1S85 



(J.kANlNcjs i\ i;i;K cLJ/i'Uifk 



48^ 



THE BEES AND SHEEP CONTROVERSY. 



FIUKND MII.r.KR ALSO HAS HIS SAY IN HEfJAHU TO 

 THE CONTENTS OF GLEANINCS. 



■JTp RON A-FIDE suit has been commenced against 

 ^1^ a Wisconsin bec-lseeper, Mr. 8. I. Freeborn, 



I^K bj' an owner of sheep, on the g'round that the 

 ■'^■^ visits of the bees to the pasture ground are 

 detrimental to the sheep. It I am not mista- 

 ken, there has been some loss of life among- the 

 sheep, and they have not been doing: well, and for 

 this damage the beekeeper is expected to paj-. It 

 hardly seems possible that any one could be so 

 absurdly unreasonable, in this enlightened age, as 

 to really commence suit on such grounds, for there 

 is no danger of any harm to the sheep from bees, 

 and the bees working on the clover-blossoms will 

 insure a better crop of clover for the future. Fur- 

 thermore, if a neighbor of mine were sure that 

 bees on his pasture were killing his sheep, how 

 could he prove they were my bees? T doubt if I 

 could identify a single bee as my property, if it 

 were working half a mile or even half a rod from 

 the apiary. However we may laugh at the thing as 

 unreasonable, the course of the law is so unceitain 

 that it would not be beyond the range of possibili- 

 ties for Mr. Freeborn to find the suit go against 

 him, in which case a j)recedent would be established 

 by whicli any bee-keeper might tiud himself subject 

 to blackmail levied upon him lij' the owner of any 

 flock of sheep within three miles of his apiary. A 

 plan has been started in the A. li. J. for a " Na- 

 tional Union," for defense in such cases. Either 

 this or some other plan shoulil be a<lopted, fov we 

 are all inter(>ste(l, and ( doubt not there will be 

 enough to help beiir the expense so that Mr. Free- 

 born caTi ntlord to continue llic ^\llt to a riglitlul 

 issue. 



WHAT (iI.EAMNdS SHOl'l.I) ( ONTAIN. 



As the subject seems more or less iindei- discus- 

 sion, I suppose I have the right to my say. I can not 

 at all agree with the editor, that b.\' ))utting' the mot- 

 to on the title-page, •' Peace on eartli," etc., he 

 thereby acquires the right to till the pages of (Ji.kan- 

 iNfJS with nuitter at all ditfere!it from what it 

 should be without the motto. If my grocer had ' 

 this motto over his dooi-, and should send me a dol- 

 lar's worth of prajer-books when I sent foi- sugar, I i 

 should not like it. The motto is a grood one, but 

 does not give the right to talk about potatoes and 

 strawberries; and if that right exists it must be 

 on other grounds. The matter looks to me like 

 this: Theie was something like a contract, that the 1 

 publisher of (ii,EANiN(is was to furnish me so much ' 

 reading-matter about bee keeping. In the course 

 of time some of the space was taken up with relig- 

 io)is matter; and although I believe in religion most 

 heartily, I thought this a violation of the contract, 

 and thought I had the right to enter a protest. Then I 

 extra pages were added, so that there was no de- | 

 duetion from the space for bee-lore, and, of course, [ 

 I could make no objection. Gradually other mat- 

 ters were introduced— potatoes, carp, strawberries, 

 etc.; but as the pages were increased in number 

 many times more than enough to occupy the extra- 

 neous matter, I received more instead of less bee- 

 literature, consequently I had no right to complain. 

 Rro. Hutchinson, isn't that about the way the mat- f 

 ter stands'/ Don't you get all you bargained for, { 

 with the extra matter thrown in? New subscrib- 

 ers certainly can not comi)lain, for they knew be- ! 



forehand what they are to have— a journal tilled in 

 I the main with bee-matters; the editor, however, re- 

 serving the right to switch off upon any topic that 

 ! he thinks interesting or useful; and if they do not 

 like the dish, they are utider no compulsion to buy 

 and pay for it. Of course, we all know better than 

 I the editor just how to run mattet-s, and any of us 

 I could edit a better paper; but on the whole I should 

 i sorely miss the visit of Gleanings every other 

 week; and if one little matter can be remedied, I 

 j will consent not to ruin Mr. Root's business by or- 

 dering my paper stopped. I allude to having- uKit- 

 ters mixed up so that I must read articles that I do 

 I not care for all through, for fear I iiuiy miss some 

 I information about bees. If I send for five pounds 

 of rice, and my grocer sends me also a quarter of a 

 pound of mustard seed without charging- for the lat- 

 ter, I thank him for it; but if he mixes it all up wiili 

 the rice, the trouble of picking- out makes loth 

 worth less than if I got the rice alone. If I am very 

 busy, and al)out to start out to put on supers, ami 

 GLKANiNiis comes, I want to sit right down and 

 read it through before I put on the supers, in hopes 

 to find a better way. Hut I don't want to take time 

 just then, however much I might like it when at 

 leisure, to read how a correspondent manages to 

 school children or plant strawberries. Now, Mr. 

 Kditoi-, I am not at all exacting; you needn't change 

 the iHimbers f,f Glkanings you send to the others 

 at all; but i)lease i)rint separately the one yon send 

 me, and label one depaitnient, '"This is nice read- 

 ing, but there isn't a wonl about bees in it." If you 

 will do this, I will continue to pay the high price I 

 have been paying, and not stoj) my pajier. 

 Marengo, '111. ('. (\ MiLi.Eit, 1T;^. 



l-'iieiid M.. yoii make a good point on tlip 

 bees and slieep (■(nitfoversy. At the time I 

 had the troiihle with tlie citU'i-inill man, 

 theie was talk of pioseciition. " J}nt," said 

 I. "my friend, if yon eommenee tlie suit 

 a|,'ainst me yon will also have to commence 

 one against all other l)ee-keepei's within 

 range;" and I convinced him by showing 

 hlin bees flying in other directions as well as 

 toward my apiary. At other times, when 

 the bees meddled with the preserving and 

 canning business, and the men talked 

 of recompense for their losses. I suggested 

 that every man who kept bees shonid i)ay 

 his i)roportion of the losses. Tliev. however, 

 urged that, as 1 kejtt by far the hirgest num- 

 ber. I ought to pay the greater part of tlie 

 damages; and may l)e our frieml Freeborn, 

 of Wisconsin, keeps more bees than anybodv 

 else in that vicinity.— In regard to having 

 things mixed up iii (;i.eanin(js, I believe 

 we use more small-capital headingsthan anv 

 other journal pul>lislied. in order to enable 

 our friends to tind out what a par;igraph is 

 about before Ihev read it: and if (ii.i.:AN'- 

 lX(;s weie divided we should have to divide 

 the iirticles almost into sentences; and a 

 part of your own communication, friend M.. 

 would have to go into one department ami 

 part in another. In regaid to printing a 

 different one for you. I am ndlli/ ninud von 

 will have to wait until we get "ahead \vith 

 our work a little. Then another thing: 

 Some of your neighbors might see it and 

 then iheu would want one printed " express- 

 ly to order " too. We liave already got tlie 

 children fenced oil in a place by tlieuiseh es ; 



