OR, MANUAL OF THB APIARY. 27 



ENTHUSIASM. 



f^nthusiasm, or an ardent love of its duties, is a very desir- 

 able, if not an absolute, requisite to successful apiculture. To 

 be sure, this is a quality -whose growth, with only slight oppor- 

 tunity, is almost sure. It only demands perseverance. The 

 beginner, without-either experience or knowledge, may meet 

 with discouragements — unquestionably will. Swarms will be 

 lost, colonies will fail to winter, and the young apiarist will 

 become nervous, which fact will be noted by the bees with 

 great disfavor, and, if opportunity permits, will meet reproof 

 more sharp than pleasant. Yet, with pEesistbnce, all these 

 difficulties quickly vanish. Every contingency will be fore- 

 seen and provided against, and the myriad of little workers 

 will become as manageable and may be fondled as safely as a 

 pet dog or cat, and the apiarist will minister to their needs 

 with the same fearlessness and self-possession that he does to 

 his gentlest cow or favorite horse. Persistence, in the face of 

 all these discouragements which are so sure to confront inex- 

 perience, will surely triumph. In sooth, he who appreciates 

 the beautiful and marvelous, will soon grow to love his com- 

 panions of the hive, and the labor attendant upon their care 

 and management. Nor will this love abate until it has been 

 kindled into enthusiasm. 



True, there may be successful apiarists who are impelled 

 by no warmth of feeling, whose superior intelligence, system 

 and promptitude, stand in lieu of, and make amends for, absence 

 of enthusiasm. Yet I believe such are rare, and certainly they 

 work at great disadvantage. 



