THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



87 



how can I decide intelligently ? For 

 anything I can then find out the 

 crop may be half or double the 

 usual quantity, and yet I have 

 more than once been asked to set 

 a price on my honey before it was 

 harvested. Perhaps it is not nec- 

 essary to pursue this further as no 

 one may dispute the value of ac- 

 curate statistics seasonably ob- 

 tained, but liow are they to be had ? 

 I am glad to see the Apiculturist 

 still improving and I believe it is 

 a reliable affair even to its adver- 

 tising pages with a single excep- 

 tion. On those pages I find 

 advertised a book called " A Year 

 among the Bees" of 128 pages. 

 Now to my certain knowledge, said 

 book contains only 114 pages. The 

 question arises, if any purchaser 

 in answer to the advertisement re- 

 ceives the book and finds it fourteen 

 pages short, by whom shall he 

 have the lacking pages written, by 

 the author or the editor of the Api- 

 culturist ? 



[Pretty good, Doctor ; neverthe- 

 less, if we can count correctly, the 

 book you mention has 128 pages, 

 that is counting the pages on which 

 advertisements are printed.] 



For the American Apiculturist. 



A WOMAN'S SUCCESS IN 

 BEE CULTURE. 



MRS. H. HILLS. 



VISITING THE BEE-CEI.LAK, AND 

 CARE OF THE BEES. 



^'•Many heekeejjers Wke the honey 

 and the money, hut do not care par- 

 ticidarly for the bees." Thus said 

 to me lately, a very enthusiastic 

 and successful beekeeper. 



Might not this remark help to 

 solve the vexed problem of so mucli 



unsuccessful beekeeping? We all 

 know, for instance, how plants will 

 thrive and rejoice under the loving 

 eye, and deft hand of the true gar- 

 dener, who instinctively under- 

 stands and anticipates their every 

 need and desire, until in their 

 wonderful response to his intense 

 devotion, we can hardl}' regard 

 them as inanimate. Compare them 

 with the poor orphans of their 

 kind, who languish under the ear- 

 nest, but unskilful, hands of him 

 who cultivates them only from ne- 

 cessity. 



I cannot help thinking, that to 

 my all-absorbing interest in the 

 bees themselves, may be attributed 

 the fact, that I have never yet, in 

 my three years' experience, lost a 

 colony, from any cause whatever. 



Next to the delight of working 

 with the bees, is that of writing 

 about them. Do you think any of 

 your readers would care to know 

 how they looked yesterday, on be- 

 ing visited for the third time since 

 Thanksgiving Day, at which date 

 they were placed in winter quarters ? 



I enjoy this occasional visit so 

 much, that it seems as if every one 

 else must, also, want to hear about 

 it. 



I have already described my cel- 

 lar arrangements, except, perhaps, 

 that the bee-apartmentis separated 

 from the vegetable-cellar, which is 

 in daily use, only by a double par- 

 tition of heavy horse-blankets, 

 very carefully arranged. No ray 

 of light can penetrate to any part 

 of the cellar. 



Though we seldom remain in the 

 bee apartment above five minutes, 

 no days of the winter are so eag- 

 erl}^ anticipated, as those set apart 

 for these visits. Immediately on 

 rising from the breakfast table, 

 preparations are made. You are 

 acquainted with Mephisto, the 

 Doubter, the Denier, whose vision 

 can never penetrate beyond the 

 gloom, that, so far as beekeeing is 



