June 17, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
497 
Farningham Rose and Horticultural Society, at Farningham, Wednes¬ 
day, June 30th. 
Croydon Horticultural Society, at Croydon, Wednesday, June 30th. 
Reigate Rose Association, at Reigate, Thursday, July let. 
Tunbridge Wells Horticultural Society, at Tunbridge Wells, Friday, 
July 2nd. 
Brockham Rose Association, at Dorking, Saturday, July 3rd. 
Eltham Rose and Horticultural Society, at Eltham, Saturday, July 3rd. 
Crystal Palace Rose Show, Saturday, July 3rd. 
National Rose Society, at South Kensington, Tuesday, July 6th. 
Cardiff Rose Society, at Cardiff, Wednesday, July 7th. 
Sutton Amateur Rose Society, at Sutton, Wednesday, July 7th. 
Oxford Rote Show, Wednesday, July 7th. 
Ealing, Acton, and Hanwell Horticultural Society, at Ealing, Wed¬ 
nesday, July 7th. 
Bath Floral Fete and Band Committee, at Bath, Thursday, July 8th. 
Ipswich and East of England Horticultural Society, at Ipswich, 
Thursday, July 8th. 
Hitchin Rose Society, at Hitchin, Thursday, July 8th. 
Hereford and West of England Rose Society, at Hereford, Friday, 
July 9th. 
Maidstone Rose Club, at Maidstone, Friday, July 9th. 
Wirral Rose Society, at Birkenhead. Saturday, July 10th. 
Leek Floral and Horticultural Society, at Rudvard, July 31st and 
August 2nd. 
I 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
£ 
THE WAY TO SUCCESS. 
The great charm in bee keeping is that each one has 
room for the exercise of individual ingenuity. Nature has 
indeed laid out a broad safe road, •which will be found by 
those who travel on it to lead to the end for which Nature 
laid it; but the majority of bee-keepers are not content to 
go a long way round when they are able to attain their object 
by a shorter, and, in the case of an experienced man, a no 
less safe and easy road. Occasionally these bypaths do not 
fulfil the expectations of those who travel on them ; they 
lead to difficulty and eventually to ruin, instead of to success 
and profit. Most intelligent bee-keepers have some favourite 
bypath; one points to this ideal way to success, another to 
that; each one thinks for a time his own the best. Nature 
bids bees to swarm, man saves them this trouble or pleasure, 
and the time wasted in the varied manoeuvres precedent to the 
issue of a swarm lasts occasionally if the weather is unsuitable 
for many weeks ; or possibly in his spirit of self- aggrandise¬ 
ment the bee-master, by giving young queens and continually 
providing room in advance of the wants of the stock, not 
only takes away the desire—ever present when an aged 
queen is ruler of the hive—to supplant the disgraced queen, 
but prevents such desire from arising. Yes, in bees old age 
and crippled limbs are a disgrace; they have no hospitals, 
no almshouses, no poor law union ; they live, they work, and 
when they can work no longer they simply die. A few words 
on this subject may be useful at the commencement of the 
busy time of the year to those engaged in bee-keeping. 
It is very generally imagined that anyone who desires to 
-do so may become a successful bee-keeper. This is only 
partially true, for if a hasty thought is given to the success 
or failure of the bee-keepers of a certain neighbourhood the 
failures will in most districts predominate. A fair minority 
do gain good profits, while the majority scarcely manage one 
year with another to pay their expenses. Bee-keeping is a 
pleasurable industry, but it cannot be taken up to-day, 
neglected to-morrow, and profit gained the day following. 
Patient care and practical experience, combined with a 
thorough knowledge of the requirements and habits of bees, 
are all necessary qualities to make a successful bee-keeper, 
And, in addition, the knowledge of when to do a thing and 
how to do it. If a road is to be laid surely the foundation, 
if not already existing, must be made firm and solid, and 
then the surface welded carefully together; but some bee¬ 
keepers first lay the surface, and then, when the crust gives 
way, try to prop it up with any materials which can be 
pressed into use in cases of emergency. If bee keepers will 
bear this in mind their troubles will be materially diminished. 
The knowledge when a thing ought to be done, and 
what ought to be done in case of emergency, is after all the 
great obstacle to success: everything else can be acquired 
more easily than this, the most necessary knowledge of all. 
Time, experience, and eyes that see, and a mind that under¬ 
stands, must all be pressed into service by the man who 
desires to attain these most useful qualities. But how to do 
a thing is not nearly so difficult a matter. It is from a 
beginner’s point of view, I know, much easier to read how to 
perform a certain manipulation than to put the teaching into 
practice; but a great incentive to most men is that if they 
fail in doing what others perform with ease, they are proved 
in that particular instance to be inferior to their fellow men. 
What man has done men can do ! In bee-keeping there is 
no manipulating necessary for profitable management which 
cannot be performed by every individual person who deter¬ 
mines to succeed. Nothing succeeds like success, and nothing 
ensures success so much as determination to succeed. Each 
one may take courage in that he can do anything connected 
with bee-keeping in the way of manipulation. This very 
facility to manipulate is the bane of modern bee-keeping. 
The time occupied is far greater than is warranted by any 
additional profit gained ; the bees are continually upset and 
disturbed, and the apiarian does wonderful things with his 
bees, but when the time comes for balancing the year’s 
accounts, “ all is vanity,” and bee keeping unprofitable. 
To such, indeed, the bees yield but a poor result. There 
has been “ a great cry and little wool,” as they say at the 
shearing of hogs. Now to those who have laid any of these 
short cuts to success to which I have before referred, I will 
only say, Are the foundations properly laid and strong enough 
to support the surface ? because, if not, by all means 
strengthen them, and if this is impossible then return to 
Nature’s highway, and travel upon it for another year, read¬ 
ing the works of great bee-keepers, and gaining a knowledge 
of how to place the lower layer before spreading on the higher. 
Learn how to do the essential acts in an apiary, and trust to 
common sense and natural insight, cultivated by judicious 
reading and conversation with others, to point out the right 
time to do the right thing, and do it at once without delay. 
Let there be no procrastination, no waste of energy, no un¬ 
necessary manipulation, no increased expenditure unless 
increased returns can reasonably be expected. Let it be 
continually borne in mind that the price of honey is low, and 
likely to become still lower; and cheap production can alone 
enable bee keeping to maintain its position as a profitable 
industry. The less time and money req Jred to produce a 
pound of honey the more easily can a reduced price be met. 
Time and money are one and the same thing. Until a suffi¬ 
cient knowledge has been gained, follow the teaching of others, 
and when such a knowledge has been acquired let individual 
judgment have full play, and good results will follow. 
Bee-keepers are but mortals, and as a child must walk at 
first with the aid of a mother’s arm, so the bee-keeper in his 
early days must lean on others who stretch out a friendly 
helping hand, but when manhood comes and childhood days 
have gone for ever, each one should step out fearlessly, trust¬ 
ing in his own strength. Those who cannot do so are poor 
cripples, sad to contemplate, pitiable to behold. I have 
written these lines as a hint to some who may be led by 
advanced bee-keepers to stop and consider their position. I 
ask them only two questions. Does the present state of the 
honey market warrant increased expenditure unless it can 
be shown that such increase gives a sure return? Do those 
who spend most money in appliances and time in manipula¬ 
tion make the greatest profit ?— Felix. 
DOINGS OF THE PAST WEEK. 
The continuation of the cold until June induced me to commence 
feeding some of my hives as a preventive of going back by drawing 
