1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



203 



stand "how to do it," I solicited my father to 

 obtain a hive of bees. It was put oiF indefinitely. 

 Another neighbor, near us, had kept bees several 

 years. I watched him with much interest. The 

 simple box and gum were all he used, and his profit 

 consisted in killing his bees and taking their honey 

 to sell; and one season he realized the enormous 

 sum of one hundred dollars. A few years later I 

 had accumulated funds enough to purchase a stock 

 of his bees to begin business on my own account ; 

 hoping to realize the fortune that I had dreamed 

 about. 



Yes, I was rich already ; I was owner of a hive 

 of bees. Yet it soon seeihed like slow progress 

 and bad economy to kill the bees for profit. Be- 

 sides, it did not create the best feelings. It was 

 suggested that by putting boxes on the top of the 

 hive, with holes to communicate, the bees would 

 fill them with honey, and retire to the hive below 

 for the winter, leaving the contents of the box for 

 their owner. Here was another chance for that 

 fortune, an important point gained. It was no 

 longer necessary to kill the goose that laid the 

 golden egg, but she could be kept alive to lay the 

 egg another year. Ninety-nine times in a hundred, 

 the bees would provide for their winter stores before 

 doing anything in the boxes. We had demonstrated 

 the fact that they would store a surplus over their 

 wants. I immediately endeavored to persuade 

 neighbors to save their bees and make double 

 profits, particularly my old neighbor, whom I found 

 very conservative. He had made money by keeping 

 bees in the old way, and would not venture a 

 change recommended by some one else, with the 

 slim prospect of doing better. He even entertained 

 the idea, and fully expressed it, that there was no 

 better way than that practiced by his experienced 

 self. Seemed rather annoyed — like some in the 

 present day — that any one should try to do better ; 

 even predicted, that I would "potter" till I should 

 fail entirely. I am not going to say that he would 

 have preferred my failure, rather than that of his 

 prediction. 



Box honey, in market, began to take the place of 

 that from the hives, and one pound of it sold for 

 more than two of the other. We also found that 

 boxes made of glass, in a fanciful style, commanded 

 a still more ready sale. This fact I had nearly all 

 to myself, and had I been as shrewd a money-getter 

 as Astor, Stewart, or Vanderbilt, I might at least 

 have secured a moderate fortune pecuniarily. In- 

 stead of which, having an eye to treasures of a 

 less perishable nature, I wrote a book of instruc- 

 tions, which I hope has been of some use. 



This was called a mistake, by some of my best 

 friends. The middle men who distributed to con- 

 sumers, called me a fool for doing so. "Don't you 

 see that competition will reduce the price, and you 

 will not get remuneration for what you have done?" 

 Let these facts serve as an explanation, why one 

 person has not become rich by keeping bees ; but let 

 it not discourage improvement. 



Another class of bee-keepers have stopped at this 

 point, forgetting where they got the first idea, hav- 

 ing had it so long, it seemed to have originated with 

 them, and not conceiving any further improvement 

 possible, did not want any. "Had we not already 

 caused two blades of grass to grow in place of one — 



two pounds of honey in place of one — and saved the 

 bees. What more was there to be had?" 



The bees had now betrayed what their instincts 

 might lead them to, in the success of our first ex- 

 periment. 



The inside of a bee-hive had hitherto been con- 

 sidered a dark place, dangerous to explore. Mr. 

 Langstroth gave us a view of the interior in a blaze 

 of light. With this help, we could go still deeper 

 in the study of their nature, and guide their 

 instincts to still greater profit. It stimulated 

 further experiment, and the introduction of the 

 extractor demonstrated at once that we could do 

 better still. We found by giving the bees combs 

 ready to be filled, instead of putting them to the 

 trouble of making them, and when filled, by empty- 

 ing and returning again to the bees, they would 

 sometimes be refilled successively several times in a 

 season. With every step in improvement has come 

 a host of patent venders, that seemed regardless of 

 any improvement in bee culture, and anxious only 

 to filch the dollar from the credulous. And follow- 

 ing these, have arisen scores of disappointed, dis- 

 couraged, disgusted bee-keepers; disgusted with 

 the whole subject. This class we are unable to 

 approach with any chance of success. We cannot 

 blame them. They are not acquainted with our 

 motives. They cannot understand how we, like the 

 bee, can be " willing to work for nothing and find 

 ourselves," and work not for individual good, but 

 that of the whole community. When extremes are 

 avoided, conservatism is commendable. I mention 

 these things, not to discourage, but to show that 

 there is yet much to hope for. Opposition to im- 

 provement has attended every step. Rejecting 

 proffered blessings is no new thing. People did it 

 1,800 years ago. Being rejected does not disprove 

 the truth of anything. The progress of the past, 

 we trusty will be accelerated. There are many 

 points in the natural history of the bee not yet 

 understood ; many theories to be verified by experi- 

 ment. And let us remember that a failure often 

 carries with it the most important lesson, by stimu- 

 lating inquiry into causes of such failure. 



The calamity that overtook our bees one year 

 since, in all the northern states, was the severest of 

 any in the past forty years. Some cause, or causes, 

 must have operated to produce it with which we 

 were not acquainted. We wish to investigate, to 

 examine the different theories that have been offered. 

 Where facts are given that render any one probable, 

 it is then a duty to verify by experiment. I have 

 offered a theory, and am experimenting to test it. 

 I am not so anxious to prove that I am correct as to 

 ascertain what is absolutely certain. I hope the 

 committee to propose questions for discussion will 

 remember this one. All of us have discovered that 

 some few of our bees, in spring, are in much better 

 condition than the others, and give us twice as 

 much profit. We would like to understand how to 

 make all as good as the best. When we have at- 

 tained this result uniformly, we have taken another 

 step in advance. 



A progressive bee-keeper in Ohio writes me: "I 

 think you will agree with me, that the time will 

 come when we shall make bee-keeping profitable in 

 the poorest seasons." Doubts of its ever being so 

 does not decide it, but discourages efforts towards 



