THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



377 



the latter must come first because 

 it provides the material, the ideas, 

 with which our work has to do. 



True education consists in ans- 

 wering questions and begins with 

 the child at birth. Long before 

 the question can be framed in 

 words the inquiring senses of the 

 infant reach out for information, 

 and happy the child whose parents 

 and friends intelligently and hon- 

 estly answer all its questions. 

 It is true these questions require 

 directing and stimulating, but there 

 can be no true education where 

 there is no inquiring mind. Ed- 

 ucation then consists in stimulating, 

 directing and informing the inquir- 

 ing mind. That is the first half 

 of it. The other half leads the 

 mind into ethical and logical habits 

 of thought, trains the eye to see, 

 the ear to hear, the hand and foot 

 to perform accurately and quickly 

 the duties assigned them. 



Now as to methods of Apicultur- 

 al education. It begins with enquiry 

 and enthusiam. 



1st — The beekeeper talks bees to 

 his friends. Some of them get bees 

 and start to investigate and ob- 

 serve. 



2nd — TKvo or three beekeepers ex- 

 change experiences and ideas. 



3rd — -They call a meeting where 

 a dozen or more discuss bees in an 

 organized way. 



4th — Books and papers on the 

 subject are written and read. 



5th — Qualified speakers are se- 

 cured to address conventions. 



6th — Trouble comes in ways of 

 winter loss and disease, causing 

 more earnest investigation and in- 

 quiry. 



7th — Experts or inspectors are 

 sent by the association or the gov- 

 ernment to give individual instruc- 

 tions. 



8th — The government appoints 

 a man to devote his whole time to 

 the subject and his work is almost 

 wholly educational. He starts by 

 getting a knowledge of the field, 

 collects a list of the beekeepers, 

 visits them, writes to them, re- 

 plies to their inquiries, helps them 

 organize for mutual benefit, directs 

 their investigations by suggesting 

 experiments for them to try. Courses 

 of lectures are given on the subject 

 at Apricultural colleges and at agri- 

 cultural classes throughout the 

 country. Bee institutes, bee dem- 



onstrations, etc., follow in the well 

 known order. 



The result is an awakened in- 

 tere.st in the subject of bees and 

 honey over the whole territory. 

 Many people who have a few bees 

 are increasing their apiaries by 

 leaps and bounds. The price of 

 bees goes up and the production of 

 honey is increased. This of course 

 has a, tendency to weaken prices. 

 It does weaken and for the time 

 lower them. 



So far we have spoken of educa- 

 tio.n centered on the producer help- 

 ing him to produce more. Indirect- 

 ly the consumption of the product 

 is increased because of the public 

 interest aroused; but some sections 

 soon produce a surplus, others, 

 such as cities and localities where 

 the crop has failed, are under-sup- 

 plied. Where the surplus is, the 

 price is lowered and much more is 

 consumed. Where there is a scar- 

 city the price advances to a certain 

 point and consumption is greatly re- 

 duced. Because of the scarcity 

 people learn to substitute other 

 things for honey and the market 

 in that locality is permanently in- 

 jured. Education must here step in 

 to assist distribution; teaciiing the 

 beekeepers how to discover the 

 areas of surplus and of scarcity and 

 to even up the supply. This oC 

 course, must be accompanied by the 

 cooperation of the beekeepers at 

 large. 



That word "cooperation," by 

 which so many are attempting to 

 conjure, at present opens a whole 

 field for investigation and educa- 

 cation. Suffice it to say that my 

 present belief is that cooperation of 

 beekeepers will progress slowly in 

 this generation. If its principles were 

 taught to all children we might 

 hope for a wide-spread organiza- 

 tion by the time they became men 

 and women. 



How about the education of the 

 consumer? I will place first in im- 

 portance a house to house can- 

 vass by the beekeeper himself. 

 He can talk of his goods and inspire 

 confidence by hi? knowledge of the 

 -production, care ajid use of honey. 

 Next the mail order business where 

 the beekeeper sells by letter direct 

 to the consumer. Next the display 

 of honey in grocery stores either di- 

 rect from the beekeeper or through 

 wholesale channels. Here the groc- 



