942 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



here to our vvould-be complainers, that we do 

 not pro(3ose to publish as frauds, and unworthy 

 of conlidence, those against whom a complaint 

 has been made, without hearing all sides, and, 

 as a general thing, even then not until two or 

 more complaints have been made against the 

 same party. We nor any one else has very 

 much patience with a man, however, who per- 

 sistently refuses to answer letters. In such 

 cases we assume he is actually guilty of the 

 charges preferred against him. and govern our- 

 selves accordingly. Those who have had ex- 

 perience in business, we find, are more apt to ex- 

 ercise a little charity than those who are unable 

 to understand from practical experience how 

 mistakes majy occur in business. 



BEE-PAKAT,YSIS; SLANDEROUS STATEMENTS. 



Bee-pakalysis (nameless bee-disease) has 

 been found difficult to cure. We once thought 

 the change of queens would remove the trou- 

 ble; but reports show that that doesn't work. 

 Later, strongly salted water sprayed on the 

 combs was said to be a specific. Sometime^; it 

 seems to work a cure, but more often not. The 

 last is sulphur; and as this remedy is cheap 

 and simple of application it may be well to give 

 it at least a trial. A correspondent writes: 



I have had several cases of bee-paralysis, and salt 

 had no effect. But I li;i ve discovered that powdered 

 sulphur, well si)rinkled over combs and bees, cures 

 the worst cases in from one to tliree days. Wlieii 

 bees get iHzy, that is the conimenccinent of the dis- 

 ease, and an application of sulphur kills tlie fungus 

 growth, and the bees go to work witli a vim. I have 

 cured ten cases with it, and it does not injure the 

 hees. Joseph Monnier. 



Planter, Fla., Dec. 7, leg'?. 



Perhaps it may be well to state, in this con- 

 nection, that we hav^e been accused by a certain 

 party, through an agricultural journal, of 

 sending this disease to the Pacific coast. The 

 accusation comes from a party who holds a 

 personal grudge against us, and who fails to 

 tell the name of the bee keeper who is alleged 

 10 have received the disease of us, evidently for 

 the purpose of preventing ns from defending 

 ourselves, or of making an investigation. The 

 Rural Californian has had in the past similar 

 libelous attacks from this same party. The 

 publisher apologized, as we can prove by a let- 

 ter in our possession, for the first attack, and 

 promised that there would be no more of it. 

 As there has been a repetition of it, we have 

 placed the matter in the hands of our attorney; 

 and the Rrmtl. and all other papers who copied 

 that item, will deal with him and not with ns. 

 The fact is, that the apiary at the Home of the 

 Honey bees has nothada case of bee-paralysis 

 for some years; and even then it yielded to 

 mild treatment (removal of the queen). At one 

 of our out-apiaries we had a mild case that 

 yielded to the salt cure. 



bee- JOURNAL ERITOKS AS HOBBY -RIDEKS. 



In the last number of the Bee-keepers' Review. 

 Mr. Hutchinson writes very entertainingly of 

 hobby-riding, of the tedium of riding the 

 bread-and-butter hobby too long and too hard 

 without a respite, and how to vary, or, rather, 

 how /ic varies, the monotony between times by 

 riding other little hobbies as a sort of recrea- 

 tion. His experience has been almost exactly 

 ours, and we were not surprised to note that he 

 has been riding some of our old hobbies; viz., 

 machinery, printing, bees, amateur photogra- 

 phy. We remember we tried once to get him 

 on to this last; and now if he will get on to the 

 bicycle hobby there will be two (perhaps more) 

 bee-journal editors with nearly identical inter- 

 ests and identical pleasures. How well the 



"you push the button " hobby has served to add 

 interest to our respective journals is evidenced 

 by their illustrated pages. 



Mr. Lfahy, of tlie Proqressive Bee-keeper^ 

 says the click of the type writer and the hum 

 of business once had its attractions, but now he 

 finds it necessary to vary it somewhat. He pro- 

 poses to seek rest and enjoynn^nt. after the toil 

 of the day, in the hoe. Editor York rides a bi- 

 cycle; and whether he rides any other than his 

 special line of business, we do not know. 



We do not mean to carry the impression that 

 bee-journalism is dry and uninteresting — not a 

 bit of it; but we do mean to say that those 

 journals are better because those same editors 

 have a little recreation of hobby-riding under 

 control. 



MEETING DEATH BRAVELY. 



I AM charged with giving the impression, 

 either by direct statement or inference, that 

 none bnt Christians die bravely. Dear friends, 

 I did not mean to do any thing of the kind, for 

 I know full well that many who have no faith 

 whatever meet death bravely and unflinching- 

 ly. They din exactly as they would have a leg 

 or an arm amputated, scorning to shrink from 

 that which must be faced; and I honor these 

 noble men and women for meeting that which 

 they must meet, in a manly and womanly man- 

 ner. During our recent war, and during acci- 

 dents by flood and fir(\ we have many examples 

 of this. Yes, and railroad engineers, and others 

 occupying responsible position*, have many 

 times marched bravely into di'ath, simply that 

 they might save the lives of those intrusted to 

 theircare. Perhaps I am not competent to de- 

 cide in regard to such matters; bnt my belief it;, 

 that (iod is pleased with this kind of unselfish 

 and unflinching devotion to the good of human- 

 ity. It may be that it counts for more in his 

 sight than the mere fact of having been a mem- 

 ber of the church all one's lifetime. Our proof- 

 reader suggests right here, that these examples 

 of Christ-like sacrifice are the result, largely, of 

 living in a Christian nation. Among the hea- 

 thens, and in heathen lands, such Instances are 

 very rare. When the people of the United 

 8tates were doing so much to relieve the starv- 

 ation in China, they were absolutely obliged lo 

 get somebody besides the Chinese to carry the 

 food to the starving ones; and in running rail- 

 roads through heathen lands we must employ 

 our own people for engineers, conductors, etc. 

 The uneducated savages would steal, and shirk 

 the responsibility at every turn, caring nothing- 

 for the lives of others. 



What I tried to call attention to is, hov/ever, 

 quite a different matter. One who trusts in 

 God, and who believes the Author of the uni- 

 verse looks down upon us with kindness and 

 love through life and death, can do something 

 more than meet death bravely. He can say, 

 with Paul, " For me to live is Christ, and to die 

 isgai7i.'' And many Christians die rejoicing, 

 and even shouting, at the glimpses of heavenly 

 glory that are sometimes revealed to them while 

 they yet have a hold on life. Dear friends.it 

 seems to me that this is hardly a subject for 

 controversy. In fact, in striving to teach how 

 to live and how to die, I have studied to avoid 

 controversy, and I am quite willing to leave 

 this matter with you all. If you have not al- 

 ready done so, note carefully the way people 

 have died, whom you have known, and decide 

 in your mind whether Christianity commends 

 itself as seen on a death-bed or not. A. I. R. 



I AM really afraid that many of us are com- 

 plaining and finding fault with the very things- 

 we ou(j}it to thank God for. 



