1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



was well. At the end of the first order of three months' ad- 

 vertising, there still appearing no good reason for doing 

 otherwise, the contract was renewed. But before the second 

 three months expired, we discovered that the firm was not 

 giving the satisfaction to bee-keepers when handling their 

 honey we thought they should, so we dropped the advertise- 

 ment, and informed them that we could carry it no longer. 

 They paid their advertising bills very promptly, and seemingly 

 were pleased with the amount of business the advertisement 

 had brought them. 



But since discontinuing the advertisement numerous com- 

 plaints against them have come in, one of which was pub- 

 lished on page 817 of the Bee Journal for Dec. 19, 1895. 

 Now as that is but a fair sample of the others, we felt that it 

 would be better for us to make an editorial statement, rather 

 than to take up valuable space in publishing thera all. 



We can only say further, from what we now know, we re- 

 gret that we permitted the advertisement of Horrie & Co. 

 to appear in the Bee Journal. We have learned a lesson which 

 we hope never to repeat. Of course, we feel the worst when 

 thinking of those hard-working bee-keepers who, after having 

 been fortunate enough in a poor season to. get any surplus 

 crop at all, must be compelled to accept much less for their 

 honey than they could have received at home, or at the hands 

 of some other dealers through whom they had made satisfac- 

 tory sales in previous seasons. 



In conclusion, permit us to say that if you feel that you 

 have been dealt with unfairly by any commission firm that has 

 handled your honey, place your complaint before the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union — if you are a member of it (and you ought 

 to be, if you are not). Mr. Thomas G. Newman, 147 South 

 Western Ave., Chicago, 111., is its General Manager, and he 

 will look after your interests very carefully, if it is anything 

 that comes within the province of the Union. And we do not 

 know of any more valuable work it can do for bee-keepers, 

 than to protect its members against those who attempt to 

 take advantage of them. For what shall it profit a bee-keeper 

 who, by careful toil, has gained a surplus honey crop, and 

 then is defrauded out of a goodly portion of its value ? 



Xbe L.ang;strotli memorial, in Gleanings for 

 Dec. 15, 1895, helped to make a specially interesting number 

 of that beautifully-illustrated apicultural semi-monthly. It 

 spoke eloquently of Father Langstroth as a man, minister of 

 the gospel, college professor, editor, bee-keeper, and inventor. 

 The memorial contributions were written by such noted men 

 as Thos. Wm. Cowan, editor of the British Bee Journal ; C. J. 

 H. Gravenhorst, editor of the Deutsche Illustrierte Bienenzei- 

 tUDg; Edward Bertrand, editor of the Revue Internationale; 

 W. F. Clarke and Thomas G. Newman, former editors of the 

 American Bee Journal ; Rev. W. F. McCauley, a former pas- 

 tor of Mr. Langstroth ; Prof. A. J. Cook, Thaddeus Smith, 

 and S. T. Pettit. 



Next week we expect to republish some entertaining ex- 

 tracts from the memorial articles, which we are sure will be 

 read with much interest by all. Bee-keepers are yet too near 

 the lamented Langstroth's time to rightly estimate him and 

 his work. Those who will have the privilege of looking back- 

 ward from the next century will be better able to put the true 

 value upon the great Langstroth and his efforts in behalf of 

 bee-keeping and the world in general. His life will shine on 

 with a more resplendent glory as the years come and go ; for 

 he "being dead yet speaketh," and unnumbered are they that 

 shall yet "rise up and call him blessed." 



I^angstrotli on the Honey-Bee.— This fine 

 book is now reduced in price from $1.40 to $1.25, postpaid. 

 It is the latest revision by the well-known Dadants. We can 

 supply it at the price named, or we will mail it with the Bee 

 Journal for one year — both together, for only $2.00. Every 

 bee-keeper should have Langstroth's peerless work. It is his 

 own enduring monument, as well as the pride of American 

 apiculture. 



MR. F. L.. THOMPSOIV. 



It is always interesting to read about our friends — to 

 see their faces, even if only on paper — and to know 

 something about the particular incidents connected with 

 the life of each. For that reason, Mr. Thompson was 

 requested to permit his photograph to be used, though he 

 would not send it until the second urgent invitation, when he 

 replied that he would comply, but "under protest." (Of 

 course the "protest" made no difference, so long as the 

 picture was forthcoming). 



Mr. Thompson was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 

 3, 1865. Lung trouble induced his father — a teacher by pro- 



"P. L. Thompson. 



fession — to remove to Colorado in 1872, where he regained 

 his health, but was told by the doctor not to enter the school- 

 room again. Hence he settled in the country, near Denver, 

 making and selling butter for a living. There were no fences 

 in those days. The cattle had to come home to water, but 

 this was not enough to prevent them from roaming for miles 

 around in all directions. They had to be "roundup" and 

 counted every day, and the cows brought home for milking, 

 morning and evening. Most of the riding fell to F. L.'s share. 

 In this and in milking, drawing water, hunting stray cattle 

 (sometimes for days at a time in all weather), and, in the sum- 

 mer, haying of the scanty wild grass three miles distant, from 

 which he often secured no more than a load a day, the time 

 passed in unbroken routine, sometimes varied by attending 

 country schools, but chiefly, for him, in reading over and over 

 their small collection of books. 



After some years of such a life, his father, at considerable 

 sacrifice to himself, managed to send the children to school in 

 Denver. Then began a new world. At first, of course, a col- 

 lege education seemed like fairyland, too nice to be thought of 

 as ever really happening. But after entering the Denver 

 High School, taking the "general" course, it began to seem 

 really too bad not to have some idea of what was going on in 

 the cultured world, and so young Thompson began to study 



