1887 



GLEANINGS LN HEE CULTUKE. 



11 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



MRS. HARRISON GIVES US SOME GOOD IDEAS ON 

 THE iMATTER. 



DO not know but I'm a little off on the subject 

 of the ■■ Bee-keepers' T'nion." It apears to me 

 a little like this: A j'ounjr man from one of the 

 remote Dutch settlements in Pennsylvania went 

 to college, and then stvitlied medicine. On his 

 leturn to the place of his nativity, the neig-hbors 

 looked up to him as a very wise and learned man, 

 and were always sending for him to prescribe for 

 them. In revolving- the matter over in his own 

 mind he said, " Why is it that there is so much more 

 sickness now, than when I was a boy '?" He threw 

 up his practice and built a tanyard, and people 

 would come to his mill and tell him of their ail- 

 ments. All the answer this wise man would give 

 was, " Do different; do different." 



Since the organization of the Bee-keepers' Union, 

 lawsuits and neighborhood quarrels are more fre- 

 quent. If 1 should be put upon the witness-stand, 

 and sworn to tell the " truth, the whole truth, and 

 nothing but the truth." my testimony might be 

 more damaging to the bees than many of my fel- 

 low-apiarists would like. It is true, that bees going 

 to and from their hives in pursuit of honey, molest 

 no one; but how is it when they have been roughly 

 handled, such as is sometimes the case, when honey 

 is being extracted ? 



I was at one time w<irk!ngwith my bees, oblivious 

 of every thing, except what I had undertaken to ac- 

 complish, and did not notice that I had angered the 

 bees, as I was well protected against their stings. 

 At the same time, a number of teams were em- 

 ployed in grading the street in front of the apiary, 

 and I afterward learned that the drivers had great 

 dilHcuHy in niamiging them, as the bees stung them 

 until they were almost frantic. 



This fall, after the frost had killed the tlowers, I 

 was removing the surplus, and the bees were very 

 cross. A widow owns a span of horses and a 

 sprinkling-cart. She lives across the alley from our 

 apiary. I almost trembled when I saw her team 

 driven home at noon, but, fortunately, they were 

 put in the stable without an accident. If these 

 horses had been stung, and had run away and de- 

 stroyed this woman's property, would I not have 

 tieen morally responsible for her loss ? 



Bees are stock that we can not. at all times con- 

 trol. If I could, I would keep them away from my 

 neighbors' pumps. I aim to have fresh drinking- 

 water at all times in the apiary; but it does not sat- 

 isfy them. Oecasionallj' a person or child is stung 

 l)y pinching them accidentallj-. Some of my neigh- 

 bors keep geese, and let them run at large, in direct 

 violation of a city ordinance. These geese rest in 

 the shade of trees upon our sidewalk, and make it 

 foul. If I should complain to the police about 

 these geese, how long would it be before their own- 

 ers would find out that our bees were a dangerous 

 nuisance ? 



Many of our Western towns have their business 

 houses facing a public sq\iare, and the square has 

 wells of water and hitching-posts for the accommo- 

 dation of farmers and the public generally. I know 

 a bee-keeper who has an apiary facing such a 

 square, and is an injury to the trade of that town, 

 for people are afraid to take their teams there, and 

 so go somewhere else. I suppose if the authorities 



should try to compel their removal he would call on 

 the Union to defend his rights. 



The Canadian bee-keepers are at present greatly 

 agitated because one of their number is openly ac- 

 cused, by a neighboring blacksmith, of maintaining 

 a nuisance, and are ])rofuse in their ott'ers of assist- 

 ance to defend him. 1t appeal's to me that the bee- 

 keeper is at fault, as he first complained of the 

 blacksmith keeping a nuisance, in the shape of a 

 bad-smelling pig-sty— a mere neighborhood quarrel, 

 in which bee-keepers should have no interest. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. Lucinda Harrison. 



My good friend Mrs. IT., I am very glad 

 indeed to have you take up the defense on 

 the other side. Your point ahout the geese 

 is an excellent one. One of our neighbors 

 keeps a large lot of chickens that have for 

 two or three years made themselves very 

 much at home, and apparently quite comfort- 

 able, whenever our great luscious Sharpless 

 strawberries were in bearing. We chased 

 the chickens home for quite a while before 

 my wife suggested making complaint. I 

 told her the result would be, probably, that 

 somebody would complain about our keeping 

 so many bees, and I thought the l)est way 

 would be to fence the chickens out. This 

 we did with poultry-netting, and the poul- 

 try-netting fence looks so pretty that I am 

 well satistied with the investment. It also 

 prevents loose cattle and sheep from getting 

 into our strawberry grounds. All these 

 things should be taken into consideration 

 before having differences with a neighbor; 

 and if the Bee-keepers' Union is going to be 

 used for tlie purpose of backing up one par- 

 ty in a neighborhood quarrel, it will cer- 

 tainly be a very l)ad thing all round. I have 

 several times seriously questioned the pro- 

 priety or right— that is, the moral right— of 

 keeping a considerable -sized apiary very 

 close to stores, groceries, or a public square. 

 Perhaps if the apiary contained only a dozen 

 or twenty colonies, and it were surrounded 

 with close-growing trees— evergreens, for in- 

 stance—so as to start the bees straight up in 

 the air. it might not be an annoyance. Re- 

 member PauPs suggestion in regard to mat- 

 ters of this kind— "If meat make my brother 

 to offend, I will eat no flesh while tlie world 

 standeth.'' 



FOUL BROOD. 



PRIENU .J. A. GREEN GIVES US HIS EXPERIENCE 

 IN THE USE OF SAiaCYLIC ACID AND FHEN()I>. 



fHIS subject has been so much written on 

 during the past few months in Gi-eanings 

 that perhaps it is getting to be an old story 

 to many of its readers. The reports of 

 cures are so various that the person who 

 discovers the presence of foul brood in his apiary 

 is apt to be y)uz/.led to know what method of cure 

 to adopt. 



The disease is so contagious in its character that 

 promptness in its treatment is all-important, and it 

 behooves everj- bee-keeper to not on.y acquire a 

 thorough knowledge of its chai-acter and appear- 

 ance, but to decide on the best method of cure, 

 and be prepared to apply that cure without delay. 



I have had to deal with nearly a hundred cases of 

 foul brood of the genuine virulent type. I have 



