108 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



he kant holler. Keep the noise & racket agoln 

 steddy. If thay is enny nabers thay cood bring 

 sum moar tin pales & things & maik sum moar 

 racket. 



After you git yure box or nale keg reddy, rub on 

 sum tanzy tea. This will help to charm the bees, 

 but I cood sell you a bottel of P. Benson's Bee Hive 

 Elickser that is shure evry time. Anuther time I 

 will tell you whot els to doo, but kepe up the racket 

 till then. P. Ben.son, A. B. S. 



P. S.— Printer poot in that A. B. S. stans for Api- 

 culturistical Beekeepin Sighentist. 



THE CONVENTION AT ALBANY, N. Y. 



CONTINUED FROiM PAGE 46, LAST ISSUE. 



fHIS convention was one of tbe best and 

 most profitable tbat it bas ever been 

 my good fortune to attend. To give 

 in detail an account of all the valuable 

 things that came up and were discuss- 

 ed, would make quite a book in itself, there- 

 fore I shall have to notice briefly the most 

 important points. 



The question as to what to do with our 

 honey was the most absorbing topic, and 

 there was some considerable complaint of 

 overproduction, but not quite the customary 

 amount of censure because somebody else 

 had done or had not done so and so. Blam- 

 ing editors of bee-journals for urging every- 

 body to go into the business, occupied a por- 

 tion of the time. Then came the question, 

 are there too many already in the business V 

 and is it best for some of us to give it up ? 

 Mr. L. C. Root, son-in-law of "Father Quin- 

 by," as he is called in York State, was one 

 of the bright spirits of the occasion, and I 

 understand he has been one of the old wheel- 

 horses in the convention ever since its start. 

 I learn, also, that Father Quinby was found- 

 er of this same convention ; that he had met 

 and taken part in its deliberations on the 

 very floors of Agricultural Hall, which we 

 were then occupying. I hope my two good 

 friends. Prof. Cook and L. C. Root, will ex- 

 cuse me for saying that L. C Root seems to 

 be to the bee-keepers of York State just 

 about what Prof. Cook is to the bee-keepers 

 of Michigan ; and I think the inhabitants of 

 these two States may fervently thank God 

 for two such men— men so devoted to the 

 best interests of the youth of our nation ; 

 and men, too. who are laboring so earnestly 

 to have godliness and righteousness prevail. 

 Among other good things brought out by L. 

 C. Root was a little talk which he prefaced 

 with the following, in his own words, as near- 

 ly as I can recollect. 



IS OUR PURSUIT A WORTHY ONE V 



" Now, friends, before going very far in 

 this matter of giving up the business because 

 it does not pay, let us look at it a little. Is 

 bee culture a worthy pursuit ? Is the indus- 

 try one we may be proud of ? When a young 

 man starts out in any sort of business, if he 

 does not he certainly should inquire, ' Is this 

 kind of work laudable, and will the world be 

 benefited by it V Is it a respectable calling T 

 I am glad to be able to point to you the 

 words of Holy Writ where it says : 



Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know 

 to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 



"Now, friends, there is more in this little 

 verse, perhaps, than the world has evei- 

 brought out. The production of butter and 

 honey was especially pointed out as worthy 

 and laudable, in the Bible ; and whatever is 

 in the Bible will bear following. Many peo- 

 ple find themselves greatly benefited by a 

 diet of milk and honey ; and in the text I 

 have quoted, butter and milk amount to 

 pretty much the same thing ; that is, the in- 

 dustry that affords butter, of course affords 

 milk. A great deal has been said here about 

 the overproduction of honey. We are pro- 

 ducing too much of it, hence the low prices. 

 I want to say, there is no overproduction, if 

 it were properly placed before the people, 

 and they had an opportunity of using it. 

 There are enough children in our land alone 

 to take every pound of honey we can pro- 

 duce, and not have half enough to go around, 

 even then. [Applause.] Instances have been 

 mentioned during this convention, of cases 

 where people had no sort of knowledge that 

 good honey could be offered at retail for 8 or 

 10 cents per pound in its liquid state, and 

 from 12 to 15 cents in comb. [Louder ap- 

 plause, etc.] We have produced immense 

 quantities of honey. At one time the ship- 

 ment of a ton of honey to New York created 

 quite a sensation ; but now, carload after 

 carload may be unloaded at our commission- 

 stores, and no note or comment is made of 

 it. We are consuming immense quantities, 

 but the world is by no means supplied yet. 

 What is the trouble V One of the troubles, 

 to my mind, lies right here, and it certainly 

 is a very great trouble. The industries of 

 our land are not all worthy and laudable. 

 The Bible indorses and approves of the milk 

 and honey industries ; but does it anywhere 

 say that beer and whisky shall ye drink, that 

 ye may know to choose the evil from the 

 good? [Loud applause.] Do you wish to 

 know what the beer and whisky business 

 has to do with the low price of honey V Just 

 this, my friends : The money that should 

 pay for milk and honey for the children, now 

 pays for beer and whisky every Saturday 

 night, and the children go without these 

 things that would be so conducive to their 

 health and Avell-being. [More applause.] 

 You have all heard of the immense sums of 

 money that go into the dram-shops. Now, 

 a great part of these immense sums are made 

 up of the money that is needed for the grow- 

 ing children ; and 1 hardly need allude to 

 the fact that a mere fraction of the money 

 that goes for intoxicating liquors would take 

 all the honey that we can produce, at good 

 prices, and the honey would benefit, while 

 strong drink is a curse."' 



I wish it were possible for me to give a 

 good many more similar talks furnished us 

 by friend Root ; but I am afraid that a good 

 deal that I have quoted above may be so far 

 from his words that some of the Ijiends may 

 think 1 have not done him justice ; but I 

 have given the idea, and it is a grand one fi-r 

 the encouragement of the bee-keepers of the 

 world. 



Some very pleasant words were said in re- 

 gard to reviews of the past. Friend Root 



