50 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



into the great possibilities of the fu- 

 ture, — men Avhose minds and souls 

 search after and feed upon the hidden 

 treasures of Nature's vast storehouse, 

 Avho, viewing this matter in its proper 

 light, and wishing to institute and 

 carry out measures through which this 

 branch of industry may assume a dig- 

 nity commensurate with its impor- 

 tance, agree with me in saying that 

 apiculture in this country is yet in its 

 infancy, and that greater advances and 

 more glorious triumphs than any we 

 have ever witnessed await us, if we 

 but reach out after them. 



True, we have had a Quinby, one 

 whose equal as a man of principle and 

 as a teacher — aye, the father of prac- 

 tical apiculture in America — has sel- 

 dom been found ; who gave to us the 

 most thorough and practical work on 

 beekeeping ever written, and one 

 which has proven the foundation of 

 practical apiculture. And we have a 

 Langstroth whose name has been, 

 justly immortalized by the invention 

 and early introduction of the perfected 

 movable frame hive; and who has 

 given to us the most beautifully writ- 

 ten and scholarly work on apiculture 

 ever published and one without which, 

 for future reference, no beekeeper's li- 

 brary is complete; together with a 

 host of intelligent and successful apia- 

 rists, many of whom are numbered 

 among our most prominent scientists. 

 In this connection, too, I would call to 

 mind the inventive genius, the keen 

 perception, the unwearied persever- 

 ance and undaunted energy of Ameri- 

 can apiarists that have maile it possible 

 for us to secure to-day thousands of 

 pounds of honey where but a few yeais 

 ago only hundreds were gathered; have 

 brought to our shores nearly every 

 race of bees extant, and have earned 

 for our country the position of the 

 leading nation in practical apiculture. 



Gladly would I speak none but words 

 of encouragement, leaving to others 

 the stern duty of portraying the darker 

 side of the picture ; but my interest in 

 apiculture demands that I mention 

 some of the failures that have been 

 made and suggest a remedy. In the 

 past history of apiculture in this 

 country, scientific beekeeping has l)een 

 almost entirely neglected, until to-day, 

 in this euliglitened and progressive 

 nineteenth century, we can boast of 

 but one professor in any agricultural 

 college, who is an acknowledged rep- 

 resentative and competent teacher of 

 this industry in its scientific and prac- 

 tical bearing. 



More than one hundred years ago 

 the old German bee masters recognized 

 the keeping of bees as a branch of agri- 

 culture, and even at that early period 

 at least one apiarist in Switzerland had 

 under his supervision thousands of 

 colonies of bees. Is it not strange 

 that there has been in this regard so 

 little progi'ess in our own more highly 

 favored country? 



While there is a steadily increasing 

 demand for competent and intelligent 

 apiarists, yet it is exceedingly ditficiilt 

 to secure their services, and there ex- 

 ists in the United States only one col- 

 lege where the student can obtain a 

 scientilic and practical education in this 

 branch of agriculture. True, there are 

 schools* of apiculture (so called) insti- 

 tuted by private individuals ; and while 

 the novice may obtain a fair concep- 

 tion of practical apiculture in attend- 

 ing them, yet I consider that the idea 

 so frequently advanced that a few brief 

 summer months are all that are requi- 

 site to fit and prepare one to manage an 

 apiary successfully is a delusive one, 

 and I feel assured that were those who 

 have attended them to speak the truth, 

 they would agree with me in this state- 

 ment. There may be exceptional cases, 

 but I am fully confident that there is no 

 well-conducted and thorough institu- 

 tion of learning which is self-support- 

 ing ; in other words, where the teachei's 

 give their time and attention to the 

 proper education of those who nuiy 

 come to them for instruction in this 

 special department, and Avlien we find 

 any person claiming to do this, we may 

 well question the beneficial result to 

 the average student. 



Another interesting and important 

 matter is that of a standard hive frame 

 and section ; and alihougli prominent 

 authorities claim that we can never 

 satisfactorily adjust this matter, yet I 

 feel warranted in aflirniing that it can 

 and nuist be done. Almost every sup- 

 ply dealer in the country has some pet 

 size and style of hive frame or section, 

 the result being that the novice, find- 

 ing sucli a diversity of opinion among 

 the "doctors," hardly knows which 

 way to turn or what standard to adopt ; 

 and quite frequently after a few years' 

 practice as a beekeeper, and at a need- 

 less expense, is obliged to change his 

 hives, frames and sections. The num- 

 ber of either style that is adopted de- 

 pends not so much upon its merits as 

 upon the price at which the dealer can 

 sell them, and the one who can manu- 

 facture them the cheapest has the credit 

 of creating and establishing a standard. 



