1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



919 



Grandpa, who was in the barn lot pumping 

 water for the slock, was told to run or they 

 would sting him to death. I got a bee-veil, and 

 my wife grabbed several pieces of old carpet oif 

 the fence. Grandpa was down, all covered with 

 bees. We got him up. and all hands made a 

 dive and got into the barn. I peeped out from 

 my hiding-place, and saw the cows running 

 wild for the pasture, with their tails high up in 

 the air. The horses were running, stamping, 

 biting, and kicking, all at the same time. Pigs 

 were squealing, running, and twisting their 

 bodies in all shapes. Our old tomcat ran into 

 the barn, with his tail as large as a rolling-pin, 

 while the dog ran off the place. The chickens 

 and turkeys came in for their share, and such a 

 scattering and squalling were never seen or 

 heard before. Several half-grown turkeys were 

 stung to death. Every fowl as well as every 

 quadruped on the place. I think, was stung 

 more or less. The onslaught lasted until dark. 

 Had this thing happened earlier in the day. I 

 do not know what would have happened. As it 

 was, had no one been around to help grandpa, 

 he would surely have been st\nig to death. By 

 the light of the lamp we picked 27 stings from 

 his face, heck, and head: besides, there mu«t 

 have been a good many in his hair, which we 

 did not find; yet it did not make him sick nor 

 cause him to swell up in the least. 



These bees, when they came at us, did not 

 hesitate and buzz around awhile, but came as 

 straight and swift as a rifle-ball — zip, buzz, buzz. 

 Mrs. T. says she would much rather have a bee 

 sting her at once, and be done with it. than to 

 have one stick tight on her clothing and buzz 

 and buzz. It keeps her in suspense, as every 

 moment she expects to be stung, and often is 

 not stung at all. 



Now, friend Root. I claim to be a carefnl bee- 

 keeper: and what started the bees on this ram- 

 page, and that, too, in a fair honey-flow from 

 heartsease, is to this day a mystery, as no stock 

 of any kind could get into the apiary, and not a 

 hive was disturbed in the least, so far as we 

 know. M. F. Taxman. 



Rossville, Kan., Nov. 30, 1893. 



[We never yet knew of a case, unless it be the 

 one under consideration, where bees generally 

 throughout the apiatry would sting any thing 

 and every thing, unless robbing had been going 

 on. Indeed, we can hardly conceive it possible 

 that yours should so behave unless such had 

 been the case. It may have been going on un- 

 beknown to you: but robbing will occur when 

 the honey-flow is dropping off. Thus ihe bees 

 may have been gatherins honey some, and yet 

 be ready to steal and kill if honey were to be 

 had. A horse or cow may overturn a hive, but 

 the stingers belong to one hive, and even then 

 will quiet down shortly. Many a case of bad 

 stinging have we traced to robbing, even when 

 the owner of the bees insisted that the latter 

 had not been robbing.] 



THE MICHIGAN APICULTURAL STATION, 

 AGAIN. 



K. L. TAYLOK KEl'I.IES. 



" Et tu quoque. Brute,''' Ed. Gteanings;— The 

 editoi- of tlie Amerlcnn Bee Journal, by a play 

 upon the word "report," using it in two senses, 

 attempts to parry the force of what I said about 

 my right to dispose of any accounts, not requir- 

 ed by the State Board of Agriculture, of the 

 experiments I have made as I see fit, and about 

 his duty to give the Review due credit when he 

 copies such accounts from it; but the above 

 time-worn exclamation involuntarily came to 



Tuy lips when I found you, in Gleanings of 

 Dec. Isi, in the same error. 



I wonder if I can make myself understood. 

 My contract witli the Board binds me, at the 

 end of the year, to prepare an account of all 

 the experiments and investigations I have made 

 under that contract: that account is called, 

 technically, a "report," and in time will appear 

 in the form of a bulletin. That is one thing. 

 When I prepare an article or account or report 

 of some one of these experiments for the use of 

 some journal, that is another thing. This lat- 

 ter the Board does net employ me to do, does 

 not pay me to do, and does not expect me to do; 

 and these latter accounts can not. by being put 

 together, make the technical report. They all 

 contain matter of argument, etc., which would 

 not be proper in such technical report; indeed, 

 they can be of no very great assistance in pre- 

 paring that report, for that must be written dc 

 novo. 



What "nice" question, then, can there be 

 about whether I have the right to sell or other- 

 wise dispose of such voluntary accounts as I see 

 fit? You say the same thing has been done by 

 others at other stations, but that the wisdom of 

 it has been questioned. Why should it be? It 

 subserves everybody's interests, and hurts no 

 one's. It costs the Board much money to dis- 

 seminate information by bulletin, for which it 

 gets no return; so it is, of course, glad to be 

 aided free of cost: and just as certainly are 

 those who are interested in the experiments 

 benefited by getting the results fresh, in " siz- 

 able" pieces and a year beforehand. 



Again, as the labor bestowed upon the articles 

 referred to was. in the strictest sense, mine, and 

 consequently the articles themselves mine to 

 dispose of as I should see fit. there could, of 

 course, have been no understanding with the 

 Board as to how I should dispose of them. 



Mr. Editor, does any thing in the above seem 

 vindictive, or to smack of bitterness? If you 

 say yes, then you don't fully understand me 

 yet. But I admit I don't like loose reasoning. 



Lapeer, Mich., Dec. 4. R. L. Taylor. 



[If we have misunderstood you, we are sure 

 you must have misunderstood us. We do not 

 find any thing in our editorial where we played 

 upon the word "report." giving it two senses, 

 or held that Bro. York should or should not 

 give credit to the Review for experiment arti- 

 cles he may copy from that paper. If there is 

 any thing on page 902 that gives you that im- 

 pression, then either we did not say what we 

 meant or you did not read us right. What we 

 tried to say was this: If the Board to whom 

 you and Mr. Hutchinson originally appeared 

 had no objections to your sending reports or 

 articles regarding experiments that you were 

 making for the State regularly to the Review. 

 i. e., if there was an understanding with them 

 to that effect— why, then there was, in our esti- 

 mation, no objection. As you say in a late 

 number of the 'Ameriatn Bee Journid, that you 

 have the " full authority and even the thanks of 

 the Board " for this work, then Gleaninc^s 

 .sees nothing out of the way. Perhaps Bio. 

 York questions your right to send these artichss 

 to any particular paper. Ordinarily we might 

 agree; but Bro. Hutchinson took much time 

 and money — in fact, was the only publisher 

 who took any interest in the matter at tiie 

 start. For this reason, and for the fact that he 

 pays for this extra s<'rvici'. he ought to have 

 the first right to the articles. Then, too. Mr. 

 Hutchinson does not ask you. if we are correct, 

 to give a full report of all your experiments, 

 but only certain phases of them in the shape of 

 articles; this is extra work, and outside of your 

 forthcoming bulletin report. In a similar way 



