THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



13 



culture in the past has been 

 the disagreeable and unreasonable 

 bickerings of weak and selfish men, 

 to whose selfish interests all things 

 must bend or be broken. 



While, on the other hand, man 

 being a creature of "extremes," 

 some have gone in the opposite di- 

 rection and indulged in tiresome 

 "toadyism," ready to "slop over" 

 with friendship (?) for every thing 

 and every body. Of course this 

 is less reprehensible and vicious 

 in character than the former, but 

 scarcely less injurious to progres- 

 sive bee-culture. 



For the life of me, I am unable 

 to see why bee-culture should be 

 beset by a greater amount of pure 

 "cussedness" than all other indus- 

 tries have to endure, and yet it 

 really seems that such is its fate. 



I expect better things, however, 

 from the young men who are just 

 entering the field of apicultural sci- 

 ence, which is all ablaze with light. 

 The}' have only to take up the bus- 

 iness where others have left off, 

 and with strong arms and fresh in- 

 tellects, push it forward till others, 

 in turn, shall take their places. 



My advice to such would be, con- 

 duct bee-culture strictly on sound 

 business principles. Banish all un- 

 necessary sentimentality ; let noth- 

 ing pass without knowing the 

 "whys" and "wherefores;" and 

 above all, strive to cultivate an un- 

 selfish spirit, and never become so 

 wise as to forget that others may 

 have "rights of their own" and 

 may really know as much as you. 



I have written this short article 

 as a reminder to those who are 



about to enter the business of api- 

 culture, that the calling is entitled 

 to as much "dignity" as other ru- 

 ral industries, and should thus be 

 stripped of all petty jealousies 

 and contemptible bickerings on the 

 one hand, and from all silly palaver 

 and maudlinism on the other. 

 Christiansbicrg, Ky. 



THE ''WINTER PROBLEM." 



By Henry Alley. 



Has the Winter Problem been 

 solved? The frequent and discour- 

 aging reports of heavy losses in 

 wintering, and the large number of 

 empty hives to be seen in many 

 apiaries all over the country, an- 

 swer, no. Chaff hives, double- 

 walled hives, and in fact, hives of 

 every description, seem to avail but 

 little, so far as successful wintering 

 is concerned. I wish to offer a 

 few remarks on this subject, but 

 do not intend to condemn any style 

 of hive, or method of preparing for 

 winter. The hive is of minor im- 

 portance in this matter, and there 

 are things to be considered, of vast- 

 ly more interest and which exert 

 more influence in this regard, than 

 does the hive, or packing and pre- 

 paring for winter. One point to 

 be considered is this : have we any 

 established strain, or distinct race 

 of bees, that includes the necessary 

 qualities which fit them to with- 

 stand the extreme changes and try- 

 ing severity of our long winters? 



We most assuredly have bees that 



