THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



13 



taken, the bees can be removed from 

 one hive to another or can be shaken 

 from their frames with impunit}'. This 

 may be hard for the novice to be- 

 heve, but it is none the less true and 

 is the underlying principle by which 

 modern apiculture is governed, and, 

 by a knowledge of these simple facts, 

 any one, no matter how small his ex- 

 perience, can handle a colony of bees 

 as well as an expert. 



Foxboro, Mass., Dec. g, i88j. 



EDITORIAL. 



True culture carries with it a dig- 

 nified simplicity of character, which, 

 when we are brought in our re- 

 searches and investigations face to 

 face with the grand possibilities of 

 the future, lead us to use the great- 

 est caution in measuring great events 

 by our own limited capacity or abil- 

 ity ; a feature which has characterized 

 the life-work of so many apiarists of 

 the past, and one on which our suc- 

 cess as apicultural teachers largely 

 depends. 



In extending to our readers our 

 usual New Year's greeting, we can 

 justly say that the possibility of the 

 enslaving of apicultural interests by 

 avaricious men for mere mercenary 

 purposes lies buried in the past, and 

 the new year opens with richer prom- 

 ises of grand developments than have 

 ever before been deemed possible. 



Apiculture, viewed in the broadest 

 and most comprehensive sense, has 

 a far deeper meaning than the mere 

 keeping of bees, and the more intel- 

 ligent and thoughtful apiarists are be- 

 ginning to deem it an honor to be 

 reckoned among tliose who are stu- 

 dents in this branch of agriculture. 



The time has arrived in the his- 

 tory of apiculture in this country 

 when we have abundant reason to 

 expect important and lasting im- 



provements in every department of 

 our pursuit, and as apiarists, we are 

 warranted in looking forward to a 

 prosperous future. 



Beginning with the early teachings 

 of Moses Quinby, Samuel Wagner 

 and L. L. Langstroth, and following 

 down through the intervening years 

 to the present, the burden of the ef- 

 forts of our most prominent apiarists 

 has been to induce our government 

 to extend to apiculture proper recog- 

 nition and protection as one of the 

 important national industries ; hence, 

 it gives us unbounded pleasure to re- 

 cord at the beginning of the new 

 year the fact that through the efforts 

 of Professor C. V. Riley ot the Agri- 

 cultural Department at Washington 

 and others, government has estab- 

 lished an apicultural department, and 

 is conducting an Experimental Sta- 

 tion at Aurora, 111, under the charge 

 of Mr. Nelson W. McLain. 



Only the future will fully reveal to 

 us a just conception of the honor 

 conferred upon us, and the value to 

 apiculture of the steps already taken. 



We trust that those of our readers 

 who from time to time may be called 

 upon to render to Mr. McLain what- 

 ever assistance in his work he 

 may deem necessary will respond 

 with a cheerfulness and good will 

 that will prove more than words pos- 

 sibly can that we recognize our great 

 indebtedness to our government for 

 the recognition and support so kindly 

 granted us. 



We have no hesitancy in pro- 

 nouncing the Detroit convention the 

 most important and eventful one ever 

 held in America. 



Here were, to all appearance, 

 harmoniously buried what ever dif- 

 ferences may have existed between 

 the east and west, and to-day the 

 apicultural interests of the entire 

 country are cemented by one un- 

 broken band of union. 



While at Detroit we became more 

 thoroughly convinced than e\er be- 

 fore of the importance of a better 



