THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



153 



that 3'Ou have but to spend a few 

 months with some successful prac- 

 tical apiarist to fit you to care for an 

 apiary. Those who have toiled for 

 years and whose names are known 

 all over the countr^^ as successfiri 

 apiarists, will bear me out in say- 

 ing that while it will pay any new 

 beginner to spend a summer with 

 some practical beemaster, yet this 

 is but the beginning of their edu- 

 cation, and that they have more 

 than one season's hard practical 

 study before them ere they will 

 have become experts. 



To-day there is too much of this 

 rapid growth, and the result is that 

 almost every vocation in life is 

 overcrowiled and injured because 

 of the lack of a proper education. 

 We are all in such a hurry to get 

 rich or complete our education that 

 we forget to work patiently, mas- 

 tering the smaller details ; and in 

 consequence of this, making re- 

 peated failures until we have lost 

 more time and money than those who 

 commenced right, and patiently 

 and persistently worked their way 

 along, growing with their business 

 and taking but few back steps. It is 

 imperative that the novice become 

 familiar with the experiences of 

 those wlio have made beekeeping 

 a success, and this is only obtained 

 tlirough our bee literature. 



It will be well, now that our 

 pets are snugly packed away for a 

 winter's repose, to devote many of 

 the spare hours of the coming 

 months in studying some sound 

 practical works on bee culture, and 

 here let us say that you will ob- 

 tain the most valuable information 



20 



from reading works written by 

 practical beekeepers and those 

 who have made practical beekeep- 

 ing a success. 



Again, it is quite advantageous 

 to look back over the results of 

 our last season's work, and see if 

 we cannot improve some of our 

 practices. Too often we forget 

 that the small things are the most 

 important part of the season's 

 work, and that careless or forget- 

 ful neglect of these "small things" 

 will result in ultimate failure. 

 Whenever it is found necessary to 

 do any certain thing, do it at once, 

 never leaving it for a better oppox-- 

 tunity ; the neglect of a single day 

 may cost us the loss of a whole 

 flow of honey. 



While it is very essential that 

 we have good hives and good im- 

 plements, yet it is quite as impor- 

 tant that we know how to use 

 them. 



The coming months should be 

 devoted largely to preparing our 

 hives, frames, sections, etc., for 

 another season, and never leave 

 the purchasing of supplies until 

 you need them, or until the supply 

 dealers are overrun with orders, so 

 that you are obliged to wait and 

 then as a consequence are com- 

 pelled to engage in work which 

 should have been done in the winter, 

 thus neglecting work in the apiary. 

 As we have been engaged in the 

 supply business we know the im- 

 portance of this advice. When- 

 ever possible attend some good 

 beekeepers' convention and have a 

 good talk with the practical bee- 

 keepers there assembled ; it will 



