THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



17 



clover, but there is no way of doing it on a 

 large scale except by bringing the "little 

 busy bee" into our service. We know, 

 moreover, that the proportion of honey 

 actually gathered and made available for 

 human use, is very small compared with 

 what might be got, if there were gatherers 

 enough to do it. Further, it is quite cer- 

 tain, that there is no danger of the market 

 being glutted with honey. It has never 

 been abundant enough to cause a decline 

 in the price, except as there has been doubt 

 as to genuineness of quality. The best box 

 honey never goes begging for purchasers, 

 and the same would be true of extracted 

 honey, but for a prejudice growing out of 

 doubt as to its purity. Finally, we know 

 that bee-keeping, though subject to fluctua- 

 tion is no more so than most other sublunary 

 things. Even the wheat crop sometimes 

 fails, or when it does not fail, the demand 

 slackens, and the price is low. In every 

 line of business there is more or less of un- 

 certainty, risk, and liability to sustain loss. 

 This is no more true of bee-keeping than of 

 other pursuits, and, therefore, it may fairly 

 take rank among the safe and regular occu- 

 pations of mankind. 



So much being settled in regard to the 

 present condition of bee-keeping, let us 

 glance at its future. It is now reduced to a 

 science, which, though in its infancy, has 

 its main principles ascertained and fixed. 

 It is also an art, whose essential manipula- 

 tions have been reduced to a system. Only 

 those will succeed in it who master the 

 principles of the science, and learn the viod- 

 tis operandi of the art. It is passing out of 

 the hands of unscientific and unskilled peo- 

 ple, who are convinced that it is an unprofit- 

 able business, and better hands are taking 

 hold of it. Our best bee-keepers make api- 

 culture pay, and some of them are quickly 

 amassing snug little fortunes out of the in- 

 dustry of the bee. As a higher class of bee- 

 keepers get possession of the field, and apicul- 

 ture ac([uires its true status among the indus- 



tries of the world, many will be attracted to the 

 pursuit, who, instead of rushing into it with ig- 

 norance and ardor as their only qualifications 

 will first lay the foundation of success by 

 thoroughly learning their business. We 

 look for the springing up of a new genera- 

 tion of advanced bee-keepers — bee-keepers 

 who will be free from prejudice against book- 

 learning about rural matters, and who will 

 believe in movable-comb hives, Italian bees, 

 and honey extractors. The disasters of the 

 last two years, which have fallen most hea- 

 vily upon the ignorant class of bee-keepers, 

 have had the effect of discouraging these, 

 and leaving only those in the field of api- 

 culture, who have science enough to account 

 for failure, and faith enough to try again, 

 and keep trying until they achieve success. 



We believe, too, that the age of empiri- 

 cism in bee-keeping is passing away. Im- 

 postures feed and live on ignorance. Worth- 

 less patents and clap-trap appendages, are 

 thrown away so soon as the noviciate of 

 bee-keeping is passed. What apiarian of 

 any experience has not plenty of old lum- 

 ber in the shape of abandoned hives and 

 rejected "fixings?" We know now that 

 with the movable frame, air-space, and the 

 requisite room, bees will store honey in any 

 sort of receptacle, and that the bee-keeper 

 may suit his own taste and convenience in 

 the matter of hives. Moth-traps, non- 

 swarmers, and the endless little variations 

 about frames and hives which have been 

 made excuses for getting patents, are fast 

 coming to be estimated at their real worth- 

 lessness. 



An eager demand for trustworthy inform- 

 ation and teaching on this subject, will 

 manifest itself on every hand, and we shall 

 soon have a race of studious, pains-taking, 

 successful bee-keepers, whose influence will 

 allure multitudes to this fascinating pursuit, 

 and these in their turn will draw others into 

 the apicultural ranks. 



So important and growing an interest 

 niust ha\'e due representation in the press, 



