152 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



out of them is not artificial but 

 natural, simple and easy. 



In ph^'sical quarrels about bees, 

 I am at present not engaged, but 

 the little that is said about it in this 

 preface, I say to those who have 

 read little or nothing concerning 

 it. I have now only the practical 

 point in view ; how to make the 

 most money out of it, and shall 

 tell more later on about the wild 

 bees^ which carry in a great deal 

 and the study of which will give 

 us much information touching the 

 important republic of the noble 

 bee as well as varied enjoyment to 

 the lover of nature. 



Without experience, I would 

 not undertake to write this book. 

 Would it be possible to be con- 

 vinced as surely and entirely of 

 everything as of the undoubted use- 

 fulness in the management of the 

 bee as I describe it here, vrhich 

 shows that not only my experience 

 but that of others also is true, we 

 should not doubt anything else. 

 Even the best bee-masters could 

 not refuse their assent, even though 

 they had, according to the state of 

 their parts of the country, a differ- 

 ent kind of hive, and in many re- 



B I understand by wild bees not the common 

 bees, which are found in woods in trees, as in 

 Poland) Russia, and which are known as wild 

 bees, but are natives (domestic), and which 

 in the main are treated the same as those in 

 gardens and in hives, but the wild bees are 

 of a very different race and colour, and 

 vary in size from a very small fly to the 

 large black drone. They are organized dif- 

 ferently from the noble bees, tlieir colonies 

 differ in many ways and no species live 

 together in such large numbers as these. I 

 have spent a great deal of time and attention 

 in their study and if I am successful in my 

 other observations, I will, when I describe 

 them, picture every kind exactly as in life. 



spects a different treatment of the 

 bees. I have examined the best 

 foreign kinds, but none are better 

 adapted to all regions than mine. 

 Among the foreign, I have found 

 the Swedish and the Swiss manage- 

 ment excellent which I will describe 

 in the next part. 



{To he continued.) 



EDITORIAL. 



In view of the fact that large 

 numbers of persons who are now 

 engaged in beekeeping are nov- 

 ices, and to whom even the simplest 

 directions for the management of 

 the apiary are new and instructive, 

 it may be well to devote our edi- 

 torial this month to such advice as 

 will be beneficial to tliera. In all 

 our acquaintance with a number of 

 vocations we have failed to find one 

 other than beekeeping which de- 

 mands a greater diversity of tal- 

 ent or closer application. 



To succeed as an apiarist one 

 must be especially adapted for the 

 business. To demonstrate this we 

 need but look at the comparatively 

 small number of successful bee- 

 keepers as compared with those 

 who each year embark in the busi- 

 ness. This is due in a great 

 measure to the fact that those who 

 have supplies for sale are not care- 

 ful enough iu pointing out the 

 dark side of the question and in 

 instructing the novice in the re- 

 quirements which go to prepare 

 one for successful beekeeping. 



How often it lias been stated 



