560 



left at the home yard kept on storing from 

 the sweet clover in spite of the fact that 

 the temperature was down to 55. It was, 

 therefore, necessary for us to feed at the 

 outyards by a method which we explain 

 elsewhere. 



Unreasoning Prejudice against Bees, 



Cats, Dogs, etc., on the Part of 



Some Good People 



Some two weeks ago the editor of the 

 Rural New-Yorker, Mr. H. W. Collingwood, 

 inclosed a letter from a correspondent com- 

 plaining somewhat of the attitude of the 

 Rural because it recognized the valuable 

 wojk of the bees in pollinating fruit-trees. 

 This correspondent went on to state that 

 bees were causing blight on his fruit-trees, 

 and that they were a nuisance generally. 

 We prepared a reply showing that, while 

 bees might scatter blight, they do tenfold 

 more good than harm in making more and 

 better fruit, and that the damage they do to 

 trees is not nearly as serious as stated. This 

 reply appeared in the Rural New-Yorker 

 for June 12. h\ acknowledging the receipt 

 of this, Editor Collingwood, in his usual 

 characteristic way, writes: 



Dear Mr. Root: — I thank you very much indeed 

 for your letter and for the article, which seems to 

 me a very sensible one. I am glad to get this, as 

 I think it puts it up to our readers just right. I 

 find that people appreciate a good strong discussion 

 of a subject, and want to have all sides of the mat- 

 ter brought out. 



For some reason, which I have never been able 

 to understand fully, we have a class of people in 

 this country who have no use whatever for a "bee." 

 Some people, as you probably know, vent a lot of 

 6pite on a dog. I know a man who hates a cat on 

 general principles, and every time he goes out hunt- 

 ing he shoots every cat he can find, no matter whom 

 it belongs to. I have another friend who, unhappily, 

 thinks a child is about the worst nuisance that ever 

 came into the world. I have seen him look at chil- 

 dren, and I knew perfectly well that he was saying 

 to himself, " Oh for the days of good King Herod 1 " 

 and so there is no use trying to analyze these pet 

 hatreds or pet abominations. Some meu can see 

 nothing about a bee except a very instructive word 

 he carries at the end of his tail. They can appre- 

 ciate his arguments in that line, and do not want 

 to know anything more about him; and so I am 

 glad to have our friend, the busy bee, have his in- 

 nings, and I am much obliged to you for sending me 

 to bat with a fair chance of making a base hit or a 

 home run. One of them made a base hit on my little 

 boy the other day, and the boy certainly made a 

 home run for the house. He went back, however, 

 as he now has a hive of his own, and he is getting 

 to be something of a beekeeper. 



New York, May 26. H. W. Collingwood. 



Mr. Collingwood strikes upon a point 

 that is worth bringing out — the unreasoning 

 piejudiee on tlie part of some good people 

 against certain useful animals. While we 

 admit that there are useless curs that are a 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



menace and a nuisance to the public gener- 

 ally, there are some dogs that are invalu- 

 able. Years ago, when A. I. Root was rais- 

 ing garden tntck and running a series of 

 cold-frames and greenhouses, some big and 

 little dogs persisted in walking over these 

 cold-frames and breaking the glass. To 

 him a dog was about as useless a thing as 

 one could have on the premises. He was 

 overrun with rats in spite of steel traps 

 and cats. Much to his cliagrin, the chil- 

 dren got a little black-and-tan rat terrier; 

 and lie Avas a holy terror to rats. He kept 

 so everlastingly after them day and night 

 that he drove them off the premises; and 

 for three years after his death, not a rat 

 showed up. From that day to this, A. I. R. 

 has had a most wholesome respect for some 

 dogs, and particularly for that dog. He 

 has always believed in good cats for catch- 

 ing mice. 



Some of our friends the fruit-growers 

 have a similar prejudice against bees. Some 

 day they will wake up, like A. I. R., and 

 discover that the very thing they ouce re- 

 garded as an enemy is, after all, one of their 

 best frienrls. 



By the way, if you have never read the 

 Rural New-Yorker, you are missing some- 

 thing. Editor CoUingwood's editorials spar- 

 Ivle just like the letter above. Moreover, he 

 is a practical farmer himself. If you are 

 interested in soil culture or in being out- 

 doors, get acquainted with the man by tak- 

 ing his paper, and you will be the richer — 

 spiritually as well as financially. There is 

 hardly a journal that dares to expose hum- 

 bugs like the Rural. It is an all-around 

 paper, and, what is more, it has been a 

 stanch friend of the bee. 



Carniolans Hustlers and Early Risers 



In the carload of bees from Texas there 

 were about a third of them Carniolans. 

 After the bees had been released, the Car- 

 niolans were Aery much in evidence in the 

 svpeet-clover patch referred to elsewhere; 

 and, remarkable to relate, notwithstanding 

 there were ten limes as many Italians in the 

 yard as of the dark bees, there were as 

 many Carniolans on the sweet clover as of 

 Italians. The next bees that were much in 

 evidence were the dark or leather-colored 

 Kalians; while the extra-yellow and the 

 goldens were conspicuous by their absence. 



j\foreover, in the early morning, when the 

 temperature was down to 60, the Carniolans 

 were the first to go to the fields. Several 

 of us noticed that, even as early as three 

 and four o'clock in the morning, these black 

 bees were going to the fields. 



