MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 13 



laborers who engage in their business, and dwell upon it, with 

 the same fondness as do bee-keepers. Indeed, to meet a 

 scientific bee-keeper is to meet an enthusiast. A thorough 

 study of the wonderful economy of the hive must, from its 

 very nature, go hand-in-hand with delight and admiration. I 

 once asked an extensive apiarist, who was also a farmer, why 

 he kept bees. The answer was characteristic : " Even if I 

 could not make a good deal the most money with my bees, I 

 should still keep them for the real pleasure they bring me." 

 But yesterday I asked the same question of Prof Daniels, 

 President of the Grand Rapids schools, whose official duties 

 are very severe. Said he : " For the restful pleasure which 

 I receive in their management." I am very sure, that were 

 there no other inducement than that of pleasure, I should be 

 slow to part with these models of industry, whose marvelous 

 instincts and wondrous life-habits are ever ministering to my 

 delight and astonishment. 



A year ago, I received a visit from my old friend and Col- 

 lege classmate, 0. Clute, of Keokuk, Iowa. Of course I 

 took him to see our apiary, and as we looked at the bees and 

 their handiwork, just as the nectar from golden-rod and asters 

 was flooding the honey-cells ; he became enraptured, took my 

 little " Manual of the Apiary" home with him, and at once 

 subscribed for the old American Bee Journal. He very- 

 soon purchased several colonies of bees, and has found so 

 much of pleasure and recreation in the duties imposed by his 

 new charge, that he has written me several times, expressing 

 gratitude that I had led him into such a work of love and 

 pleasure. 



PROFITS. 



The profits, too, of apiculture, urge its adoption as a pur- 

 suit. IVhen we consider the comparatively small amount of 

 capital invested, the relatively small amount of labor and ex- 

 pense attending its opperations, we are surprised at the 

 abundant reward that is sure to wait upon its intelligent 

 practice. I do not wish to be understood here as claiming 

 that labor — ^yes, real hard, back-aching labor — is not required 

 in the apiary. The specialist, with his hundred or more colo- 

 nies, will have, at certain seasons, right hard and vigorous 



