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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



hons. There is to the writer a pecul- 

 iarly emblematic significance in the 

 fact that a farm which for so many 

 years gave to the world its ideal poetry 

 is now transforming into the very 

 poetry of all nature's productions. 

 Some one has said that architecture is 

 frozen poetry. In a similar spirit may 

 we not say that peaches are growing 

 poetry? If so, then in more senses 

 than one poetry has produced peaches 

 for Mr. Barrows must have had well 

 in mind the sentiment of the thing, the 

 ideal or, if you prefer, the prosaic plans 

 before he could accomplish such a 

 thoroughly practical success as is 

 evinced everywhere on Mayapple Farm 

 a farm of poetry, patriotism and peach- 

 es. 



Bees That Are Bandits. 



"A New Jersey man is accused by 

 his neighbors of keeping a species of 

 bees that, instead of honestly making 

 honey from flower and clover bloom, 

 thievishly plunder the hives of all the 

 working bees in the neighborhood. 



"It is asserted that this man, al- 

 though he has not kept an honest bee 

 in seven years, regularly sells more 

 honey than any other bee man in the 

 Delaware Valley. 



"No doubt these allegations will sur- 

 prise most people. The bee has been 

 commonly looked upon as incorrupt- 

 ibly honest and as an unvarying model 

 of industry. Indeed, it was from the 

 bee that man first learned that industry 

 and honesty go through this world 

 hand in hand. 



"If a story had come from New Jer- 

 sey, or anywhere else, telling that a 

 gang of men had been making their 

 living, not by work, but by plundering 

 the savings of industrious people, not 

 the slightest surprise would have been 

 excited. Men are a good deal given to 

 that sort of thing everywhere. 



"But it appears that bees can suffer 

 degradation as well as men. And. ac- 

 cording to the charges made in this 

 case, whiskey entered into the degra- 

 dation of the bees just as it does into 

 that of men- It is claimed that the 

 bees were fed on 'doped' honey in or- 

 der to make thieves of them. The 

 drunken bee becomes a bandit. . Be- 

 fuddled with booze, he refuses to work 

 and turns to riotous living. 



"We fondly claim great superiority 



for the human mind over the mind of 

 the bee. But it seems that booze brings 

 them to the same level as far as the 

 more essential qualities are concerned." 



^I> ^j* ^j* 5jC 5|C 



The foregoing is a clipping from a 

 newspaper. The same item, credited to 

 the editorial page of "The Christian 

 Herald," has appeared in various pub- 

 lications. It should be credited to 

 Baron Munchausen or to some 

 other writer of fiction. This is the 

 sort of fool stuff that would tend 

 o drive even a prohibitionist to drink. 

 It would, if he knows and appreciates 

 the honeybee. There are plenty of in- 

 teresting things to be said about honey- 

 bees without concocting such trash as 

 this, as there are many arguments in 

 favor of prohibition or at least in favor 

 of temperance. 



The facts are that it is not dishonest 

 bees that do the robbing. Bees do not 

 need to be doped with whiskey to make 

 thieves of them. At certain times of 

 the year, when the nectar of the field 

 flowers is scarce, any vigorous colony 

 is liable to assume this robbing habit. 

 Bees will sting. A sting was given to 

 them to prevent this robbing, not only 

 on the part of the bees themselves but 

 of bears and human beings- The 

 drunken bee has not become a bandit 

 but what's the use of wasting more 

 words on such a fool article? — E. F. B. 



The whole thing must have originat- 

 ed in the fertile brain of some newspa- 

 per reporter who had no idea of boost- 

 ing any cause good or bad. He wanted 

 to get a story that would be accepted 

 by the news editor. He tried to write 

 a good story but he failed miserably. 



Whiskey would have a tendency to 

 quiet the bees ; they would become 

 drowsy and calm ; it would not infuri- 

 ate them ; it would not incite them to 

 rush out into the fields. 



Tobacco smoke quiets bees, and so 

 does any other narcotic or similar 

 drug. That the bees might steal honey 

 containing whiskey is altogether pos- 

 sible, even probable, but if they robbed 

 at all it is because they were stealing 

 honey and not because whiskey was in 

 it. The whole thing is as improbable 

 as it is ridiculous. — The A. I. Root 

 Company, Medina, Ohio. 



