliged by your sending me 

 the hack numbers. 



Although books and magazines are excellent aids 

 to a knowledge of bee keeping, yet I think a few 

 months, or even weeks, practical work on an exten- 

 sive bee farm would be very advantageous. 



Perhaps you would kindly answer, in next month's 

 Gleanings, the following question: 



Could you inform me if there are any large bee 

 farms in the Northern States, where a person could 

 be boarded and instructed in the business, on pay- 

 ment of a stated sum, or so much per month? A 

 quiet, well disciplined establishment desirable. 



Halifax, N. 8., Aug. 9, 18T9. Beginner. 



You have struck on a thought, my friend, 

 that has, for some time, heeii forcing itself 

 upon me. Pictures and drawings help de- 

 scriptions and directions on paper, but still 

 there are many who always want to see a 

 thing with their own eyes, and see how it is 

 done. Our minister was down here a few 

 days ago, and, after watching the operation 

 of making artificial swarms for, perhaps, a 

 half hour, lie remarked as he started for his 

 home and his own bees, that he had learned 

 more in regard to artificial swarming, by 

 seeing the boys start queen cells, cut them 

 out, get frames of brood, &c, in the half 

 hour, than he could by studying the A B C 

 book a whole week. He had got erroneous 

 impressions, he said, by study, which were 

 corrected and righted at a glance, when he 

 saw one perfectly familiar, go through with 

 the various operations. Now, while there is 

 a great truth here, there is also another side 

 to the question. We cannot dispense with 

 the books, and while there are those who 

 have had the study and not enough of the 

 actual practice, like our friend just quoted, 

 there is a class who think they can learn it 

 all by sight, and do not need books. This 

 class make as many, or more mistakes, than 

 those who take the other extreme. 



Now to business : We have a great many 

 visitors, in fact, we have them almost daily, 

 and sometimes, we have a small crowd or 

 them. I am glad to see them, and it affords 

 me great pleasure to know that their visits 

 are pleasant and profitable. Sometimes 

 they stay with us several days, and we have 

 had one, a lady from Texas, who was anx- 

 ious to learn bee culture, who stayed several 

 weeks. We gave her a small apiary of seven 

 hives, and she went through with the whole 

 operation of retiring queens for these hives, 

 and sending them off to market. How 

 about the expense of such instruction ? 

 AVell, she did work enough in the apiary to 

 pay for the tuition she received, in the shape 

 of showing and answering questions. We 

 payed her nothing for her work, and she 

 payed us nothing for what she learned, and 

 she was at liberty to leave at any time when 

 she thought herself sufficiently proficient. 

 •She obtained board near our grounds, in a 



private family, for $3.00 per week. As she 

 was thinking of building a house apiary, 

 she handled the bees in ours for several days, 

 that she might decide how she liked it, com- 

 pared with the out door hives. Now when I 

 say that as many of you may come here as 

 choose, under the same conditions, I think I 

 would better say, to prevent disappointment, 

 that we shall expect all who come to study 

 up the subject from the books. If you come 

 here and ask me how we raise queens from 

 worker eggs, and questions of like import, I 

 shall probably hand you the ABC book for 

 an answer. 



What shall I do if a lot of these raw hands 

 make more trouble and do more damage 

 than they are worth V Why, I suppose, I 

 should have to tell them so, and have them 

 do better. Practical experience of many 

 years is a good thing, but I have learned 

 that there is an element in humanity which 

 is of even more value than this ; it is the 

 honest enthusiasm and love of learning, 

 coupled with energetic effort to learn, at all 

 hazards, that we often see in our schools and 

 colleges. Such a boy or girl, with half a 

 chance, and almost without showing, will 

 often outstrip veterans in a few years. I 

 will tell you, by a little story, what I mean. 



An old market gardener saw, In one of the 

 groceries, some beautiful heads of lettuce, 

 quite a little time before he had any in his 

 own hot beds. Said he to the proprieter, 



"That is nice! That is beautiful! Of 

 course, you got that from one of the cities?" 



"No ; it was raised in our own town." 



"In our own town V No ! " 



"Yes; and by a little boy." 



" Why, is it possible i Can I see that boy ?" 



He did see him, and learned that the boy 

 had taken it up himself, and had made his 

 hot bed from what he learned from the agri- 

 cultural papers too. Now, although I have 

 more than 40 hands out of employment, and 

 waiting for places, I would give that boy 

 good work, and good pay to-day, if I could 

 get him. Give me a boy or girl that has a 

 love for his work— one whose heart and soul 

 is in it. He wants to know all that any body 

 knows about it and more too ; and there is 

 always enough for such a boy or girl to do. 

 All such, I am glad to meet, and glad to help. 

 Nay, farther ; God is always ready and wil- 

 ling to help us. My friends, when you are 

 out of work, can you blame me for thinking 

 it is because you are remiss in just the way 

 I have tried to illustrate ? 



AN APOLOGY FOR UN(H\KITABLE 

 THOUGHTS. 



AM thinking I owe you an apology for the way I 

 have been talk thinking of you for sometime 

 past. yes, it is all very well for Mr. Root to 

 say "Do everything ea;ae% right; not nearly right, 

 but Just right;" but then, when your work comes 

 to hand, we find you do not do as you advise. 



I was very much pleased with the appearance of 

 the hives I ordered from you, until I began to put 

 them together, and then I found ["needed your iron 

 frames to hold them up while I nailed, but with 

 some difficulty, I got them put[up. I never thought 

 of using a smoothing plane, and they all came to- 

 gether well enough, excepting one cover, which was 



