Requisites to Success, 17 



requires but very little care and attention. Our every inter- 

 est demands that this be not denied, nor even granted 

 grudgingly. The very fact that this attention is slight, 

 renders it more liable to be neglected; but this neglect 

 always involves loss — often disaster. True, with thought 

 and management the time for this care can be arranged at 

 pleasure and the amount greatly lessened, but the care 

 must never be neglected. 



ENTHUSIASM. 



Enthusiasm, or an ardent love of its duties, is a very 

 desirable, if not an absolute, requisite to successful apicult- 

 ure. To be sure, this is a quality whose growth, with 

 even slight opportunity, is almost sure. It only demands 

 perseverance. The beginner, without either experience or 

 knowledge, may meet with discouragements — unquestion- 

 ably 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 oppor- 

 tunity permits, will meet reproof more sharp than pleasant. 

 Yet, with PERSISTENCE, all these difficu'ties quickly van- 

 ish. Every contingency will be forseen 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 need)^ 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 con- 

 front inexperience, will surely triumph. In sooth, he 

 who appreciates the beautiful and marvelous, will soon 

 grow to love his companions of the hive, and the labor 

 attendant upon their care and management. Nor will this 

 love abate till it has kindled into enthusiasm. 



True, there may be successful apiarists who are impelled 

 by no warmth of feeling, whose superior intelligence, sys- 

 tem, 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. 



