18 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



ADVICE TO BEGINNERS OR 

 HOW TO BEGIN. 



Seldbn B. Hitchcock. 



My advice to beginners will be 

 based upon what I have gathered 

 from experience and observation. 

 In the tirst phice decide whetlier 

 you are qualified for the business. 

 If you are nervous and fitlgety you 

 must cure yourself or give up the 

 undertaking. You must learn to 

 take up a thing without a jerk and 

 to lay it down without a thump. 



If you think you are suited to 

 the vocation, your next step should 

 be to select your location. This 

 should be where bees would not be 

 obliged to fly over high hills but 

 where there is a large tract of 

 cleared fertile land; some would 

 say in a valley, but I think the val- 

 ,leys here in New England are 

 swept by winds more and affected 

 more by drought than the uplands ; 

 ,for these reasons 1 should prefer 

 ithe latter. It is needless to say 

 you should look well to the floi-al 

 product for in such a place as 1 

 .have described this will be plentiful. 

 After you have decided upon 

 your location the next thing you 

 will think of will be the bees ; but, 

 ■before you make any purchases in 

 this direction, procure some good 

 text-book, one published by a prac- 

 tical apiarist, and while you are get- 

 ting acquainted with some of the 

 .rudiments proceed to purchase your 

 bees, but don't go to any man to 

 ■buy who is not a successful beekeep- 

 .er, for if you buy of some box-hive 

 man who takes his honey by killing 

 the bees (and such a man is pretty 

 sure to destroy his best colonies if 

 he gets any honey, and if you buy 

 you get the weak ones) ; besides in 

 nine cases out of ten such a man 

 will be full of superstitious notions 

 that a beginner will be better otf 

 without. 1 believe there are more 



superstition and ignorance (and 

 supei'stition is ignorancte) in regard 

 to bees and beekeeping than with 

 almost any other class of creatures 

 or calling that man has undertaken 

 to manage. Go to some successful 

 beekeeper who is well up with the 

 times and one whom you can trust. 

 Tell him what you want and that 

 you are a beginner. You had best 

 start with not less than two swarms 

 but douH get too mavy^ go slow, 

 make sure. While you are there 

 learn all you can of his methods, 

 ask all the questions you can think 

 of, then go home and think of 

 more to ask at another time. 



Well, after you have got your 

 bees home upon their summer 

 stands and the contents of your 

 text-book pretty well digested, you 

 will want a good bee journal from 

 the pen of a practical beekeeper, 

 something like the "Api" and when 

 you have selected one that suits 

 you keep your subscription paid, 

 and thus secure its reguhir arrival. 

 The journal is important. I know 

 a man who started well some years 

 ago, got posted up for those times, 

 subscribed for a bee journal and 

 was prospering finely ; well, he be- 

 gan to think that he knew all about 

 bees and beekeeping and stopi)ed 

 his paper. The result was he is 

 right where he was when he 

 dropped the paper, knows nothing 

 of the improvements since that 

 time only as he stumbles on to 

 some of them in a brother bee- 

 keeper's yard or hears them spoken 

 of. A good bee journal is the bee- 

 keeper's best friend ; with it he 

 keeps abreast of the times, without 

 it, he is working in a box too high 

 for him to look over. 



With honesty and fair dealing I 

 see no reason wlw any intelligent 

 person who is suited to this busi- 

 ness and is willing to work with 

 the head as well as with his hands 

 should not succeed. 

 Westjield, Vt. 



