1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



457 



they visited the cider-press, and often sipped the juice from 

 the grapes that had burst from over-ripeness, or which had 

 been punctured by other insects or the birds. 



The farmers regarded the little bees as great pests, and 

 •demanded that the old man must abandon his occupation. 

 Failing to comply with their demands, they set fire to his little 

 apiary, and barely escaping with his life himself and compan- 

 ion went to dwell in another country. 



The next year the crops were shorter than ever before ; 

 the clover yielded only a half crop of seed, the fruit was 

 scrawny, and the ears of corn were not so full and plump as 

 usual. 



In the old man's deserted little garden there chanced to 

 fall a single seed of Canada thistle. It grew and multiplied a 

 thousand fold. The next year the increase was a thousand 

 times a thousand. When the autumn winds blew from the 

 northwest the thistledown was scattered broadcast over the 

 farms in the valley, and ere the farmers were aware their 

 land was beyond redemption. 



The thistles and mortgages took the farms, and their once 

 prosperous owners moved away. 



The old man returned with his bees to his mountain home. 

 The product of his apiary was two-fold as much as e?er be- 

 fore. But the bees gathered not the honey from the clover 

 and the corn, but from the thistles, and Spanish-needles, and 

 golden-rod and blackberry vines that had taken possession of 

 the valley farms. 



There should be no conflict between bee-keepers and 

 farmers or fruit-growers, but each should welcome the other, 

 and thus be mutually helpful. How often has it been shown 

 that bees are almost invaluable in the fullest pollination of 

 the blossoms that ultimately produce fruit in abundance, and 

 which without their aid might yield but little, if any. 



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PERSONAL MENTION. 



Mr. a. H. Duff, of Larned, Kans., is now in charge of 

 "The Apiary " department of the Kansas Farmer. He makes 

 a good sub-editor. 



Mr. Andrew Snyder, of Cooper, Mich., dropped into our 

 office for a few moments last week. He was on his way homo, 

 having spent several weeks in traveling about the country. 



Mb. C. S. French, of Minnesota, when renewing his sub- 

 scription lately, said : " I can't afford to do without the 

 American Bee Journal, as it is my main companion^ in the 

 apiary." 



Editor Hutchinson, of the Review, attended the May 

 meeting of the Philadelphia Bee-Keepers' Association, having 

 had a special invitation to be present and " give them a talk 

 on honey-production and answer such questions as they might 

 wish to ask." Mr. H. gives a lengthy account of his trip in 

 the June Review. 



Mrs. Effie Brown, of Eau Claire, Wis., is the much- 

 awake editor of the bee-department in the Northwestern Ag- 

 riculturist. We recently received this kind letter from her : 



Eau Claire, Wis., June 25, 18!t6. 

 Mr. Geo. W. York, Dear Sir .—My last copy of the 

 American Bee Journal has just been opened, and though it is 

 the busiest time in the year with us bee-keepers, I feel it my 

 duty to stop long enough right now to tell you that every copy 

 of your paper seems to be better than the one before. I sub- 



scribe regularly for 11 different papers, magazines, etc., and I 

 don't think any one of them is so full of meat as the American 

 Bee Journal. I am trying the work of bee-editor myself on a 

 very small scale, and now as I look your work over I can 

 hardly see how you manage it all so well. 



We are having an exceptionally good honey season this 

 year. I never saw more white clover or better Alsike than is 

 found all around us. Basswood is two weeks early this year, 

 and looks as though it would yield well. Bees are bent on 

 swarming more or less, for with such a heavy honey-flow and 

 hot weather, some colonies will boil out in spite of anyone's 

 managing. 



Wishing you a heavy " flow " of new subscribers, I am, 

 Yours respectfully, Mrs. Effie Brown. 



Thank you, Mrs. B., for your good wishes. And success 

 to you in all your labors. 



Mr. Alfred H. Newman, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, called 

 on us July 6. He is the manager of the successful Cedar 

 Rapids Candy Company. But most of our readers will re- 

 member him as the junior member of the firm of Thos. G. 

 Newman & Son, publishers of the American Bee Journal for 

 19 years prior to June 1, 1892. 



Rev. Emerson T. Abbott, of St. Joseph, Mo., has en- 

 gaged again to go next fall on the Missouri Farmers' Institute 

 force, to talk on "Agricultural Education in Common 

 Schools," and on bees and poultry as opportunity offers. He 

 fears this may prevent his being at the Lincoln convention of 

 the North American, but we hope not. Mr. Abbott always 

 helps to make things lively at a bee-convention, when he can 

 be present. He must not miss that Lincoln meeting, as it is 

 expected to be a "whopper." Those Nebraska folks are 

 hustlers. 



Mr. Martin Brockman, of 808 Abigail St., Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, has, we are informed, been soliciting consignments of 

 honey. Mr. Byron Walker, after he had, as he thought, 

 taken due precaution as to his commercial standing, filled an 

 order for him for some !g73.00 worth of honey. Mr. Brock- 

 man, acknowledging the receipt of the honey, stated that it 

 was very satisfactory, and ordered more. Mr. Walker, again 

 making further inquiries, decided not to make the second 

 shipment. After writing him a number of times regarding 

 honey already sent, and getting no response, he received 

 notice from the commercial agencies that Mr. Brockman was 

 irresponsible.— Gleanings. 



Mb. J. S. Hartzell, of Addison, Pa., in a letter dated 

 July 6, says these true words about bee-keepers and the liter- 

 ature devoted to their interests : 



Persons generally keeping a few bees are not interested 

 as they should be in bee-literature, and, in fact, farmers not 

 one in ten take an agricultural paper, and therefore the farm- 

 ing is in proportion to their own knowledge of the business, and 

 by not keeping pace with efforts made on scientific principles 

 of our agricultural stations and of which the majority of 

 farmers are ignorant. The same applies to our apicultural 

 friends. Great lessons are learned in every iSsue of our bee- 

 literature, as well as agricultural periodicals, and I would not 

 undertake to do without one or two bee-papers as long as I 

 keep in the bee-business. 



A New York Subscriber (we omit his name) who was 

 quite a good deal in arrears on his subscription, recently paid 

 up and in advance ; and when doing so he wrote : 



" Mr. York :--We think that you must be a very patient 

 man or you would be after some of us with> sharp stick." 



We wish that all who are behind on their subscription 

 would imagine that a " sharp stick " is coming after them, 

 and pay up and ahead. A great many very good people be- 

 come careless, or overwork their " forgettery," and conse- 

 quently the publisher of their paper has to suffer. Now, 

 friends, if you are in arrears to the Bee Journal, suppose the 

 next time you go to the post-office, you send us a couple dol- 

 lars, as did the subscriber above referred to. At the same 

 time perhaps you can send along several 40-cent subscrip- 

 tions of your bee-keeping neighbors. See offer on page 463. 



