1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



895 



and that is why they usually put their eggs in 

 many baskets, and so there are thousands in Eng- 

 land who thus live on their means and have time 

 and talents to give for the amelioration of our race 

 and not in gay frivolity. The amount of labor they 

 hire is no criterion of their wealth. They may keep 

 from 8 to 12 maid-servants, and one or two men in- 

 doors, horses and carriages, and a man or two in 

 the stables to look after them. The men wear liv- 

 ery, as you doubtless are aware. To be servant to 

 such is considered equal to being a day mechanic, 

 or better. There would be two or three gardeners, 

 one or two more to look after the cows and the 

 horses, for doing the rough work, and a few men to 

 do odd jobs about the park. This class of people 

 have no business, trade, or profession. How do 

 they spend their time, say you? Some are magis- 

 trates, *' the great unpaid," we call them; they do 

 the business of their county, and pay their own 

 traveling expenses. They shoot and flsh on their 

 estates, and that is why game is preserved. Most 

 of them have what is called " hobbies." Some hunt 

 foxes, stags, and hares; some are officers of volun- 

 teer regiments, other are poor-law guardians, mem- 

 bers of local boards of health; others, again, take 

 to science, photography, the microscope, geology, 

 botany, natural history, and kindred subjects. 

 Some take to politics. It is from this class that the 

 larger number of our members of parliament 

 are taken. They, too, are unpaid, and moreover 

 pay their own election expenses. To rank as an 

 English gentleman is to prefer death to dishonor. 

 Black sheep we have, alas I too many; but they are 

 always lepers among their fellows, and ai-e kept in 

 the lepers' place, and no mere wealth will admit 

 them back into the status ihey have forfeited. 



The best feature about our gentry is, they are 

 always interested in their poorer neighbors, who 

 live under the shadow of their great houses; so 

 they are large supporters of poultry, fruit, flower, 

 vegetable, and honey shows, hoping thereby to in- 

 terest the poorer classes to keep these things, and 

 so make their lives less monotonous. The British 

 Bee-Keepers' Association is a good illustration of 

 this. We spend iJlOOO a year, or thereabouts, to pro- 

 mote bee-keeping, and I do not suppose 20 of its 

 members are a brass farthing in pocket by keeping 

 bees. It is all patriotic. The county associations 

 are rather diffei-ent, as its members do, as a rule, 

 keep bees for gain; but the managers of even these 

 all give their time and trouble for the " love of it." 



The clergy of the church of England are mostly 

 drawn from this class. Their income is the tithe; 

 but hundreds of them spend three times more than 

 their tithe among their parishioners. To those who, 

 having the means, rightly realize their duty to the 

 poor whom God has placed them among, there is al- 

 ways a pleasure in helping to make their lives more 

 enjoyable; and this always tends to a nice feeling 

 among all classes. 



You will not be surprised to hear, and I am sure 

 you will be pleased to learn, that this feeling exists 

 between Mr. and Mrs. Cowan and their tenants and 

 neighbors. When they went down to Horsham, aft- 

 er landing to look at it before they started for 

 Bwitzerland, there was a triumphant arch of bee- 

 hives, evergreens, and flowers, awaiting them, and 

 the words, " Welcome home I" I live far from there, 

 BO I did not see it; but I helped to welcome him 

 home to his "chair " among bee-keepers, and was 

 pleased to see him looking so well. His words to 



me were— spoken softly—" It is nice to return home 

 and feel we have been preserved from all danger 

 while traveling 10,000 miles." Smooth waters run 

 deep; the few words were volumes to me. 



Well, friend Root, this Is not bee-keeping, but it 

 is among " home interests," I think. What I have 

 said about the gentry is true of the nobility, in a 

 larger degree. Their lands and establishments are 

 proportionately greater. 



I wish you better health, but no better employ- 

 ment, than to make some, at least, of your fellow- 

 men happier. You know the reward of those " who- 

 by patient continuance in well doing," etc. I 

 shall not put my name to this, as I do not wish 

 Mr. Cowan to know who has been writing about him 

 from this side, so I will style myself a— 



Eng., Nov. 1, 1887. British Bee-Keepek. 



My good friend, we are indebted to you 

 for your kind letter, and for this explana- 

 tion of tlie ways and habits of many of our 

 friends across the water, abotxt which many 

 of us have known but little. I presume you 

 know that we Americans have been in the 

 habit of criticising a little this very thing 

 in regard to the class of people in England 

 who do not work, in the common accepta- 

 tion of the term. Now, perhaps the only 

 obstacle toward getting on to a common 

 ground in this matter is the fact that birth 

 fixes the standing in your country, while in 

 ours it has little to do with it. You drop 

 one word, however, that I feel like grasp- 

 ing hold of with much hopefulness. You 

 say you have black sheep, and that these 

 black sheep can never regain their standing 

 by money alone. Thank God for that. 

 Now, then, if a man by bad conduct loses 

 his standing among his fellows, the reverse 

 must certainly be true : That even a poor 

 humble laborer can. by good conduct, win a 

 place among the highest. Of course, he 

 would need some money, to stand among 

 gentlemen ; but good conduct very often, 

 though perhaps not always, in time brings 

 wealth — perhaps all the wealth that it is 

 good for a Christian man to have. And 

 now, my good friend, am 1 right in saving 

 that it is po.ssible for even a commonplace 

 laborer to work his way to a position wliere 

 even the gentry and nobility will be proud 

 to have him stand by their side ? If so, 

 then England and America are side by side 

 in the great work of the present day climb- 

 ing from earth to heaven. 



THE CONSIDERATION OF IMPOR- 

 TANT ISSUES. 



E. FRANCE ON UNITING OTHER BUSINESS WITH 

 BEE-KEEPING. 



T HAVE eleven acres of land just inside the city 

 1^ limits of Platte^^lle. The population is about 

 ^t 4000. We are about three-fourths of a mile from 

 -*- the business part of town. When I came on 

 the place, about 18 years ago, 1 had but few 

 bees. At this time I went to raising garden truck 

 for our city market, and sold sewing-machines. In 

 the winter I worked at trapping, and for several 

 years I hunted for young wolves about 40 days each 

 spring. I tried the small-fruit business considera- 

 bly during the time. I raised grapes, strawberries, 

 raspberries, blackberries, etc. All of these pursu its 



