1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



149 



Apiarians, performed a praiseworthy part in this 

 respect. But not a sufficient number of them 

 have done so to enable hundreds to "attend who 

 feel a keen desire to be with us. 



Secondly. Many who are quite anxious to be 

 in attendance are not so situated in a pecuniary 

 point of view as to admit of their being with us, 

 even if all our roads would pass and repass them 

 at reduced rates. And I might add, truthfully 

 and properly, that in case it were possible for 

 one per cent, of the beekeepers of the country 

 to attend our annual sessions, it could not be 

 made practicable, because a hall of suitable di- 

 mensions to contain them could not be obtained; 

 consequently our sessions could not be as inter- 

 esting as if attended by from fifteen to twenty 

 from each State. 



Such a number of representatives would con- 

 stitute an audience of from six to eight hundred, 

 by whom business could be transacted intelligi- 

 bly and interesting to the entire assembly ; and 

 at the same time the proceedings of such a body 

 of apiarians, if printed in pamphlet form and 

 distributed throughout the country, will awaken 

 an interest in apiculture, and bring about results 

 which, whilst they have never been equalled be- 

 fore, will surprise the masses of the beekeepers 

 themselves ; because fifteen or twenty delegates 

 from each State can give a reliable account of 

 the resources of the different districts which they 

 represent ; what the average yield of surplus ho- 

 ney is; the method of bee management during the 

 summer and winter, the kind and shape of hive 

 best adapted to the different sections, as it is not 

 yet certainly understood that a hive which in 

 form is well adapted to one climate will answer 

 well in all. For some contend that a hive which 

 is well adapted to out-door wintering in a warm 

 climate, will not, on account perhaps of its 

 depth, answer a good purpose in Northern lati- 

 tudes. 



Frum a general survey like this, the expe- 

 rienced apiarian will at once understand that in 

 disti-ibuting our records throughout the entire 

 country, reliable methods of bee management 

 aremade available to those whose experience is 

 not extensive, and who are hesitating as to 

 whether to move forward in the enterprise of bee- 

 keeping, or whether to abandon it entirely, 

 through a lack of confidence. 



All are aware that no branch of industry is so 

 poorly supported by confidence as that of api- 

 culture ; and all intelligent and successful bee- 

 keepers, are aware also, that this universal lack 

 of faith is due to two principal causes, namely, 

 imposition and a lack of true knowledge as to 

 how to manage bees. Impostors have visited, 

 and I hope to be pardoned for asserting that they 

 are still visiting, every foot of territory through- 

 out the country, and are selling both hives and 

 books which are in many instances worse than 

 useless when tested in practical bee-keeping. 

 But whilst such is the case, I would not have it 

 understood that all who fail can justly claim 

 that they have been imposed upon, either in the 

 merits of the hive or the book on bee-keeping, 

 which they have purchased. 



For, as is the case in all pursuits, many persons 

 begin and make disastrous failures. Some to my 



own personal knowledge have read a standard 

 work on bee-keeping, but have never studied it 

 carefully, and have at the same time commenced 

 bee-keeping on a large scale with a good hive, 

 and in a short time have abandoned the pursuit 

 in perfect disgust, on account of severe loss 

 sustained. 



But I have never yet met with any one that 

 commenced cautiously, on a small scale, and in- 

 creased his colonies in numbers in proportion to 

 the increase of knowledge and ability to manage 

 them, who was dissatisfied with the results. But 

 whilst such is the case, it is of the utmost impor- 

 tance in giving advice to beginners, to look well 

 not only to the acquirement of a knowledge of 

 the habits of the bees, where it is desired to keep 

 them in large numbers, but also to look well to 

 the location and season. 



For any country which does not abound in 

 honey producing plants in large quantities, and 

 is subject to protracted droughts, is not calcu- 

 lated at all for bee-keeping as a profession ; yet 

 all sections of country which are adapted to agri- 

 cultural pursuits,will support a sufficient number 

 of bees to supply the inhabitants with honey for 

 home consumption, if the necessary attention be 

 given them. But all who have devoted much 

 time and attention to apiculture are aware that 

 such teaching has not been practised on a lai'ge 

 scale by many who have scattered yellow-backed 

 bee literature in every portion of country upon 

 our continent ; but, ou the contrai'y, these six 

 leaved pamphlets have been printed and sow r n 

 broadcast among the anxious but unsuspecting, 

 and uninformed bee owners, under the title of 

 true guides to fortune in bee raising; no matter 

 what the character of the country might be in 

 which they chanced to find a victim. The only 

 things required to insure success and wealth, 

 through the medium of the apiary, they tell us, 

 are their hive and their so called storehouse of 

 information, and the matter is at once sealed in 

 our behalf. We, of course, are in favor of any 

 move that will in a short space of time make us 

 wealthy. The hive and book are both bought at 

 high figures, as an institution which is to make 

 us wealthy cannot be gotten up for any trifling 

 sum ; our bees are turned in, and we. go to bed 

 contented, and seldom ever wake up on the sub- 

 ject of being cheated, until our bees are either 

 dead, or in a condition almost if not entirely 

 worthless. Occasionally however, the bees do not 

 perish, but the owner learns, after considerable 

 disappointment and pecuniary loss, that there is 

 something in the shape of a mistake about that 

 book and hive of his, and he drops the matter, and 

 concludes that there is no money in bee-keeping 

 to him, as he has no luck with bees. 



But it would be useless for me to proceed far- 

 ther with a rehearsal of the frauds and decep- 

 tions which have been palmed off upon the 

 uninformed. What is most important to us as a 

 national society, if Ave mean to advance bee- 

 keeping interests, is to adopt measures by which 

 such fraudulent impostors, can be to a great 

 extent defeated, and reliable information put 

 into the hands of all, by printing in full our 

 proceedings, and offering them at such figures as 

 all can afford to pay. True, our proceedings will 



