He that is (aithrul in that which is least, is faithful also in much.— LUKB 16:10. 



any 



MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBOKS. 



_-_ 1 



Whei'o no ooiinsel is, the people fall: but in the 

 inultitiide of counselors there is safety.— Pnov- i 

 KinJsll:U. ! 



Y neighborly talk to-day will he a rep- i 

 etition, as hear as I ean fonvenientlv 

 make it. of a little talk I ,irave the 

 hee-friends in Xew Orleans. 1 may 

 explain, that it was given without 

 thought of pnhlioation. After I got 

 thi-ough. several lecpiested I sliould put it in I 

 ])riiit.' Well, while I shall do so I shall take ' 

 the liberty of leaving out a good deal that I 

 do not tliink will be particularly neecU'd 

 here, and 1 shall also put in some things 

 that I intended to mention, but omitted. 

 The subject assigned me was — 



THE I'UOGllESS OF BEE CULTrilE SINCE ISCO. 



Before starting out with my little talk, my 

 dear friends, I want tt) tell you how much 

 pleasure it gives me to meet face to face so 

 many bee-friends from the South, wliom I 

 liave" known for years through correspond- 

 ence. It also affords me great pleasure to 

 notice among them many friends also from 

 the far North, some of them even from Can- 

 ada, and one or two from Maine, to say noth- 

 ing of those scattered here and there almost 

 all over the face of our great nation. I do 

 not know exactly why this topic has been 

 assigned to me, unless it is that 1 am one 

 among the pioneers, as it were, who first 

 started the development of our favorite in- 

 dustry. 



Before speaking of the inventions that 

 liave come up here and there through the 



f years that have gone by, 1 want to say that 

 it seems to nie honor and credit is due not 

 only to tlie one who brings forth an impor- 

 tant invention. l)Ut to the age in which he 

 lives. When the age is ripe for invention, 

 the invention comes forth, and it can not 

 well come forth until the age is ripe for it ; 

 and when this rii)eness comes, usually sev- 

 eral come out with the same invention, or 

 facts, almost simultaneously. Our good old 

 fathers ]/uigstrotli and (^ui'nby. each one of 

 them wrote a book on liee culture : and 

 when each set about his work he hardly 

 knew of the existence of the other. It is 

 greatly to their credit, also, that when these 

 books" came to light it was found that 

 they agreed substantially in all important 

 points. AVhen the age was ripe for steam, 

 steam-engines came, and many efforts con- 

 triliuted to bringing forward and perfecting 

 the invention. 'When the age was ripe for 

 some more rapid means of communication 

 than our mails, electricity came to our aid, 

 and laid- tlie electric lights which now^ illu- 

 mine these beautiful grounds every evening. 

 The honor of these inventions is not due to 

 anv one man. It is the work of the people; 

 and, dear friends, the progress that has been 

 made in bee culture since 1S()() is due to a 

 great many different i)eoi)le— the world at 

 large— because tliere was a demand for the 

 things brought forth, before they ever saw 

 the light of day. 



In the A B V book 1 have told you how T 

 commenced chasing a swarm of bees. I 

 have told vou. also, how greedily I devoured 

 all the bee-books that could be then found 

 on tlie subject. In is(n. friepd Wagner 



