1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



207 



FREE BEE -LITERATURE. 



SHOULD BEE-KEEPERS PETITION CONGRESS TO 

 PUBLISH AND DISTRIBUTE BEE- LITER- 

 ATURE FREE AT THE EXPENSE 

 OF THE PUBLIC? 



By Thaddei(>< Smith. 



This whole matter seems to me wrong. It 

 proposes to tax the general public for the bene- 

 fit of a particular and comparatively small 

 class. It makes the government a competitor 

 of the publishers of bee-literature. It is unjust 

 to the tax-payers. It is unjust to the authors 

 and publishers of bee-literature, and can be of 

 no great benefit to bee-keepers in general. It 

 is not claimed that the book published by the 

 government contains any thing of especial im- 

 portance to practical bee-keepers that is not 

 found in our excellent standard books on the 

 honey-bee, or may be learned through our 

 many bee journals and pamphlets on the sub- 

 ject. These statements can not be successfully 

 controverted, and scarcely need to be enlarged 

 upon to show that the free publication of this 

 book for general distribution is entirely unne- 

 cessary. In the manner of distribution by Con- 

 gressmen it will not reach those who need It 

 most. The most of them would fall into the 

 hands of that large and intelligent class of bee- 

 keepers who read, and are already well^posted 

 on the subject. They would be the first to 

 make application for it, and I have no doubt 

 that the 1500 who have already applied for the 

 book are all of that class, and are readers of 

 Gleanings. It will, no doubt, be interesting 

 reading to them all, but we can not say that it 

 would give them much practical information 

 that they had not before. Congressmen would 

 send many of these books to their constituents 

 who have no interest in bee-keeping, and never 

 will have, and hence they would be thrown 

 away. 



This matter is very much on a par, though in 

 a comparatively small way, with that gigantic 

 humbug the free distribution of common garden 

 and field seed by Congress, which fraud has 

 been lately so faithfully and completely exposed 

 by Secretary of Agriculture Morton. Political 

 demagogues, though they be as talented as 

 Senator Vest, may fume and fret and use their 

 wit and eloquence in sarcastic denunciation of 

 the Secretary, but every candid person can see 

 that the Senator has failed to meet the facts 

 and arguments of the Secretary, and failed to 

 give any good reason why Congress should 

 establish an immense seed -store at a cost of 

 $150,000 to the public, when the country is now 

 so well and cheaply supplied by the legitimate 

 trade of reliable seedsmen. Neither is it neces- 



sary for Congress to publish bee-books for the 

 public, when the same information can be ob- 

 tained from the trade at such reasonable prices. 

 I will quote a few lines here from an editorial 

 that I saw in a daily paper yesterday: 



After being- in session two and a half months, the 

 Congress House has succeeded in passing- a bill in- 

 creasing- from $130,000 to $150,000 the appropriation 

 for the purcliase and free distribution of tobacco- 

 seed that produces mullein-plants and lettuce-seed 

 that turns out to be Russian thistles." 



DThis is the kind of sport that is being made 

 of this business. Only a few days ago a mem- 

 ber of Congress arose in his place in the House 

 of Representatives and asked for information 

 as to how much had been appropriated to aid 

 the experiment to cross the honey-bee with the 

 lightning-bug, so as to produce a new kind of 

 bee that could gather honey at night by its own 

 light. This, I suppose, was intended as ridicule 

 of just such application for appropriations as I 

 am considering. This is the result of commu- 

 nications like Mr. Hilton's frantic call upon all 

 bee-keepers to petition Congress to issue 100,000 

 copies of Mr. Benton's book. Mr. Hilton says, 

 "I have told them there are 300,000 bee-keep- 

 ers," and he insists that everybody should 

 write, so as to "make theui thinli there is a 

 million of us." But he gives no reason why it 

 is so important to have this book distributed 

 free that we should try to practice a deception 

 on Congress to have it done. 

 z:I have not a word to say against the merits 

 of Mr. Benton's book. I consider him one of 

 the best-posted apiarists in the country, and I 

 read with Interest every thing that I see from 

 his pen. I have not read his last book, but am 

 anxious to do so as soon as I can find out where 

 to buy it. But I can not join Mr. Hilton's 

 clamorous brigade in petitioning Congress to do 

 an injustice. 

 Frankfort, Ky., Feb. 31. 



[Since the above was written we have re- 

 ceived one other protest in a similar vein 

 from a prominent bee-keeper and ex-president 

 of the North American. The letter is not for 

 publication, so I do not give it here. Take 

 it all in all. friend Smith's article should be 

 read carefully and acted upon accordingly. But 

 it seems that not more than 15,000 will be print- 

 ed in any event. See Editorials.— Ed.] 



A CAPITAL WAY OF SELLING HONEY AROUND 

 HOME. 



a good ob.ject-lesson. 



By Geo. L. Vinal. 



I believe the honey-producers owe it to them- 

 selves to educate the public about houey. To 

 illustrate: 



Early last fall I extracted some honey. Not 

 having labels or jars I ran it into an alcohol- 

 barrel. I got a small scale, a large bell, and 

 started. When I came to the village I com- 



