1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



51 



or, if honey is coming in, and comb-building 

 going on, put the pruned frames in some hive 

 which will patch them up with worker comb. 

 Hives having young queens but recently com- 

 menced laying will always do this if tho comb 

 to be worked upon is placed in the center of the 

 brood-nest; so, too, will any weak stock having 

 a vigorous queen. But hives with old played- 

 out queens, or colonies on the point of swarm- 

 ing, will generally build drone comb. 



I want to call Dr. Miller's attention to the top 

 of page 837, where he says I am talking rather 

 at random when I say (page 802), " An inexperi- 

 enced person generally manages so badly that 

 what little honey he gets makes no difference 

 in the other's crop;" and where he certainly 

 talks at random when he suggests that Mr. 

 Lazicuss. who managed so badly as to get but 

 two tons of honey in a twenty-ton locality, 

 will continue to get that amount, even when he 

 has Mr. Upandatit in competition. Now, you 

 know. Dr. M., and every practical bee-keeper 

 knows, that, when there are bees enough on a 

 range to lick up, all the honey, each hive will 

 not get as much as when there is ten times 

 more honey on a range than the bees can gath- 

 er. The practical result of this competition to 

 Mr. Lazicuss would be his extinguishment. As 

 for his moral right to possess the location, it is 

 on a par with that of the Indian to this conti- 

 nent. The one needs a twenty-ton range that 

 he may get two tons of honey; the other, a con- 

 tinent capable of supporting toiling millions, 

 that he may live by hunting deer and buffalo. 

 I can think of but one consideration which 

 would make me respect Mr. Lazicuss' claim to 

 the range; and that is, when his apiary is rot- 

 ten with foul brood. 



There are a few more of the doctor's views on 

 this subject which I sliould like to discuss, but 

 I have to pay my respects to the proof-reader, 

 who criticises me for wishing to anglicize Span- 

 ish names, and then straightway proceeds to 

 use anglicized words himself. To be consistent, 

 instead of the anglicized word "Spanish" he 

 should say "Espanol;" and for "Mexican." 

 " Mejicano." I did not suggest that the names 

 be translated, but spelt so as to conform to the 

 sounds of our English letters; therefore the 

 Indian names referred to are not a parallel case, 

 as the Indians had no alphabet, and no partic- 

 ular way of spelling their names; so when the 

 Americans undertook to write them they nat- 

 urally used that combination of English letters 

 which would come nearest to making tlie 

 sound intended. Among our Indian names yon 

 will be told to spell the word "Chi-hua-hu'a."' 

 and to pronounce ii "Che-wah-wah." The 

 Spanish accent is so alien to the English tongue 

 that not one American in ten thousand ever 

 uses it in pronouncing those names. On page 

 890 A. I. R. uses the word "dobe," and tells us 

 it is pronounced "do-by." So it is, Mr. Root, 

 when anglicized; but the Spaniard spells it 

 "a-do-be," and makes three syllables out of it. 

 This shortening of these names is right in line 

 with A. I. R.'s talk in a recent paper where he 

 calls attention to how the bicycle is usually 

 called a "wheel," and " telegraphic dispatch" 

 has gravitated down to "wire." The Mexican 

 has plenty of time on his hands, and believes 

 the principal object of life is to dance, and 

 smoke cigarittos. Such a people can afford to 

 use long words, and do sometimes give even 

 whole sentences to a town for a name. Los An- 

 geles, for instance, was originally known as 

 "Nuestra Sehora. la Reina de los Angeles.'" 

 As for our "villes," " centers." and "burroughs," 

 they are three, while the Spanish have only 

 their eternal (I had almost said infernal) 

 " Saint '■ to stick on to every thing. If Spanish 

 names are.pretty, the best way to retain that 



beauty is by using that combination of English 

 letters which will spell them as they should be 

 pronounced. Don't stick an H in tlie middle of 

 a word, as in Cah-uen-ga. and tell Americans 

 to pronounce it as W. for they won't do it, as 

 the people who live here know. 

 Newhall, Cal., Dec. 15. Wm. G. Hewes. 



THOMAS WILLIAM COWAN. 



HIS EXTENSIVE I,IBRARY ON BEES; HIS MICKO- 

 SCOPK-SLIDES, ETC. 



Friend JRoo/;.-— Thinking perhaps you would 

 like to have the inclosed letter to publish in 

 Gleanings. I send it. H. Toavnsend. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



[It is with pleasure that we give place to the 

 letter.] 



Deal- Dr. Tow use iid:— How I wish I could be at the 

 meeting: of the Philadelphia Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion at your house Monday evening- next I I should 

 like to tell the members something' of my experi- 

 ences and observations iu my long- journey through 

 Russia, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Great 

 Britain last sununer, and of my visits tn tlie beauti- 

 ful home of Mr. Thos. William Cowan, editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, in London. It is the home of a 

 typical man of letters, a lover of books, a seeker 



THOS. WILLIAM COWAN. 



after the truths of science. He has a library of 

 about 10,000 volumes, containing- many rare and 

 valuable books. Tliat part of it relating to the 

 honey-bee is especially interesting to the student in 

 apiculture. It is prol)ably the largest collection of 

 the kind in the world. In it are full and complete 

 sets of most of the bee-journals of the world pub- 

 lished in Europe and America, in various languages. 

 Some of these sets are tlie only ones known to be in 

 existence. Many of the sejjarate volumes are of 

 extreme antiquity; they are grouped according to 

 age, many of tliem showing the advance in the sci- 

 ence in tlie different editions issued at intervals of 

 many yeiirs. They are also classified according to 

 tlieir respective language— German, French, Eng- 

 lish, Latin, etc. Many of Mr. Cowan's own books 

 have been publisned in neai-Iy all these languages. 



