110 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



In looking over the subject of 

 Lee-culture for a few remarks in re- 

 lation thereto, I must necessarily 

 take up but a few of the most pop- 

 ular points and be brief witli those. 



Instead, therefore, of trying to 

 give you instruction of a scientific 

 nature, I shall endeavor to inter- 

 rest you by answering a few ques- 

 tions ; questions that are so often 

 asked as to become stereotyped 

 upon the memory. There seems 

 to be an impression abroad that 

 bee culture requires but little care 

 and little labor. This impression 

 is evidently derived from the old 

 method of beekeeping which was 

 no method at all, but was merely 

 allowing the bees to take care of 

 themselves. Modern bee culture 

 is so different in its management, 

 that during the busy season the 

 labor is constant ; the bent posture 

 we have to assume and the care 

 required in lifting our fragile 

 combs and resisting their combat- 

 ive occupants render the work very 

 tiresome. Strict attention to bus- ^ 

 iness is the beekeeper's watchword. 

 He cannot attend every circus that 

 comes along ; he has one of his own 

 to look after. 



The Fourth of July can be no 

 holiday for him, and even if he 

 should desire to go awa}^ he can 

 hire no one to take his place, and 

 when I see a successful beekeeper 

 I know every hour has been used to 

 advantage. A recent writer in 

 one of our bee journals says, that 

 a man who is going to run one 

 hundred colonies of bees through 

 the hone}' season must be a regu- 

 lar salamander. 



Then, after all of this labor, and 

 frequent stings, how consoling it 

 is to have some one step up to you 

 and say, " Well, I suppose yon are 

 fussing with your bees nowadays." 



Now, a man feels very dignified 

 I suppose, who sits down and milks 

 cows by the hour ; no one asks him 



if he is fussing with his cows. It 

 is not applied to the dainty man 

 who wields the yard stick behind 

 the counter. Why, my friends, 

 some peoi)le in the poultry business 

 think it very laborious to go out 

 and set a few old hens. If there 

 is auy person here who is the least 

 sceptical upon labor in the apiary, 

 I would invite that one into my 

 bee yard next summer, and he will 

 be convinced in less than ten min- 

 utes. 



Another question that is asked 

 nearly ever}' day during the year 

 is " Do you ever get stung ? " Yes, 

 I do get stung ; and though I have 

 heard of persons that bees would 

 not sting, I never saw such a cu- 

 riosity, and a person who aspires 

 to become an apiculturist should 

 learn to take fifty stings an hour or 

 even in a less time if necessary. It 

 is not so much the operation of 

 stinging as the after eff"ect upon 

 the person. With some people the 

 more they are stung the worse the 

 effect; while others are so fortu- 

 nate that the more they are stung 

 the less injurious the result. 



Much also depends upon the 

 race of bees we handle. We have 

 now in this country, besides our 

 native bees, bees from Italy, from 

 the island of Cyprus, from Syria 

 and from Palestine, or Holy land 

 bees as we term them. 



The Cyprians are conceded to be 

 the most reckless with their venom 

 and are very hard to manage. 

 Frequently, I have persons come 

 into my apiary, boasting of their 

 immunity from bee stings. I in- 

 troduce them as speedily as possi- 

 ble to my Cyprian bees. One 

 person thus introduced exclaimed, 

 as he emerged from a clump of 

 grape vines, " I believe those Cyp- 

 rians will sting faster, deeper, 

 cover more surface and with more 

 of the gall of bitterness than all 

 other bees put together." 



