THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



487 



ling." When the season came upon 

 us, the majority were not ready to 

 reap the harvest. The dow at first 

 was only sufficient to supply material 

 for a genuine " swarming fever," and 

 I opine that many allowed too great 

 a number of swarms. Only last 

 week I received a report from one 

 bee-keeper who had one colony in the 

 spring, but who has no less than 15 — 

 an increase of 14. While the other 

 honey-bearing sources supplied a fair 

 proportion of the flow, still, to Cana- 

 dian thistles, Canadians are indebted 

 for the great majority of the crop of 

 1883. Bokhara clover has also done 

 well, and I am of the opinion that it 

 will become one of the future staple 

 honey plants of the country. 



On the whole, our beloved pursuit 

 is in a most prosperous and happy 

 condition. During the past season 

 giant strides have been made in api- 

 culture, both in the improved method 

 of manipulation, and in the advanced 

 ideas with regard to placing the pro- 

 ducts of the hive in a pleasing and 

 salable shape before the people. 



We may ascribe the success and 

 advancement so obtained, in part, to 

 the able manner in which all the sub- 

 jects which tend to this advancement 

 are handled by able and energetic 

 writers in the many journals which 

 the public have the benefit of perus- 

 ing at a small cost, and which are 

 constantly disseminating useful 

 knowledge on matters interesting to 

 bee-keepers. Conventions, such as 

 this, have much to do with its ad- 

 vancement, as it is at these meetings 

 that we learn from each other what 

 each one of us has been doing during 

 the past year, and by thoroughly dis- 

 cussing the various thoughts and ex- 

 periences which are advanced, we are 

 enabled thereby to arrive at correct 

 conclusions regarding many ques- 

 tions which have held doubtful promi- 

 nence in our mind until substantiated 

 by like experiences from others. 



Honey shows are likewise a great 

 item in giving apiculture a helping 

 impetus. I feel that it is the duty of 

 every bee-keeper to take his entire 

 crop to these places, whether the 

 prizes are large or not, and when once 

 the bee-keepers make the " Honey 

 Department " one of the leading at- 

 tractions of the Fair, the Agricultural 

 and other societies will not long lie 

 dormant in the matter, but each will 

 vie with the other in trying to see 

 which will have the greatest attrac- 

 tions in our department. 



I cannot close without mentioning 

 the honored dead— of such men as 

 Wagner, Quinby, Colvin, Grimm, and 

 a host of others who have gone before 

 us, and who have done so much for 

 us. I must also refer regretfully to 

 the death of one of our number in the 

 person of Theodore Houck, who has 

 since we last met together departed 

 this life. 



It will soon be the duty of this 

 Association to select another of their 

 number to till the position which I 

 have so poorly occupied during the 



East year, and I feel that they will 

 ave little difficulty in selecting some 

 one who will do the honors of the 



Eosition much more efficiently than I 

 ave been able to perform them. 

 Before closing I must again thank 

 our American friends for their pres- 

 ence in Canada. I feel that this ses- 

 sion will prove one of exceeding 

 benefit to us all in reaping a harvest 

 rich in valuable information, and I 

 trust that it may long be remembered 

 as such. 



WHO SHOULD KEEP BEES V 



The following is the address of the 

 Kev. W. F. Clarke on the above 

 subject : 



" Everybody," was once the current 

 answer. I have given it myself be- 

 fore now. Ten years ago, in my prize 

 poem on "The Honey Bee," I pictured 



"Each household of an apiary possessed." 



It was the general idea then, that in 

 a proper condition of society, a bee- 

 hive out-of-doors would be considered 

 as much a part of a well-regulated 

 domestic establishment as a sewing 

 machine in-doors. But we have got 

 bravely over that, and many other 

 crude notions that prevailed, even 

 among bee-keepers themselves, ten 

 years ago, and the time has now fully 

 come for insisting upon it that only 

 those should keep bees who are prop- 

 erly qualified to do so. That same 

 law of division of labor which forbids 

 every man being his own shoemaker, 

 tailor, or blacksmith, prohibits every 

 man from being his own honey-pro- 

 ducer. Among the numerous topics 

 of present and practical interest in the 

 realm of apiculture, this deserves a 

 prominent place, and it is especially 

 fitting that it should come up at a 

 gathering like the present. Every 

 one of our annual meetings is followed 

 by less or more abortive attempts at 

 bee-keeping on the part of some who 

 have attended and become inoculated 

 with a desire to keep bees. There is 

 always considerable enthusiasm 

 awakened at these meetings^ and it 

 would be discreditable to us if there 

 were not. Enthusiasm is contagious, 

 and it is no wonder that people who 

 know nothing of bee-keeping catch 

 the infection,and go away determined, 

 hit or miss, to start an apiary. It is 

 more often a miss than a hit, and thus 

 we become undesignedly the means of 

 seducing our fellow-beings into dis- 

 appointment. As a preventive of 

 this, or at any rate as a check upon it, 

 there should be some words spoken in 

 plain English on these occasions in 

 reply to the question, "Who should 

 keep bees." 



There is another reason why it is 

 as well to discuss this question here 

 and now. It is about the only good 

 opportunity we have of doing so. It 

 is not a congenial topic for the bee 

 journals, many of which are, more or 

 less, mixed up with the supply busi- 

 ness. Of course the more people who 

 start bee-keeping, the greater will be 

 the sale of supplies. We cannot 

 blame those who are in this business 

 for wanting to make all the money 

 they honestly can at it. It is not the 

 most remunerative business in the 

 world, there are too many in it, and 

 the competition is too keen for it to be 



very lucrative. So it is natural those 

 who are in it should want to sell as 

 many hives and " bee flxins " as they 

 can. It is not their interest, perhaps 

 it is not their duty to discourage 

 beginners. But we have met, not as 

 supply dealers, or with any personal 

 or selfish ends in view. This is a 

 grand apicultural parliament con- 

 vened in the interest of bee-culture, 

 and it is a part of our duty to do what 

 we can to obviate whatever tends on 

 the whole to the injury of bee-keep- 

 ing. All will agree that it is not de- 

 sirable for people to undertake what 

 is sure to end in failure. Those who 

 start at bee-keeping and make a 

 botch of it are very apt to decry the 

 whole thing as a humbug, a delusion, 

 and a snare. No doubt the interests 

 of bee-keeping, as a whole, have suf- 

 fered from the maledictions of sore- 

 heads, who, if they had been wise, 

 would have never touched a bee hive, 

 except to throw it aside. 



Bee-keeping maybe justly regarded 

 as having attained the status of a 

 profession, or a business. In any 

 correct view of it, it requires special 

 natural qualifications, and a thorough 

 education. The natural qualifications 

 are not of much account without an 

 education, obtained somehow or other, 

 and the education is a downright im- 

 possibility without the natural quali- 

 fications. 



I feel myself somewhat at a loss in 

 giving a categorical answer to the 

 question I have taken as a text. It 

 reminds me of the discussions there 

 used to be, and are still, as to what 

 constitutes a call to the ministry ? 

 Volumes have been written on that 

 subject, and I think it would be easy 

 to write a volume on the question, 

 " Who should keep bees y" without, 

 perhaps, throwing much more light 

 on the subject than has been done by 

 some treatises on the other theme. 

 Nevertheless there is such a thing as 

 a call to the ministry, and there is 

 also such a thing as a call to bee- 

 keeping. Many have hit their heads 

 against a pulpit in the mistaken idea 

 that they have been called to be 

 preachers, and just so many have 

 blundered into bee-keeping, under the 

 delusion that they had a call in that 

 direction. Something will be gained 

 if we can impress people with the 

 conviction that it is not wise to fol- 

 low mere impulse. There is less dan- 

 ger of their Dlundering if we can get 

 them seriously to ponder the inquiry, 

 " Am I cut out for a bee-keeper V" 



In a general way it may be safely 

 said that in order to succeed in this 

 business or profession there must be 

 an aptitude for it. What that is it 

 may be difficult to state in detail, but 

 I am fast coming to think that the 

 true bee-keeper, like the true poet, is 

 born, not made. The great Huber is 

 an example in point. To use a theo- 

 logical plirase, he was predestinated 

 to be a bee-keeper, and not even the 

 loss of sight could prevent the fulfil- 

 ment of his mission. His devoted 

 wife and trusty man-servant were 

 eyes to the blind apiarist, and with 

 their help he took the foremost place 

 among historical bee-keepers. A de- 

 gree of that enthusiasm which in- 



