18S7 



GLEANi^N'GS 1^' liEE CULTURE. 



787 



came from one of my hives; in that Case he should 

 take care of them, and they wonld be mine. 



E. FllANCE. 



To the employe. ]f he takes his employer's time 

 to hive them, he should pay for it. It i.s commonly 

 considered so, yet a person might he taken for 

 trespass for j^oing' upon iiiiothor i)erson's property. 

 A person discovering a mine npon another's land 

 would not own it. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



The employer who, should claim bees on such 

 grounds would take rank as a pretty unjust and 

 stingy man. The emjiloye should v'ay for the 

 time spent in securing the bees, and should let the 

 bees go if he is at sometliing which can not well be 

 left without damage. The case of the hand who 

 secures u two-dollar swarm for himself, and makes 

 his employer five dollars loss by his absence, would 

 be righted, not by giving up his bees, but by pay- 

 ing up the damages. E. E. Hasty. 



] do not know to whom they would belong; but 

 morally it seems to me a happy chance for each to 

 express true courtesy and generosity of feeling, 

 each esteeming the pleasure accruing to himself 

 from relinquishing his claims in favor of the other 

 as of more genuine value to him than the posses- 

 sion of the bees would be. It, is a case in which 

 each should look not only on his own things, but 

 also on the things of others— although I suppose 

 the stronger claims would be on the side of the em- 

 ploye. R. Wilkin. 



In law, I am not sure; Init if an employe of mine 

 should discover a s\varm near my apiary, in or out ' 

 of working hours, find proposed to keep them, I 

 think 1 should propose a settlement of our ac- 

 counts. In many such ca-^es 1 have never had an 

 employe think of keeping them. There are two 

 objections: First, the likelihood that they came 

 from the apiary unnoticed. Second, it opens a 

 wide avenue for corruption and dishonesty. Yes, 

 the owner of the land has no claim on the bees. 



James Heddon. 



I am very glnd indeed, friends, that this 

 question has come up ; for altiiough it seems 

 to me an unimportant matter, it strikes di- 

 rectly on tliis great question of labor and 

 capital. Perhaps mosc of those who have 

 answered the question are employers rather 

 than employes, and, therefore, it would be 

 quite nalura! that they should favor the 

 capital instead of the labor side of the ques- 

 tion. But I am pleased to note that the 

 greater part of tlie answers rather favor the 

 employe. If it were possible I should have 

 been very glad to hear from those who 

 work for \va;;es by the day or month. Now, 

 let me suggest, dear friends, that whichever 

 side of tlie question be taken, it linally 

 strikes on the question of wages — how much 

 is a man worth V Tlie responsibility is con- 

 stantly devolving upon me of saying how 

 much those in my employ are worth per day 

 or per year; and I assure you nothing gives 

 me greater i)leasure than to be able to tell a 

 man or woman tliat 1 can afford to pay them 

 better wages than they have been getting. 

 Now to the question : If some one in my 

 employ, while working for me, should hnd a 

 swarm of bees, and, without any hesitation, 

 say, '' Mr. Koot. I guess I have done a pret- 

 ty" good thing for you this afternoon ; I 



found a nice swarm of Italians by the road- 

 side, and there they are at work in that 

 chaff hive," if this man did not so much as 

 intimate there was a question of property, I 

 should rellect something like this : 



'■ There, here is another instance showing 

 that this fellow is giving Ids time, talents, 

 and ability entirely to my service, for the 

 ten cents "an hour that I pay him. If he 

 continues to sliow this spirit he will pretty 

 soon be worth V2i cts. an hour." A good 

 many times I advance wages just because 

 of a single occiu-rence of this kind. Now, 

 which is better— to get $5.00 for a swarm of 

 Italians you have found, or to get an ad- 

 vance in your wages of 25 cts. per day for 

 800 days (a year of working days) ? In one 

 case, the man who is striving hard to make 

 all he can honestly, has made $5.00 in one 

 day ; in the other, he has made a gain of 

 $7o.00 in a year. Now, this is simple just- 

 ice. The man who gives his whole time and 

 attention to his employer's interests is worth 

 tlo cts. a day more than one who is looking 

 out for a chance to do something on his 

 own account, while his time is sold to 

 another. Just one more point: The man 

 who wotild insist that the swarm of bees 

 belonged to himself without any question, 

 would be most likely to forget t'o mark off 

 his time, even though he wasted a couple of 

 hours in taking care of the bees. This is a 

 sad reflection on humanity ; but 1 do be- 

 lieve the great reason why so many are 

 tramping about, hunting for a job, is be- 

 cause, when thev get said job, in their greed 

 and selfishness tiiey forget to be thankful to 

 their employer. Where a man sells his 

 time by tlie houl^ to somebody else, a good 

 man will regard such a sale as sacred as if 

 he sold a bushel of apples to somebody else. 

 Every apple belongs to the man who pays 

 his money for it. Now then : Whenever 

 one of our men finds a swarm of bees, I 

 leave it to him to decide ; or out of courtesy, 

 as friend Wilkin expresses it, I would sug- 

 gest to him that he mark off his time while 

 he takes care of them, and call them his 

 own. But his decision in the matter would, 

 I think, pretty surely indicate his money 

 value by the day or by the year. 



QucstiiDi jVo. 11 —Do you use the slatted honey- 

 boardr If so, do you prefer to have them queen- 

 excludingV In either case, will they pay for them- 

 selves in, say, three or four seasons':' 



I do not use them. E. France. 



I do not use honey-boards at all. E. E. Hasty. 



1. Yes; 3. In general, no; 3. Yes. C. C. Miller. 



Yes. Yes. Most assuredly they do. 



A. J. Cook. 



No. T have never used them. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



I do not use them, and doubt their practical val- 

 ue (to me). R.Wilkin. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes. They will, by keeping all brood 

 out of sections. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



If we i-aised comb honey, we would use the slat- 

 ted honey-board. queen-e.\cluding, and think it 

 would pay. Dadant & Son. 



