180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



M., there is no trouble in making it pay; 

 but in our market, 20 or 2o cts. seems to Ije 

 about all anybody wants to pay for vinegar, 

 even a I re I ail. 



BTIE LEGISLATION. 



•I'Hi'; co.ncia:din(J chapter on the subject, aft- 

 er WHICH FRIEND MILLER STEPS DOWN 

 AND OUT. 



TKrOW. Mrs. Harrison! T didn't tliink that of 

 Iwl you. I tliought that, instead of joining- 

 '"liM in with the crowd, your kindly nature 

 ■*-'^'r would incline you to take up the side of the 

 weak. Your article on page .53 speaks, like 

 otiiers, of priority of location, a thing which I have 

 repeatedly said has no part in the question given 

 to the committee of the N. A. B. K. society. You 

 speak in your opening sentence of "such a covet- 

 ous, selfish s))irit manifested among bee-keepers as 

 to favor legislation that would depi-ive any one, 

 so disposed, of the pleasure of keeping bees. They 

 must be looking," etc. Don't worry, my dear 

 sister; there's no " they " in the case. There isn't 

 a living' soul among them, except myself, who has 

 said he wanted any such legislation, and I am sure 

 I shall never petition tor legislation alone. Neith- 

 er do I, the only covetous and selfish one in the 

 whole lot, want any legislation that will deprive 

 any one of tiie pleasure of keeping bees, anj' more 

 than T would deprive them of the pleasui"e of 

 farming. I would have the two callings on the 

 same footing. I quite believe, my good friend, 

 what you say, that you have no desire to hinder 

 those about you from deriving pleasure from bee- 

 keeping. But now let me put the matter in a little 

 different shape. 



Suppose this old man of whom you speak, " too 

 feeble to do heavy farmwork," has 100 colonies of 

 bees, iiis sole means of support, and these 100 col- 

 onies fully stock the pasturage within reach, 

 would he desire, or would you desire for him, that a 

 new man should come and plant another 100 colo- 

 nies within 40 rods of his apiary? Would he want 

 him to come with !>W would he with 10? And yet, 

 as matters now stand, he could do nothing to pre- 

 vent it. 



CLASS LEGISLATION. 



Several, like W. W. Maltby, on page 66, object to 

 class legislation. What is class legislation? As 

 I have always understood it, it is legislating in 

 favor of a cei-tain class as against one or more 

 other classes. For instance, I knew a law in an 

 Eastern State making it a criminal offense for a 

 party other than a railroad official to sell part or 

 the whole of an unused railroad ticket. Here was 

 class legislation in favor of the class of railroads 

 and against the class of travelers. I think you can 

 hardly have class legislation without having at 

 least two classes— for and against whom discrimi- 

 nation is made. But in the case of the desired bee- 

 legislation, ayainst whom is the discrimination? 

 No one except bee-keepers cares a fig who occupies 

 a bee-range, only so that the nectar be gathered at 

 the least e.vpense and sold at the lowest price. 

 The man who owns an acre of ground or a thou- 

 sand acres, but is not a bee-keeper, cares nothing 

 about whose bees forage upon his land; only if he 

 is intelligent he will be anxious that gomehody's 

 bees shall be there in sufficient number to benefit 

 his growing crops. So as no class is legislated 



against, I can not see how it can be called claws leg- 

 islation. 



So, Brother Maltby, 

 If you can earn your salt by 

 Keeping bees in skeps. 

 Don't take any steps 

 To hinder legislation 

 In this here nation. 



And now, good friends, a word inclosing. I sup- 

 pose you are tired of this controversy, and I am 

 sure I am. Controversy is not at all to my taste, 

 and in the present case I have the uncomfortable 

 feeling that, by advancing my views, I have lower- 

 ed myself in the esteem of those whose good opin- 

 ion I highly value. lUit those views seemed to me 

 in accordance with right and truth, and the great- 

 est good to the greatest number. They still seem 

 so. Here is the broad field covered with nectar in 

 which none but bee-keepers are directly iiiierested, 

 and it seems to me better that each one should 

 purchase and own his own field, moving together 

 harmoniously, than to have struggles and dissen- 

 sions, at a loss to all concerned, thereby keeping 

 some out of the field by the uncertainty of the 

 business. Time alone will tell whether I am a 

 wild schemer or simply a little ahead of the times. 

 I confess to entire error of judgment in one re- 

 spect, for I thought the mass of bee-keepers would 

 be with me as to the desirability of legislation, 

 whatever might be thought of its feasiljility. To 

 my great surprise, all seem to have the opposite 

 views: and as matters now stand, it seems that val- 

 uable space has been wasted in the discussion; and 

 yet, in some way, good is always apt to come from 

 an honest ettort to get at the truth. 1 am very 

 grateful to Mr. Root for the space allowed mo, and 

 for his evident desire to let me have fair play, and 

 will now get back to other subjects where I shall 

 not feel so lonesome. C. C. MiLiiER. 



Marengo, 111. 



FOUL BKOOD. 



.•VKE WE TO BLAME IP IT APPEARS IN OUR -VFI.V.- 

 RIES ? 



fRIEND ROOT:— In your comments on my ar- 

 ticle on page 4it, you say that a bee-keeper 

 has no business having foul brood in his api- 

 ary, and so need not calculate on it. Perhaps 

 not. Perhaps, too, he has no business having 

 sickness in his family, and so need not calculate on 

 ever needing a doctor, or having to use remedial 

 measures. Some things, sometimes, may be pre- 

 vented; other things, at other times, must be en- 

 dured—or cured. Nobody should sit down with fold- 

 ed hands, and allow misfortune to overwhelm him, 

 without an effort to prevent it; but nobody can pre- 

 vent misfoi'tune from overtaking him. To a large 

 extent we have our fate in our own hands; but to a 

 still greater extent we are at the mercy of circum- 

 stances, and subject to an overruling power. 



If you meant to say that a bee-keeper has no busi- 

 ness to allow foul brood to remain in his apiary, 

 perhaps 1 can agree with you. You may mean to 

 say, that foul brood originates only through some 

 fault or negligence on the part of the bee-keeper. 

 It may be so; I can not believe it. Pond<'r the mat- 

 ter as I may, I have never been able lo see how any 

 act or neglect of mine was instrumentnl iti bringing 

 the disease into my apiary, and I confess I have not 

 the least idea what caused it. At the time it started. 

 It seemed to me that it must have been caused by 



