1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



701 



merly thought that no set of bees would be so 

 idiotic as to let their last queen go out with a 

 swarm: but I thini? I have read quite recently 

 of such a case in one of the foreign journals. 

 We know very well that an after-swarm often 

 contains a number of queens. If four or five 

 young queens come out with the swarm, or 

 even if more than one issues, is a third not as 

 likely to issue as a second, and so on for any 

 number? And yet I think it is very rare that 

 all the young queens leave the hive. Possibly 

 close observation would show that in such cases 

 all the free queens do actually leave the hive, 

 leaving only such as are yet in their cells; and 

 if all happen to be out of their cells, queenless- 

 ness results. 



As to the yield of white clover here, the last 

 to amount to any thing was in 1893, although 

 both last year and this year I suppose a very 

 little white-clover honey was gathered. But it 

 was only a fractional part of what the bees 

 required for their own use. The whole matter 

 doesn't look very encouraging; but here's the 

 tune I whistle to keep up my courage: No one 

 knows any reason why we do not have the 

 same yields as in former years. The whole 

 matter seems to be in obscurity; and so long as 

 we know of no reason for the lack of harvests, 

 is it not reasonable to suppose that next year 

 may happen to bring a big yield ? It doesn't 

 cost much to whistle that tune, and it rL.akes 

 one feel more comfortable. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



HON. GEO. E. HILTON 



AS A BEE-KEEPEK LEGISLATOR; HIS CAREER 

 IN POLITICS. 



[I am always glad to hear of the election of a 

 bee-keeper (honest ones I mean) to a public 

 office, be he a Republican or Democrat or 

 what; but it gave me a peculiar pleasure when 

 I learned that my friend Mr. Hilton had been 

 chosen by the good people of his district to 

 represent them in the Michigan State Legisla- 

 ture. " For," I said, '"he is not only a good 

 bee-keeper, but an earnest Christian gentle- 

 man, loved by all who know him. His influence 

 will be for good." 



Some years ago we gave a brief biographical 

 sketch of him as a bee-keeper, for then he had 

 not come before the public as a State servant. 

 I have obtained a sketch of his political career 

 that I take a real pleasure in submitting to our 

 readers, because it is something that any one 

 may well be proud of — not so much for its ac- 

 complishment of all things attempted as for 

 the earnest purpose in the cause of right and 

 justice underlying it all.— Ed.] 



His political career, outside of his township and 

 village, was rather a surprise to him. In the fall 

 of 1893 there seemed t< ■ be no candidate in his dis- 

 trict for Hepresentativr in the State Legislature. 

 His party had not elect' d a full county ticket in 

 twelve years. The couiny committee were casting 

 about for some one to k- jI the ticket, and the chair- 

 man suggested Mr. H. as one who had always been 

 a true Republican, and did not have an enemy in 



the county. The cotnmittee at once decided that 

 he was the man if he would run. He was waited 

 upon to see if they could use his name. At first he 

 told them no, as he did not feel competent to 

 fill so important a position if elected; but lie said 

 he would counsel with his wife, and report soon. 

 She urged that he was competent, and ought to run 

 if the party demanded it, though defeat was prob- 

 able. That settled it, and he was subsequently 

 nominated by acclamation. His opponent was 

 nominated upon two tickets ; but Mr. H. had a 

 plurality of 425, and the entire ticket wa;s elected. 



The Speaker of the House, learning of his interest 

 in behalf of good roads, made him chairman of the 

 Roads and Bridge Committee, and in this capacity 

 Mr. H. succeeded in passing the Good-Roads Bill, 

 known as the " County System." Several counties 

 have adopted it, and it is a success. Judge Hatch, 

 of Bay City, wrote him as follows: "In ten years 

 half the counties in the State will adopt it, and in 

 twenty years Michigan will be a State of good roads. 



,^ r^ 



HON. i:E(). E. HILTON. 



He was also interested in a bill tending toward re. 

 claiming the semi-barren lands that Ernest saw in 

 going from Fhnt to Manistee. There is no doubt 

 these lands may be marie fertile. The members 

 from the lower portion of the State " stood in their 

 own light," and the bill failed to pa'ss, by five votes. 



The other matters of legislation two years ago 

 were of a local character that pleased his constitu- 

 ency so well that last fall they concluded to send 

 him back, and he was again nominated by acclama- 

 tion. The enemy said he should not go back, and 

 succeeded in nominating the supervisor of his own 

 township on their tickets, and yet his ticket In the 

 first column looked decidedly lonely. But the 

 harder the task, the harder one fights; and the re- 

 sult was a plurality of 923, and again every man on 

 the ticket was elected. 



He was, for his second term, given the important 

 chairmanship of Committee on Railroads. In this 

 capacity he has seemed to he able to please both 



