THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



209 



ate the species. In this respect I am 

 like anj' other capitalist, and like him, 

 I would go still further and take every 

 drop of honey did I not know that by so 

 doing I would deprive myself of all 

 future gain. 



Somewhere, recentlj', I read of an 

 old Scotch Presbyterian, in the State 

 of Illinois, who spent years trying to 

 find some principle that would justify 

 him in tak'ng honey from his bees, and 

 at last, he salved his conscience by 

 this form of reasoning; "The Lord 

 intended bees to be industrious, but, if, 

 in one season, they stored up enough 

 honey to last more than one year, the 

 bees would loaf the next summer, 

 therefore, to compel obedience to the 

 Lord's will, he deprived them of all 

 surplus stores." The gratifying of his 

 own palate was merely incidental. 

 My reason for taking honey from my 

 bees i8 because I like it. Might is 

 right the universe over. Sometimes 

 the might is embodied in an individual 

 by virtue of qualities attached to him 

 when he was born. In civilization, the 

 might lies in the opinion of the major- 

 ity of the people living at any particu- 



lar time. My ph^'sical and mental 

 might gives me control of lower or- 

 ganisms, and whenever I can use that 

 might to my advantage 1 do so. 



Let me conclude by referring to the 

 greatest tragedy' in bee life. Nature 

 is red in tooth and claw, and knows 

 not what justice is. No more indus- 

 trious creature than the honey bee lives 

 on earth. From dawn to dawn she 

 hustles for food, and from dark to 

 dawn prepares it and stores it by for 

 the future. Human justice would re- 

 ward her by satisfying her hunger 

 until the moment of her death, but Na- 

 ture in gross injustice dooms her to die 

 of starvation far from her home. Na- 

 ture is la.vish in all that concerns re- 

 jiroduction, niggardly in what per- 

 tains to substi nance. The drone is pro- 

 vided with powerful wings for an oc- 

 casional flight, the worker wears out 

 those that are more fragile, in active 

 industry, and while laden with her 

 sweet burden, intended to provide 

 against the future, drops wearily to the 

 earth, and there lingers, suffering 

 the pangs of hunger until death brings 

 her relief 



Iimdl^cli^g Bees to Give tap S^j^annrn' 

 iimg Siimdl Destroy Qmeeim CeMso 



D. CHALMERS. 



EDITOR REVIEW: I have read 

 with no little degree of interest your 

 editorial in the November issue on 

 "The Control of Increase;" and I 

 notice that you invite discussion on the 

 subject. I observe, too, that while so 

 ■doing, you expect us also to give our 

 plan of manipulation, towards that 

 end, if such a scheme we have. 



I don't know that there is anything 

 •in particular to discuss in your valu- 



able article, except the feasibility of 

 that peep-hole of R. F, Holtermann's. 

 It is usually hard enough on the back, 

 stooping over colony after colony, 

 examining the combs after being taken 

 from the hive, without stooping further 

 to peer through a hole near the bottom 

 of the back end of the brood chamber. 

 And when we get there, what is pre- 

 sented to our vision? "The edge of a. 

 comb," as you say, Mr. Editor; and 



