1896. SOME NEW BOOKS. 273 



We do not gather from a perusal of Mr, Collinson's pamphlet 

 that he possesses any pathological knowledge, statistical ability, 

 logical faculty, or other special qualification for the discussion of the 

 subject. It is indeed a very typical instance of the ordinary anti- 

 vaccinationist propaganda, and it is a curious thing that the writers 

 of this kind of literature spend their strength in the vain endeavour 

 to discredit the value of the practice they are attacking, instead of 

 basing their argument on the liberty of the subject to run any 

 particular risk he may choose. This liberty, as opposed to the right 

 of the State to prevent his being at the same time a risk to the com- 

 munity, affords a legitimate subject for discussion, and involves a 

 pretty ethical question. But of such argument there is little trace in 

 Mr. Collinson's pamphlet, which consists mainly of hysterical invec- 

 tive and well-worn exaggerations, with the usual highly-coloured 

 illustrative cases. This journal is not the place for the discussion of 

 the merits of vaccination, nor indeed is there any immediate need to 

 discuss the matter in view of the recent publication of the Report of 

 the Vaccination Commission, and while the lesson of Gloucester is 

 still fresh in the public mind. We can only deplore the perversion of 

 mind which leads to the production of a work of this character, 

 and the credulity and ignorance upon which it is only too likely to 

 impose. 



The Honey Bee. 



The Honey Bee : a Manual of Instruction in Apiculture. By Frank Benton. 

 Pp. 118, xi. pis., 76 woodcuts. Bulletin No. I. — New Series (Revised Edition). 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Washington : Government Printing 

 Office, 1896. 



The publication of such works as the present treatise by a Govern- 

 ment Department is deserving of high praise, and the practice might 

 with advantage be imitated by our own Board of Agriculture. The 

 work includes a most detailed and copiously illustrated account of the 

 anatomy, economy, races, manipulation, and entire treatment of the 

 honey bee, together with all the appliances incidental to apiculture. 

 The directions and advice are given in plain language, such that the 

 veriest tyro can with but a small amount of study and labour make 

 himself fairly successful in the art. It would be out of place here to 

 follow the author through the minutiae of this interesting and com- 

 mercially valuable pursuit. We wish, however, to call the attention 

 of agriculturists, and particularly of the fruit growers, to the im- 

 portance here insisted on of combining bee-keeping with fruit-farming. 

 The presence of an apiary in the midst of the orchard entails a com- 

 paratively small additional cost, and cannot fail to largely increase 

 the number of fertilised blossoms, and thus the value and weigh: of 

 the resulting crop ; at the same time, the fertilising agents pay their 

 own way by the return of wax and honey. 



Our own Board of Agriculture might do worse than circulate 

 the kind of information given by Mr. Benton. County Councils have 

 already done good work in providing lecturers and demonstrations by 

 means of travelling bee-vans to many rural districts. We doubt, 

 however, if it has been sufficiently brought home to the minds of the 

 English country-people that the annual yield of fruit bears a very 

 direct relation to the abundance of insects, and particularly of bees 

 during the season of blossom. The reader of the book now under 

 notice will gain much useful information on the subject, and also on 

 the plants which may be profitably grown in this connection at other 

 seasons of the year. The book itself is well printed, and the majority 



