690 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the A, B, Cs, but the a-b abs as well, and 

 who is willing to instruct, according to 

 his best judgment when opportunity 

 offers. 



The question involved herein is one of 

 importance, and yet it is veiled with 

 such misty uncertainties that I feel very 

 uncertain as to whether 1 have touched 

 any point to advantage. Yet a point 

 may be gained if it starts discussion, and 

 we can get the sense of the convention. 



I hope that you will consider the difiQ- 

 culty of the question, and overlook 

 shortcomings. — Mrs. Milton Cone. 



A Successful Bee-Keeper. 



BY ilES. J. M. XULL. 



What are the essential qualities for 

 making a successful bee-keeper ? 



No doubt "the powers that be" feel 

 highly amused at the very ridiculous 

 predicament in which they have placed 

 me. But as they wield "the whip of 

 authority," when they bring the long 

 lash cracking around my head, I know 

 full well that they expect me to respond, 

 and that, too, in my Very best manner. 



I may as well confess right here that 

 I feel the utter hopelessness of me, a 

 woman, and one so thoroughly imbued 

 with " Millerism," as to not know that 

 she knows anything, ever indicating to 

 these practical, intelligent and success- 

 ful veteran bee-keepers the essential 

 elements of success. 



At the same time, I feel sure that if I 

 I do have to beat an inglorious retreat, 

 there are those present with large hearts 

 and yet larger intellects, who will 

 bravely come to my rescue. 



" What are the essential qualities for 

 making a successful bee-keeper ?" There 

 are a number of things to be considered 

 outside of the man. A good location, a 

 good season, a good strain of bees, with 

 a plentiful secretion of nectar. 



Then the man must possess every 

 quality that would make him successful 

 in mercantile or professional life. He 

 needs the qualities that would carry 

 him to the front in any other business. 

 First of all, a love for the pursuit which 

 will beget enthusiasm, ©f which will be 

 naturally born all other necessary 

 qualities. 



The first born, I should christen 

 courage — physical and moral. 



Physical courage that will banish all 

 fears of stings, or any disastrous results 

 therefrom. Imagine, if you can, the 

 successful jockey who is afraid to handle 

 his own horse ; or the teamster, who, 

 through fear, would attempt to harness 



his frisky mules from the end of a ten- • 

 foot pole. 



And should the milkmaid stand in 

 fear and trembling, and shrink and 

 cower at each movement of the cow, how 

 long would it be before "oldBrindle" 

 would be mistress of the situation ? Had 

 man been a slave to that old tyrant fear, 

 think you the grand powers of steam 

 and electricity would ever have been 

 discovered, controlled and utilized ? 



Moral courage is in demand, to enable 

 us to stand by our rights when they, or 

 our pets, are assailed or maligned. Were 

 -it not for the indomitable moral courage 

 of the persecuted, and that noble band 

 of defenders, the managers of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union, where 

 would the business of bee-keeping be 

 to-day ? 



Patience should come next to courage. 

 Patience to endure the attacks of our 

 little pets ; always remembering that 

 they are endowed alone with instinct, 

 while we are supposed to possess reason; 

 also, that this very propensity to sting 

 is more of a protection to our calling 

 than any tariff bill ever formulated by 

 man. 



We should be armed with patience to 

 handle them humanely, never jarring 

 them unnecessarily, or cruelly crushing 

 them, thereby invoking their just wrath 

 on our hands. 



Patience over the ignorance of those 

 who insist that bees soil the clean- 

 washed linen at all times of the year, or 

 that they destroy sound fruit, by sting- 

 ing it and causing it to rot, or that they 

 interfere with the grazing of stock, etc. 



Patience when the different parts of 

 the hive refuse to adjust themselves 

 automatically. 



Patience when the help seems entirely 

 oblivious to our interests. 



Patience when robbers utterly refuse 

 to be controlled. 



Patience over the long days in June 

 when, instead of the eight or ten hour 

 system, we are compelled to adopt a 

 fourteen-hour system, and that, too, 

 with the mercury hovering around one 

 hundred. 



Patience when anywhere from 5 to 10 

 swarms issue at one and the same time, 

 thickening and blackening the air with 

 the flying hosts. Fortunately, we are 

 promised relief right here through the 

 swarm-catcher. 



A few years ago I happened to have a 

 very energetic uncle and aunt visiting 

 me during swarming season, who had 

 kept bees in the long ago, and nothwith- 

 standing all my protestations to the 

 contrary, every time a swarm issued 



