22 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



rapid growth, energy and wealth— cities that have sprung into existence as hy 

 magic, where the whir and buzz of industry never cease, and where commerce ever 

 rolls her golden tide along to enrich the hardy sons of toil. 



Let all this be known and spread abroad in the world for North Missouri, and 

 then add all that may be truthfully said of.South Missouri, with her untold millions 

 of undeveloped mineral wealth and her millions of acres of fertilj land, the virgin 

 soil of which has never been turned by the plow of the husbandman to kiss the sun 

 of heaven. Then speak in words of praise of the grand central portion of this 

 great State, an empire within itself. And last but not least, speak in words of 

 loudest praise of our State University now being rebuilt and enlarged in the beau- 

 tiful city of Columbia, where not hundreds but thousands seeking an education 

 may be accommodated, and where the sons of the poor 'and humble of our great 

 State will be made welcome, and in conclusion may I not ask that the people of 

 Columbia and the State University unite their efforts with the State Horticultural 

 Society, to make these great and grand truths concerning our great State more 

 fully and forcibly knawn to the world through the great Columbian Exposition 

 now being held at Chicago. 



Let us not forget that this is our golden opportunity, and if we embrace it 

 and do our duty to our State and our fellow-men, with an eye single to God's honor 

 and glory, then we may rest assured of a golden and bounteous harvest that will be 

 gathered in time and eternity. 



HONEY AND HORTICULTURE. 



W. H. 8EWELL, CARTHAGE. 



Bees and honey are mentioned frequently by the oldest writers, both in sacred" 

 and profane history, hence it is probable that considerable has been known of bees 

 and their habits, as also the value of honey as human food, from very ancient times. 

 But it is quite probable that of the art of bee-keeping in artificial hives, even of 

 the rudest form, nothing was known until comparatively modern times. Our 

 domestic hive bee is supposed to be a native of southern Europe, and must have 

 been diff'used over northern Europe and Great Britain at a very early date. It 

 found its way to America among the early settlers, but the exact date of its advent 

 is not known. In its increase it kept pace with the settlements, until it has now 

 spread over the whole continent and become wild, and many people at the present 

 day do not know but they are natives of the country. For a !long time after bees 

 were managed in large apiaries all over Europe, Britain and even in America, the 

 greatest ignorance and superstition prevailed among the masses as to rational 

 methods of management. They were housed in log gums and straw hives of one 

 apartment only, and the method of obtaining the stores was by robbing by moon- 

 light, or the brimstone pit. The honey was dark and badly mixed with bee-bread,, 

 if not with bees of all ages, and had to be strained in order to be endurable. Until 

 the commencement of the present century almost nothing was practically known 

 of the nature, habits, design and offices of the different members of the colony or 

 the ends they severally subserve in the economy of the hive, or the mysterious 

 methods of their reproduction. But with the adoption of the movable comb hive 

 by Langstroth and others about 40 or at most 50 years ago, and many other im- 

 proved methods of management that followed close in its wake, chief among which 

 were artificial swarming and the rotary honey extractor, bee-keeping received a 

 new impetus, and has now grown to gigantic proportions in many parts of the 

 country, and is fully abreast with the improvements of the times in all respects and 

 is likely to hold its position in the future. 



