March, 1910. 



Amorican IBae Journal 



ing, mixed in the bloom by the bees ; 

 the ripened seed thus produced being 

 dropped in some out-of-the-way place 

 where it germinated and grew, having 

 its struggles for life and sustenance, un- 

 til it's beautiful, tempting fruit brought 

 it into favor with man. It was then cul- 

 tivated with care, and new plants start- 

 ed from it by some system of propaga- 

 tion, such as budding, grafting, layering 

 or cuttings, whereby this valuable fruit 

 may be produced with certainty, and be 

 of use to man. It is sometimes very dif- 

 ficult to trace up these valuable chance 

 seedlings, and place the credit for their 

 existence where it properly belongs, and 

 it should be mentioned here, and I do it 

 with pleasure, that all the new and valu- 

 able varieties of fruits, vegetables and 

 flowers, are not the product of wind and 

 insects. 



While nature may seem slow and 

 somewhat reluctant in divulging her se- 

 crets, yet to him who has proven himself 

 capable and worthy, by years of patient 

 toil, much thought, and careful investi- 

 gation, she delivers the keys that un- 

 lock her hidden forces. As stibjects 

 worthy of special mention in this noble 

 work, we have a few horticultural gi- 

 ants, such as Bailey, Burbank, and oth- 

 ers, who have gotten close enough to the 

 heart of Nature to obtain that key 

 which has enabled them to accomplish 

 such great good all along the line of hor- 

 ticulture. Many new and choice fruits, 

 vegetables and flowers are the products 

 of their skillful hands. When these new 

 productions are propagated in sufficient 

 numbers, and set in commercial orch- 

 ards, we find the majority of them re- 

 quire the visits of the bee to "brush life 

 into their baby fruits," just the same as 

 others. 



So man, with all his boastful preten- 

 sions in controlling the lower forces of 

 nature, would make a dismal failure in 

 producing the abundant crops of fine 

 fruit that supply the markets of the 

 world, without the help of the industri- 

 ous honev-bee. 



It is sometimes said that Nature 

 makes no mistakes. Yet freaks are no 

 uncommon occurrence. Sometimes we 

 find coupled on a man's shoulders a don- 

 key's head, exhibiting all the stubborn, 

 kicking and self-willed disposition of the 

 real animal. A very good illustration 

 of this character, is that man who re- 

 peatedly persists in spraying during fruit 

 bloom, thus killing his friends — the bees 

 — and injuring the blooiu by poisoning 

 the tender organs of the flower. Efforts 

 to convince him of his error are in vain. 

 He is at variance with the world, sadly 

 out of harmony with himself, and you 

 are forced to the conclusion that "to con- 

 vince him against his will, he'll be a mule 

 still." 



A great many horticulturists are not 

 bee-keepers, yet they should take that 

 honest pride in helping to keep their 

 neighbors' bees, that is characteristic of 

 the libcral-nu'nded man who knows wdien 

 he has been benefitted, and is willing to 

 acknowledge the favor. This seems easy 

 enougli in the blooming spring-time, 

 when all animated Nature is in tune with 

 the Creator; when the very air that sur- 

 rounds us seems to be laden witli per- 

 fumed poetry, set to notes almost divine, 



and everybody loves his neighbor. How- 

 ever, when the latter part of the sum- 

 mer arrives, if there should be a scar- 

 city of honey-producing flowers, the bees' 

 short-comings are manifested; then, how 

 soon the whole scene, stage and all, seems 

 to tumble upside down, and rehearsal of 

 prose — very common, every-day prose — 

 mingled here and there with ugly nerve- 

 grating epithets may be heard, out in the 

 orchard, at the cider-press, and even in 

 the kitchen around the preserve-kettles 

 and jelly-pans. Bees, like human beings, 

 are not without faults, and when the 

 fruit-harvest comes on, they, like men, 

 will go to collect a part of the crop that 

 they have helped to produce. They, how- 

 ever, take the rotting, cut, punctured or 

 bruised — the very culls of the crop — 

 while man takes the best and then is 

 not satisfied ; he wants to cheat some- 

 body by placing these culls in the mid- 

 dle of his boxes and barrels. 



Bees do not lead in the ugly work of 

 puncturing sound fruits, as many people 

 believe. Their mouth-parts are made 

 for working soft wax, and not for cut- 

 ting and puncturing; but they will 

 quickly engage in the work of carrying 

 off the spoils, when the skin is once 

 broken or cracked, as it often is after a 

 sudden flow of sap, or when punctured 

 by birds, yellow jackets, wasps, curculio 

 and other insect pests, or by fungus 

 growth which causes rot, which is so 

 often noticed in peaches, in which case 

 the broken-down tissue presents such 

 a slight change at first that it is unob- 

 served by the fruit-grower until the bees, 

 that are close observers, have detected it, 

 and are at w'ork trying to save what 

 would otherwise go to waste. Then the 

 fruit-grower comes in and says, "The 

 bees are doing it ; I see them at it ; you 

 can't fool me!" He might with equal pro- 

 priety say that the common, old. every- 

 day buzzards were directly responsible 

 for the death of some fine animal that 

 he lost, because he found them feasting 

 on its dead carcass. 



These fruit-juices are decidedly harm- 

 ful to the bees; but here, again, we find 

 them acting like some people — imbibing 

 too freely of that which docs them hurt. 

 But men do not wait for drouth or fam- 

 ine to cause them to hunt for the tempt- 

 ing of peach and grape. It is in time of 

 scarcity, and under the above-named 

 conditions that the bees swarm to our 

 fruits, cider-presses and kitchens, and 

 we, trying to follow out the principles of 

 the Golden Rule in the relations with 

 our bee-keeping neighbor, learn then 

 how much easier it is to be a Bear, than 

 it is to forbear. 



In such occasions we should learn to 

 use the "memory of services rendered, 

 as oil for the rusty machinery of pa- 

 tience." Yet many people will spend 

 much more time in grumbling and growl- 

 ing about some slight loss of these 

 culls, and a few accidental stings re- 

 ceived, than they will in thankfulness for 

 benefits measured to them in the half- 

 bushel. 



Some people will magnify a bee-sting 

 until it seems greater than a railroad ac- 

 cident, and still seem to be unmindful of 

 their own cruel words and unkind ac- 

 tions, which may be stings of nuich long- 

 er duration to some neighbor or friend. 



If the world would pay half the at- 

 tention to the human stings that are in- 

 flicted along the highway of life, in the 

 wild, delirious scramble for wealth, posi- 

 tion, and power, that some people pay to 

 an occasional bee-sting, what an uplift 

 society could receive ! 



The colony inside the hive, again like 

 human society, often maintains a large 

 number of drones, which live by the 

 toils of others; but, toward the approach 

 of cold weather, the society of the hive 

 kills or drives out its drones, while hu- ^ 

 man society increases the number and 

 gives them increased privileges. If the 

 workers or producers in human society 

 should deal thus with their drones, and 

 public leeches, there would be an exodus 

 to tropical climes, the like of which has 

 never been known. Then, if the Red 

 Sea could forever be closed in behind 

 them, another Day of Thanksgiving and 

 Prayer would be in order. But as they 

 are here, and most likely to stay, let us 

 hope that they yet may learn to emulate 

 ill good qualities the poor drone of the 

 hive, which does but little harm outside 

 of satisfying his enormous appetite, fill- 

 ing the station in life that nature intend- 

 ed he should, and disappearing with the 

 close of the season. What a world this 

 would be, if everybody would come as 

 near performing his assigned part in life 

 as does the poor and much-abused 

 drone-bee ! 



Sometimes both bee-keeper and fruit- 

 grower meet with disappointments by 

 the failure of their crops. Then they 

 wear the same kind of clothes. They 

 wrap themselves in coats of hope for fu- 

 ture success ; they put on caps of faith 

 in their chosen vocation; then feast their 

 hungry souls on rich anticipations. 

 "Fortunately, however, the perfection of 

 a man's happiness bears but little rela- 

 tion to the size of his fortune ;" for he 

 who can lovingly and patiently watch 

 the slow developments from the bloom 

 to maturity of fruits, and carefully pro- 

 tect them from disease and insect pests, 

 and he who can keep himself in tune 

 with the merry hum of the honey-bee 

 while skillfully directing it in the pro- 

 duction of a crop of honey — tliat sweet 

 of all sweets — can find happiness and 

 contentment not to be measured by dol- 

 lars and cents. Such men are not idlers 

 or drudging slaves on the public high- 

 ways of life, although tlieir work may 

 be hard and constant ; they are in real- 

 ity students, teachers and rural artists, 

 who understand how to guide Nature's 

 trowel and paint-brush in putting on the 

 finishing touches to their products. They 

 understand what the same great Chem- 

 ist who is compounding the food-values 

 of the fruit, is filling the prescriptions 

 in the honey-laboratories. They are in- 

 telligent and worthy citizens, and at pres- 

 ent are on very friendly terms. We have 

 now followed this congenial pair from 

 the time, when the bee, which, 2 little 

 contrary to the custom of her sex, first 

 went courting the fair flowers, and when 

 she betrothed her life in kissing life and 

 hope into the fair blossoms; on up to 

 where we found a little friction, that 

 justly should not exist, and wliich was 

 removed by an application of the Gold- 

 en Rule ; and now we find them march- 

 ing down the aisle, strewn with flowers, 

 to the march rendered by the mocking- 



