1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



71o 



see that they pay for the smokers. They are Willie 

 Weisenhunt, George Boolt, T. D. Pag-e. If it is 

 against the rules, or any thing wrong, I do not wish 

 it. W. W. Aduison. 



Bumpus, III., Aug. !i, 1887. 



I shall make up my mind to drop tin' use of to- 

 bacco, if you will send me a smoker; and if I ever 

 commence to use it again I will i)ay for two smo- 

 kers. LONZO MOSKS. 



Loretto, Minn., Aug. 3, 1887. 



Qim Own ^pwry. 



cxiNUun:;i> by eknest i;. uout. 



THOMAS WILLIAM COWAN. 



fllE editoiial in let'eieiicfi to Mr. Thom- 

 as William C()wan. editor of the Brit- 

 ish Ber Journal, had hardly appeared 

 in last Gleanings before the follow- 

 ing card from Prof. Cook announced 

 a proposed visit from Mr. and Mi's. Cow an : 

 Mil dear Mr. Root :— 



Mr. and Mrs. Cowan Mrri\ed last Friday. They 

 will leave here for your place some time next week. 

 They are delightful people. I am enjoying them 

 immensely. I am sure jou will. Mr. C. is a very 

 modest man, and yet 1 doubt if there is a man in the 

 whole world who has such a literary culture in re- 

 gard to bees. He reads most of the modern lan- 

 guages, which gives him a vast advantage. You 

 may look for a treat. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College; Mich., Aug. 30, 1887. 



Knowing that Mr. Cowan had made the 

 study of fonl brood, as seen nnder the mi- 

 croscope, a special study, I felt (luite anx- 

 ious to see him. Accordingly, having re- 

 ceived a card from our distinguished visitor 

 announcing the exact date when he would 

 be here, I went over to the train, accompan- 

 ied by Iluber, followed shortly afterward by 

 •' his pa." '' How will you know the gen- 

 tleman when he steps off the carV" asked 

 the eldest of the three Roots. " Know himi'" 

 I rejoined, '• I feel sure I shall be able to 

 pick him out, for I have seen a tine portrait 

 engraving of him in the Deutsche Illustrierte 

 Bienen?.eitung, edited by ('. •!. H. Graven- 

 horst." Nothing further was said. Finally 

 the train arrived, and, sure enough, I saw 

 our friend step on to the platform, accom- 

 panied by his wife. I did feel some little 

 hesitancy in addressing by name one whom 

 I had never seen; but when I saw a large 

 box, perhaps two feet high, and about a foot 

 square (which I took foi' granted contained 

 the large microscope i. I stepped forward, 

 and, touching the shoulder of the possessor 

 of said box, said, '• Mi'. Cowan, I am very 

 happy to meet you.'" \ then met Mrs. C. I 

 immediately informed them who your hum- 

 ble servant was, and then introduced them 

 to the eldest and youngest Root. Together 

 we started for the paternal mansion. Tliat 

 evening we discussed American and Uritish 

 apiculture. 



Perhaps before we proceed further it may 

 be pertinent to tell our readers more exactly 

 who Mr. Cowan is. First of all. 1 will say 

 that the whole lioot family concurs heartily 

 in all that Prof. Cook savs in his card as 



above. After a little talk and personal ac- 

 quaintance, one can not help recognizing 

 that the editor of the liritish Bee Journal 

 has rare aV)ilitics. He is accjuainted with 

 almost every thing that has been written on 

 bees, whether of the present or of the past. 

 He is the possessor of one of the largest li- 

 braries exclusively on bees, in the world, 

 some of the volumes being very old.* As he 

 is able to speak in many of the modern lan- 

 guages, this library is something more to 

 him than mere curiosity. He is well ac- 

 quainted with the scientific investigations 

 of the past pertaining to bees, and. guided 

 by this, lie is the better able to direct his 

 pwn investigations. Aside from the field of 

 microscopy, to which Mr. Cowan has given 

 so many years of careful study, he has de- 

 voted considerable attention to geology and 

 botany ; in fact, we found it was quite dith- 

 cult to find a plant of any kind that he did 

 not know the name of. 



In consequence of the senior editor's ina- 

 ; bility, resulting from ill health and the 

 press of business, to entertain visitors, how- 

 ever distinguished they may be, I devoted 

 I my whole time to Mr. Cowan, for I felt that 

 the opportunity was too rare to lose any of 

 1 the advantages which I might obtain from 

 ' his company; therefore I was with him the 

 I greater part of two days and two evenings. 

 I As the subject of microscopy used to be one 

 of my favorite pastimes, I now felt the old 

 enthusiasm well up as I began to talk with 

 a man who had spent more or less of forty 

 years in this interesting study. According- 

 ly, the next day he was solicited to show us 

 liis microscope and microscopic slides. 

 When brother Jones, of the Canadian Bee 

 JournaL stated tliat Mr. Cowan was the pos- 

 sessor of one of the finest, best, and most 

 expensive microscopes in the world, I felt 

 somewhat doubtful as to whether the Cana- 

 dian editor was fully competent to decide 

 what a good microscope is ; but when our 

 visitor drew his instrument from its box, 

 and showed me the accessories, I was doul)t- 

 ful no more. 



It may be interesting to some who have a 

 partial acquaintance with the subject of mi- 

 croscopy, to describe brietly his instrument. 

 It is a binocular, after the Beck pattern. It 

 has a coarse and line adjustment, substage, 

 and a mechanical arrangement for moving 

 the slides. It has several of the best eye- 

 pieces. In addition to these there is a nice 

 assortment of the very finest objectives that 

 can be obtained anywhere in the W(n-ld— a 8- 

 inch, 1-inch. .',. ',, i, .i, /,, and .;,. I lu-esume 

 that none of these latter could be obtained 

 for much less than hfty or one hinidred dol- 

 lars in this country. More than this, he had 

 a spot-lens, iiarabolic reflector, condenser, 

 and poUiriscope. The whole instrument, 

 including the accessories, would i>rol)al)h 

 cost from one thousand to fifteen hundred 

 dollars. As one views the microscope, and 

 admires its beauty, he is greatly astcmished 

 to learn that the whole microsco])e. excei>t- 

 ing the lenses was made by Mr. Cowan liim- 

 self. I should judge that, if he were able to 



* In order to give our readers an idea of Mr. Cow- 

 an's investigations in bee-lore, we would ask them 

 to read an article fi-oin his pen, on page 446, 1884. 



