AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



283 



above all Shines ttie Sun. 



There are blossoming meads, where the soft 

 winds sweep, 

 And the dews of the twilight fall, 

 Where the odorous flowers, in their hearts so 



deep. 

 Hide their honey cups, that the Summer 

 steeps. 

 For the sunlight falls over all. 



There are caverns dark, where the death- 

 damps cling. 



Where weird, and gaunt, and tall. 

 The specters of gloom, gray phantoms bring. 

 And the hollow arches with wailings ring. 



Yet the great svm hangs over all. 



There are human lives like a placid stream. 



That never a pain recall ; 

 But rest in the joy of the heavenly beam. 

 And in blessed content live their happy dream. 



In the sunlight's radiant fall. 



There are lonely graves where the ivies creep 



To shroud with a tender pall ; 

 There are hearts that moan, there are hearts 



that weep ; 

 There are hearts that the vigil of death must 

 keep. 

 But the sunlight falls over all. 



—Maude Meredith. 



Topics o! Interest. 



Some AilTice to Bepners, 



JAMES HEDDON. 



While this heading has been used very 

 many times over the top of articles upon 

 the subject, I believe I have never before 

 made use of it. But this morning, as I 

 vv^as looking over the Ameeican Bee 

 Journal for January, 1891, it came 

 into my mind more forcibly than ever, ' 

 what a mystification must be thrown 

 around the beginner in bee-keeping who 

 has as yet acquired but little knowledge 

 of the business. I am not old enough to 

 remember the time when our agricult- 

 ural, horticultural and apicultural lit- 

 erature has not been infested with 

 pseudo-scientists, or those who, having 

 very little practical experience, yet with 

 a good education — or more than that, a 

 great flow of ink and a desire to be 

 heard — wrote long, labored articles upon 

 subjects of which they had almost no 

 practical knowledge. 



The questions ever present in the mind 

 of the beginner, are, "Whom shall I fol- 

 low ? Whose advice shall I take ? 



Whose implements shall I use?" No 

 wonder he feels confused, and is in doubt 

 which way to turn. Being a good rea- 

 soner on all subjects in which he is 

 versed, he knows that his decision is 

 liable to be a jump in the dark. The 

 object of this article is to point out a 

 few guide-boards, which answer the 

 above questions, at the same time, if 

 possible, giving good reasons for the 

 advice I shall offer. 



Brown will make a claim, with all the 

 assurance in the world. Smith will 

 make another, with equal assurance and 

 exactly reverse statements. Now, which 

 shall the beginner follow ? I would ask 

 the reader if he has not noticed that 

 certain authors write with much assumed 

 authority? Certainly, he will answer 

 "Yes." A certain class may well as- 

 sume authority, but is it not true that 

 certain writers, who indulge radically in 

 such assumption, have no right to do so ? 

 Does it not hold to reason, in this practi- 

 cal age of the world, that a good adviser 

 should be a practical success in the line 

 of business upon which he assumes to 

 give advice ? Brown uses a certain hive. 

 Brown claims, and probably thinks, that 

 it is best. He is prejudiced in favor of 

 a certain honey-extractor. He advocates 

 a particular bee-feeder, a certain method 

 of transferring, in contracting or not 

 contracting of brood-chambers during 

 the honey harvest, as the case may be, 

 etc. 



Now, let the beginner ask the follow- 

 ing questions : " While Brown may be 

 a successful writer, is he a successful 

 honey-producer*?" " How many pounds 

 of honey does he produce annually ?" 

 "Where does he market it ?" If he is 

 claiming a short-cut method, by which 2 

 or 3 colonies of bees can be worked with 

 the same labor and time that has usually 

 been devoted to one, does he keep large 

 numbers of colonies ? 



"Necessity is the mother of inven- 

 tion," and I would sooner bank upon the 

 large bee-keeper, regarding short-cut 

 methods, than upon one who keeps fewer 

 bees. I know that large apiaries lead to 

 the invention of short-cut methods. 

 Another pertinent question for the be- 

 ginner to ask is, how many converts has 

 Brown, or Smith, or Jones, to his special 

 implements and methods ? But more 

 than that, who are these converts ? Are 

 they practical, successful honey-pro- 

 ducers, or are they the comparatively 

 unknown John Fikes, Billy Tubbs and 

 Dave Larkin ? 



The above, and other questions, are 

 among the ways that the expert man of 

 natural tact, has of becoming familiar 



