BEE MANUAL. 21 
pleasant and conducive to health. I believe that many of our delicate 
and invalid ladies would find renewed vigour in body and mind in the 
labours and recreation of the apiary. My own experience of the 
apiary is that it is a source of interest and enjoyment far exceeding 
my anticipations.” 
Although apiculture offers as good an opening to people of 
either sex as can be found amongst ordinary industries, I do 
not mean to say that it is a “royal road” to wealth, or that it 
is suitable to every person who thinks proper to engage in it ; 
but we have ample proof that it has been the means of many 
people of both sexes regaining their health and strength, and 
so enabling them to earn a respectable livelihood when they 
were almost incapable of undertaking any other employment. 
One notable instance in this respect [ can quote in the person 
of Mrs. L. Harrison, of Illinois, now one of the most successful 
lady apiarists and writers on bee matters known. This lady 
was at one time told by her physician that she could not live ; 
but, as she herself states, “apiculture did for her what the 
physicians could not do—restored her to health, and gave her 
such vigour that she has been able to work a large apiary for 
years.” 
ADVICE TO- BEGINNERS. 
Let me impress upon the minds of those about to embark 
in the culture of bees the fact that success in this industry, 
as in all others, can only be obtained by tact, patience, and 
perseverance. As the Rev. L. L. Langstroth says :—‘ There 
is no royal road to profitable bee-keeping ; and while large 
profits can be realised by careful and experienced bee-keepers, 
those who are otherwise will be almost sure to find their outlay 
result only in vexatious losses. An apiary neglected or mis- 
managed is worse than a farm overgrown by weeds or exhausted 
by ignorant tillage ; for the land, by prudent management, 
may again be made fertile, but the bees when once destroyed 
are a total loss.” 
It would be injudicious for an inexperienced person to start 
with a large number of colonies, not more than four or five, for 
under modern management these could be increased very rapidly 
after he had acquired skill and experience. I would recommend 
beginners to procure good stocks or early swarms to start 
with, from some reliable person in his immediate neighbourhood 
if possible. For the sake of economy get black bees, and after 
