598 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



Sept. 19, 1%1. 



went up into the light-house, the lady keeper treating us 

 with the most exquisite politeness and kindness. We saw 

 the fog-bell, which tolls every half minute during the fogs, 

 to warn the passing boats. We ascended the tower and saw 

 the big light, which is only a very ordinary lamp encased 

 in a large globe of cut glass, some three feet in diameter, 

 and with indentures in the glass intended to increase the 

 power of the light, which can thus be seen over 20 miles, 

 and throws alternately a white and red flash over the waters 

 of the Bay. This light, with its clock apparatus which 

 causes it to revolve slowly, we were told was made in Paris, 

 and cost $3000. 



After roaming about over the woods, we suddenly found 

 ourselves at a pretty summer resort hidden in the trees, and 

 kept by a Mr. Haines, who proved to be another bee-keeper, 

 and we had no sooner made ourselves known, than we were 

 at home with him and had a splendid dinner served — and 

 •'clover honey," if you please, of the very best quality. I 

 thought it quite worthy of notice that this man could keep 

 bees successfully on this lonely spot, with three miles of 

 bay on one side and 20 miles on the other. Hut the entire 

 country around him being still svild, or nearly so, the wild 

 blossoms must abound. 



Well, shall I close with a "fish-story ?" We went fish- 

 ing a number of times, but, somehow, when we had the 

 ladies along, we could not get much. For one thing, wife 

 would not risk herself in a skiff, which she called a "little 

 peanut shell," and we had to fish from a launch, and could 

 not go anywhere and everywhere to the best fishing spots. 

 Finally, a friend and myself managed to get away from 

 our party one fine afternoon, got a row-boat and a boy to 

 row it, and plenty of bait, and we started out on an inde- 

 pendent expedition on the Bay. We stayed away some 

 four hours, and had right good luck, and came back to the 

 hotel with a splendid string of perch and pickerel — some 20 

 pounds. We felt very proud, and called the ladies to the 

 hotel lobby so they might have a chance to admire them 

 before we handed them over to the cook. " Oh what a fine 

 lot," said my wife, " Where did you bu)' them ?" 



I will say no more about the fish of Sturgeon Bay, and 

 the nice catches we made, for yoii also might ask me, 

 ■ Where did you buy them ?" Hancock Co., III. 



Co-operative Effort Among Bee-Keepers. 



BV W. T. STEPHENSON. 



TRUSTS are the order of the day. Almost every line of 

 industry, except farming and bee-keeping, is being 

 trusted. Why not these ? 



Not long since some one writing on this subject gave 

 the exact reason why farmers" organizations did not suc- 

 ceed — they havn't confidence enough in each other. They 

 are afraid to risk their commodities in the liands of a rep- 

 resentative, even though they would get a higher price. 

 Let us, as bee-keepers, be careful lest we join their grew- 

 some (in the respect spoken of) company. 



So much for a prelude ; now to the point. 



I was greatly surprised when T read the article by Mr. 

 ti. M. Doolittle in a recent issue of the American Bee 

 Journal. I was not so much surprised at the stand he took, 

 as I was at the manner in which it was written. He says 

 he is going to call a halt, and proceeds to accuse E. R. Root 

 — (the man who holds the highest and most responsible 

 position among American bee-keepers) of iiiisrepresenta- 

 tion. So I am going to call a " halt," but among hypercritr 

 ics, instead of in the ranks of the long-tongue advocates, as 

 Mr. D. has done. 



If Mr. Doolittle had been the fortunate possessor of 

 that $200 queen, it is more than likely that that article 

 would not have appeared, as it would have been to his inter- 

 est to keep mum. 



We are led to think that Mr. Doolittle hasn't been read- 

 ing the bee-papers very closely, or he would know that he 

 was not the first one to call a "halt." The editor of the 

 American Bee-Keeper thinks it deceptive to value an extra- 

 ordinary breeding-queen at $50, $100, or $200. and to sell 

 her daughters at $10, $1.5 and $25. Remember. Mr. Hill, 

 these daughters are red r/oz'^r queens. For an illustration, 

 suppose you had a quantity of very deep jars filled with 

 apples ; wouldn't you be willing to pay a fancy price for 

 boys with arms of extra length, if all of the apples they 

 could reach were yours ? 



He asks if any one knows of an instance where fine 

 stock sold for twenty times the price of the very best com- 

 mon stock. Not long since I read of a race-horse (" Flying 

 Fox,") selling for #40,000. It was not because he could 



implant his good qualities in his oftspring, but because of 

 his speed. 



If I were a queen-breeder I would promptly send $25 for 

 a queen whose bees had a tongue-reach of 21-100 of an 

 inch ; nor would I be afraid of any one applying a $10 

 " pressure " to the head of a bee from a $15 queen to make 

 the latter a $25 queen. 



I'm very glad that at least three of our bee-editors are 

 friends. I wish they were all friendly enough not to" spat " 

 so much. Unless a better feeling is cultivated, our co-op- 

 erative efforts will never amount to a "row of pins." 



Farmers' organizations go to pieces because they doubt 

 each other. Bee-keepers' organizations would do better if 

 they did not accuse each other of misrepresentation and 

 deceptive practice. 



After having said all of this, I know of no three gen- 

 tlemen that I have more confidence in than R. R. Root, G. 

 M. Doolittle, and H. E. Hill. Massac Co., 111. 



Introducing Queens~Side-Light$ on a Criticism. 



BY W. W. M'NEAI,. 



WITH the permission of the editor I wish to consider 

 the criticisms by Wm. M. Whitney (page 405) of my 

 article on page 311. 



I stated therein that, judging from her rule of action, 

 the honey-bee could not be called a creature of love ; that, 

 instead, her ways were harsh and unyielding, and that she 

 is never turned from her given course by that most beauti- 

 ful qualification — love. It will be remembered that this, 

 was said in connection with a plan given for the introduc- 

 tion of queen-bees. I will say here that I am firm in the 

 belief of the correctness of this deduction ; for if the bees 

 do have love for one another their love is of such form as 

 to necessitate its being called by another name from that 

 which makes men and women divine. 



Mr. Whitney says he was very much " amused " at the 

 fact of my arriving at this conclusion from a study of the 

 habits of the honey-bees ; and thinks that he could easily 

 prove the bee to be prompted by the " highest type of love 

 and patriotism." as known and experienced by mankind. I 

 regret the evident lack of the proof of this in his argu- 

 ment ; so of course he will excuse me for telling him that I 

 have not been turned from the error(?) of my ways. 



When Mr. Whitney compares the cold, heartless meth- 

 ods — the iron methods — of a colony of bees, with the prin- 

 ciples of true love as revealed in Christ, or with the basic 

 principles of truly christian government, he assumed a 

 wonderful stretch of ability to make extremes meet. 



Mr. Whitney was pleased to call particular attention to 

 the fact that " Cliristain governments provide for the unfor- 

 tunate and infirm ;" and then says further, " but the time 

 was when such persons were disposed of in the most con- 

 venient manner possible, as thought for the good of the 

 majority,"— y«.f/ as the bees do now. 



If it be true that the honey-bee " knows from instinct " 

 how to manage her affairs, then why need any one expect 

 to see her decrees mingled with mercy for the needy and 

 the afflicted, if their requirements run counter to those 

 interests or conditions that give the greatest freedom " to 

 perpetuate the existence of the colony ?" 



Back of the love of country is selfishness, pure and 

 simple, for the bee well knows that she can not exist alone 

 in the world. This is possible for her only in swarms, and 

 best in large swarms ; hence is her "devotion " and " patri- 

 otism " laid bare. 



The real complexion of the honey-bee's nature must be 

 admitted, accordingly, when we look squarely at the facts, 

 and note that all her acts of kindness are directed to that 

 end which tends to promote the greatest individual security 

 through the strength of the colony : also, upon the other 

 hand, that the honey-bee invariably follows the stolid rou- 

 tine of utter disregard of the suflerings of the worthy 

 though afflicted members of the colony, is it not a logical 

 conclusion that no ties of love or bonds of sympathy exist 

 between or among them ? 



The fact that the "bee tenderly cares for her young " 

 simply argues nothing to the point Mr. Whitney seeks to 

 gain. If it were love and not avarice that prompts her to 

 do this, then in time of famine she would not keep back the 

 last mite from those young hopefuls — the larval bees ; nor 

 would she tear them from the cells and consume them.' In 

 more prosperous times we catch another view of the bee's 

 "devotional " nature. The larval bee that is cared for so 

 tenderly till it emerges from the cell is at once banished 



