716 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



them were crammed full of honey, and the 

 bpes were hanging idly on the outside, it be- 

 ing in the height of biisswood bloom. These 

 were both tine, intelligent young men. They 

 had it in their power to assist each other 

 greatly, and yet they had been on bad 

 terms, just on account of the value of a few 

 cents. At another place I met the same 

 state of affairs. One man said to me : 



" Mr. Root, we used to have a bee-conven- 

 tion here, and 1 loaned books to my neigh- 

 bors, looked over their hives, and showed 

 them how. I let them take a hive for a 

 model, and things of that sort. Rut how do 

 you think it turned out ?" 



I replied that I hoped it turned out pleas- 

 ant and profitable all round. 



" Not a bit of it. Just as soon as they 

 had got a pound of honey to sell, they rush- 

 ed into town with it, found out what I had 

 been getting right along for mine, and then 

 offered to sell it to the grocery man for two 

 cents less, if he would take their honey in- 

 stead of mine. I am clear disgusted with 

 this work." 



The above sums up one of the most griev- 

 ous troubles among neighbors, especially 

 where both keep bees. They get along very 

 friendly and nicely until it comes to the 

 matter of disposing of the crop. Honey 

 can not be rushed off as many other things 

 are, and these beginners are almost al- 

 ways in need of a little ready cash. For- 

 getting the accommodation they have had, 

 they too often, in their sudden eagerness 

 to turn their work into cash, do some- 

 thing like what has just been described. I 

 should not wonder if quite a lot of my read- 

 ers say , as their eyes take in this thought, 

 " There, that is just my experience exactly. 

 But I have got done with teaching people 

 how to keep bees, just for the fun of it, and 

 then having them undersell me, just as soon 

 as they get a few pounds of honey." 



Please do not be in haste, dear brother, to 

 come to such a decision. I know these 

 things are bad, but it only shows the selfish- 

 ness of humanity. It is not our neighbors 

 alone, but it is ourselves ; and this same in- 

 born sin exists in our own families and in 

 our own hearts. The remedy is in the beau- 

 tiful little text at the head of my talk to-day : 

 " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome 

 evil with good." What a grand thought it 

 is! and, oh how much better than to say 

 you will not have any thing more to do with 

 them, as we often do! Of course, I recom- 

 mend Christianity and a Christian spirit 

 when these things are told me ; but too oft- 

 en the reply is, " Mr. Root, the church- 

 members do not do a bit better. The very 

 neighbor I was telling you of belongs to the 



church." Some go still further and 



say, " Why, even the minister did so and so." 



One afternoon I was having a very pleas- 

 ant chat with a particular friend of mine. 

 He and his wife, with their children, were 

 sitting out in the shade of the apple-trees, 

 close by the apiary. While we were talk- 

 ing, a man came up and wanted just one 

 planed board, such as friend has stack- 

 ed up ready to make hives. He is a supply- 

 dealer, and has a small engine and buzz- 

 saw. He keeps the regular hives in stock ; 



but as orders frequently come for something 

 different, he keeps a limited quantity of 

 nice boards right close to the saw-table, 

 ready to be cut up as wanted, at a moment's 

 notice. Well, this neighbor wanted just 

 one of these boards. My friend, in a gentle- 

 manly way, explained that he would very 

 much rather not let them go. After he had 

 gone, I suggested : 



" Why, friend , can't you get enough 



for those boards to afford you a good profit, 

 and at the same time accommodate your 

 neighbor V I noticed that you did not say 

 any thing about the price, neither did he. 



Now, I would have said, 'Neighbor , I 



do not like to spare these boards ; but if you 

 need one bad enough to pay me so and so 

 for it, I will let you have one, and replace it 

 soon/' He glanced at his wife, and just 

 then it occurred to me that perhaps the 

 neighbor might be slow pay. or something 

 of that sort. It was as I surmised. Instead 

 of paying for the board, he would have 

 wanted it charged, and that would have 

 been the last of it. A little more question- 

 ing brought out the fact that this neighbor 

 was their minister. 



" Why, friend , you do not mean to 



say that your minister does not pay his 

 debts, do you?" He assented, and then 

 said that the same individual owed them a 

 milk-bill that had been standing so long 

 he had no hope of getting it at all. At this 

 I rose to my feet. The wife assured me that 

 it was all so. I insisted that there must be 

 some extenuating circumstances, or some- 

 thing I did not know about. Now, my bee- 

 keeping friend is a pretty good man, even if 

 he is not a member of any church. He re- 

 plied in a manly way : 



" Yes. Mr. Root, there is an extenuating 

 circumstance. This man receives such a 

 miserable pittance for a salary, that he can 

 not very well be honest, even if he wanted 

 to ever so much. His congregation is small, 

 there are no wealthy members, and I really 

 do not see how the poor fellow does get 

 along as well as he does. Now, I do not 

 mind the amount of the milk-bill, even if it 

 is hard to furnish milk regularly, and not 

 get any pay for it. If he or his people had 

 asked me outright to donate the amount I 

 would have given it willingly. But that is 

 not the point. I do not like the way of 

 promising to pay, and then not paying." 



Now, friends, we are getting to the bot- 

 tom of the matter, I believe. The real truth 

 of this trouble, and a good many other trou- 

 bles of this sort, is that Christ's cause is at 

 a very low ebb in these localities. The 

 churches are small, and even those who do 

 attend and try to support the minister are 

 weak in faith, and, as a consequence, weak 

 in finance. They scrimp their minister, and 

 he scrimps by not paying his honest debts. 

 The consequence is, he can not possibly 

 preach a real gospel sermon. His ( 'hristian- 

 ity is pinched and starved out of him. Who 

 is to blame V It is just like living in a com- 

 munity where boys steal melons and honey. 

 Instead of laying the blame all on the boys, 

 it lies on the community in general. They 

 lack the spirit of the little text. In one of 

 our prominent agricultural papers a few 



