24 MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 



we blame ? Neglect. The loss every summer by enforced 

 idleness of queen and workers, just because room is denied 

 them, is very great. Who is the guilty party ? Plainly, 

 neglect. In these and in a hundred other ways, indifference 

 to the needs of the bees, which require but a few moments, 

 greatly lessen the profits of apiculture. If we would be suc- 

 cessful, promptitude must be our motto. Each colony of bees 

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

 est demands that this be not denied, nor even granted grudg- 

 ingly. The very fact that this attention is slight, renders it 

 more liable to be neglected ; but this neglect always involves 

 loss — often disaster. 



ENTHUSIASM. 



Enthusiasm, or an ardent love of its duties is very desira- 

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

 be sure, this is a quality whose growth, with even slight op- 

 portunity, 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, the young apiarist 

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

 with great disfavor, and if opportunity permits, will meet re- 

 proof more sharp than pleasant. Yet, with persistence, all 

 these difficulties quickly vanish. Every contingency will be 

 foreseen 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 those discouragements which are so sure to confront 

 inexperience, will surely triumph. In-sooth, he who ap- 

 preciates 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. 



