1881 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



73 



or even those who knew nothing of the trade? My 

 observation teaches me that such is the fact. I 

 know it is often true, that men who possess great 

 ability as manufacturers (in the broad sense of the 

 term), or capitalists, are forced at first to begin as 

 journeymen mechanics, in order to get their first 

 little "start;" but I always notice that these men of 

 sound financial ideas are usually poor mechanics. 

 The ability to earn a dollar, and that of making it 

 earn another, are quite different powers. Nearlj' 

 all our successful men have repeated the same 

 adage, "It was harder to get my first thousand dol- 

 lars than the next twenty thousand." No one sup- 

 poses that a company start a glucose-factory be- 

 cause they or one of their number knows the pro- 

 portion of the different chemicals used, or even their 

 names; no, th«y 7iuc a man who knows (?iat part to 

 perfection, and this fellow "lives from hand to 

 mouth" all his life, while the profits of his skill go to 

 the men who saw the commercial need; who knew 

 enough to keep their property running night and 

 day through thie busy part of the year; knew enough 

 to tell an honest man by looking at him; knew 

 enough to keep their property insured against fire; 

 knew enough to keep perfect system and order 

 throughout the factory; knew how and when to sell 

 for the highest price. I fancy that a man of this 

 kind, though ever so unscientific, "w)i7I not down." 

 He will catch a swarm on a bush, and then— look out. 



As there is hardly a calling known to man, in 

 which the operatives are .so universally the capital- 

 ists as in this pursuit of ours, I deemed that a few 

 thoughts upon this important side of the business 

 will not bore your readers. 



No one is willing to pay a higher tribute to talent 

 than 1 am; but I believe that it requires fact to make 

 talent pay a dividend. Now, in our business I call 

 the man who knows all about the physiology or hy- 

 pothenogenesls of the bee, the chemical elements of 

 beeswax, honey, etc., a man of talent; but the ques- 

 tion is. Has this genius got the tact to make this 

 knowledge applicable to the business he is pursuing? 

 It has been said that "talent knows w/iat to do, tact 

 knows 7iou) to do it; talent speaks learnedly; tact, 

 triumphantly. Talent makes the world wonder that 

 it gets on no faster; tact excites astonishment that 

 it gets on so fast." 



" Tact clinches the bargain. 

 Sails out of the bay, 

 Gets the vote of the Senate, 

 Spite Webster or Clay." 



Ready tact will often prevent a disaster that slow- 

 er talent finds, later, that it can not cope with. Tact 

 being a great aggregation of little thoughts and ac- 

 tions, is almost indescribable. It can by no means 

 be written on paper, as can talent. 



The successes of tact and failures of talent are, by 

 the failing class, universally credited to "luck." 

 Poor luck I who ever heard of his getting any credit 

 for a success by the one who knew the most about it? 



I once heard a smart practical and successful 

 honey producer Say of one of our leading and bright- 

 est men of talent, ".Give him my three apiaries, and 

 the best locality in Michigan, and he could not sup- 

 port his family. I know him; his bee-keeping is all 

 on paper." 



If I started out with any intent to try to tell of 

 what this tact consists, I fear I shall have to give it 

 up. I am sure that it is the open sesame to success, 

 however, and all who need to make bee-keeping sup- 

 port, or help to support themselves and families, 



should try to cultivate to the fullest extent this art 

 of handiness, quick perception, and practical way 

 of doing things, called tact. Honesty, caution, en- 

 ergy, and a will, arc all important requisites to suc- 

 cess. It is fatal, to suppose that mankind are all as 

 honest as you are, or all as dishonest as you may be. 

 "We need not be weak because we are honest. A 

 "happy man" between the radical and conservative, 

 is also a key to success. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Jan. 4, 1881. 



Very good, friend II. ; but what shall we 

 poor fellows do wlio are conscious that we 

 nave not tactV It seems to me the outlook 

 would be a little sad, if we had no way 

 pointed out to us whereby we might climb 

 above these natural lacks and dehciencies. 

 Let us as you say, cultivate to the fullest 

 extent, this art of handiness, etc., and if 

 you will excuse the liberty, I would like 

 to suggest to the boys and girls who have 

 l)egun to feel that they are not handy about 

 things, and have not tact naturally, "the lit- 

 tle text, — 



If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 

 that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; 

 and it shall be given him.— James 1: i. 



FRIEIVD STAINLEV'S STORY. 



WHAT HE HAS DONE WITH BEES IN FOUR YEARS. 



fAM, or have been, located on the prairie, with a 

 narrow bottom of timber reaching halfway 

 — ' round me, the edge of which reaches within IJi 

 miles. The other side is all prairie, or, rather, 

 farms, now. There is some white clover, but very 

 little ; the land is run mostly to wheat, and corn, and 

 red-top grass, which makes our hay. Four years 

 ago there was a great deal of the land uncultivated, 

 which produced an abundance of Spanish needles, 

 which is our main honey-producing plant. Buck- 

 wheat and smartweed sometimes yield some honey, 

 though I have never been able to see the bees get 

 more than enough to raise brood on either. Two 

 years ago there were 30 acres sowed the 1st of June 

 for fertilizing, and I could get none, though I think 

 it did my bees good by keeping up brood-rearing 

 through July and August. I have had honey stored 

 in June one year, and that was in 187"; and at that 

 time I was not well satisfied what it was gathered 

 from, but think from clover; but almost with cer- 

 tainty you can rely on having some honey the first 

 or second week in September from Spanish needles. 

 I have never known an entire failure of it, and the 

 partial ones were caused by cold and wet weather, 

 which is uncommon at that season. Bees have al- 

 ways been able to fill up on it. I have seen hives 

 that did not have 3 lbs. of honey in the brood-cham« 

 ber the 27th of August, storing honey in caps in 8 or 

 10 days, and it is very fine honey, though a little 

 strong until it has age. It lasts ten days to two 

 weeks, and then we are done unless we have buck- 

 wheat. There is some goldenrod and smartweed, 

 but they do not yield much honey here, though the 

 bees generally get a living until frost, which usually 

 comes about the 10th of October. Getting our sur- 

 plus so late, we need no feeding for winter. Almost 

 any colony will have winter stores. Well, in 1876 I 

 began making hives for myself, and they were liked 

 so well I soon engaged about 40 hives, to be trans- 

 ferred on shares— a hive for a stand of bees in a box 

 or log hive, which were then selling for S5.00 to $7.00. 

 Well, I got worse and worse with the bee fever; 



