530 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 20, 



Director of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association for several 

 years, doing the Association important service while its 

 President. 



Mr. Pringie was a worker in the fullest sense of that term 

 — worl<ing with both hands and head with equal facility and 

 effectiveness. He could turn his hand to many things, and 

 his head and pen to many subjects. He was known as a clear, 

 cogent and forcible writer, not only in the daily press, but the 

 monthly magazines. Prof. Cavanaugh, the expert phrenolo- 

 gist of 'Toronto, in a published work, spoke of Mr. Pringie as 

 "one of the ablest writers in America." His style was clear, 

 critical and logical, and the man who entered the controver- 

 sial arena with him might well make up his mind beforehand 

 to come out with a demoralized quill and with his feathers 

 Hying. In the field of polemics Mr. Pringie carried the heav- 

 iest kind of guns. He was one of the few men who were 

 thoroughly practical and utilitarian, as well as theoretical and 

 philosophical. 



He made his bee-culture and farming pay in dollars and 

 cents; handled his large apiary alone, doing all the work; 

 put up and marketed his honey, worked on his farm, and found 

 time (at night) to write for bee-papers, agricultural journals, 

 magazines and newspapers, besides conducting a large cor- 

 respondence, including in it some of the most eminent litera- 

 teurs and scientists of the day. 



Mr. Pringie was held in high esteem by all who knew 

 him as a man whose word was his bond, and whose honor and 

 moral life were above reproach. 



As all remember, Mr. Pringie was the able Superintendent 

 of the splendid Ontario apiarian exhibit at the World's Fair 

 here in Chicago in 1893. It was while there that we had the 

 pleasure of making his acquaintance, as well as that of his 

 accomplished daughter. Miss Grace Pringie, who assisted him 

 in preparing the exhibit. Mr. Pringie had for years been one 

 of the American Bee Journal's best, contributors, and those 

 having the older volumes, as well as the more recent ones, 

 will find many valuable articles from his practical pen. All 

 will still recollect his long and interesting essay, which he 

 read at the Toronto convention of the North American last 

 September, entitled, " The Mistakes of Bee-Keepers and Bee 

 Journals," and which was published in full in these columns. 



The Napauee Express (a local newspaper) for July 24, in 

 giving the announcement of Mr. Pringle's death, said : 



Allen Pringie was one of Nature's noblemen, and it is 

 hard to realize that he has passed out of our sphere, through 

 the Valley of the Shadow, and solved the great problem veiled 

 to mortal eyes. 



Deceased was delicately constituted, and fully recognized 

 that his hold on life was not as strong as falls to the lot of the 

 average man. He carefully abstained from everything that 

 had a tendency to endanger his health, and with his extensive 

 knowledge of hygiene, might have prolonged his life to a ripe 

 old age had he not contracted a sunstroke while in New York 

 last summer. Mr. Priugle never fully recovered from this 

 stroke. About a month ago his eyes became affected, and his 

 last communication to the Express, just prior to the general 

 elections, was wriiten under great dilBculties, as he was par- 

 tially blind from the effects of his illness. A few weeks after- 

 wards he recovered his sight and rallied somewhat, but about 

 two weeks ago his health again began to fail, and he grad- 

 ually grew weaker until tired nature gave up the struggle on 

 Wednesday afternoon, and he passed peacefully away to that 

 bourne from whence no traveller e'er returns. His wonderful 

 vitality kept up to the last, and deceived his family and rela- 

 tives, who, up to the hour of his death, imagined that he was 

 Improving. 



Allen Pringie was born in Richmond, Ont., on April 1, 

 1841. He studied medicine for a time, but abandoned it to 

 pursue the calling of an agriculturist and apiarist. He was 

 fully conversant with all branches of agriculture, and a thor- 

 ough and successful farmer. His farm in the township of 

 Richmond is a model of neatness and cleanliness in keeping 

 with the orderly character of the man. 



Mr. Pringie was a scientist and a scholar, and his articles 

 of economic and social questions brought him Into great 

 prominence. As a controversialist he was recognized as a 



clean, fair, and manly antagonist; who never misrepresented 

 an opponent, or hit below the belt. He was a deep thinker 

 and a logical reasoner, and as a writer of clear, forcible En- 

 glish, will take rank with the foremost writers in Canada to- 

 day. He was a volumious writer, and a contributor to many 

 of the leading magazines and newspapers both in Canada and 

 the United States. Deceased was in close touch with many of 

 the ablest thinkers on this continent, including Prof. Goldwin 

 Smith and others. 



Mr. Pringie held views peculiar to himself on religion. 

 His position on this subject was often misunderstood. He 

 was an earnest and truthful man, and while he fully appre- 

 ciated that the pronouncement of his views on religion de- 

 tracted from his influence and popularity, he never shirked 

 the responsibility of them. It cannot be said that he ob- 

 truded his views on people, as unless approached he was very 

 reticent on the subject. 



Mr. Priugle was an ardent bimetallist, and said that he 

 "held himself in readiness to answer fairly and squarely any 

 argument in fact, figures, history or science that might be 

 presented decently in favor of the gold standard and against 

 bimetallism. He felt in saying this that it was neither ego- 

 tism nor fanaticism, but the confidence that comes from the 

 consciousness that one is right in a great cause." He believed 

 that with a fair field and no favor he could successfully meet 

 all comers on the subject of bimetallism ; and that this was 

 the great question, compared with which questions of tariffs, 

 free trade and protection dropped into insignificance. 



Mr. Pringie was a man of sterling honesty and integrity, 

 and of a kindly disposition. He was esteemed and respected 

 by friends and opponents alike. He was 55 years, 3 months 

 and 22 days of age, and leaves^a wife and one daughter, Miss 

 Grace Pringie, to mourn the loss of a faithful husband and a 

 loving father. 



Queen-Rearing Questions Answered 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A list of questions have been sent me, mainly on queen- 

 rearing, with the request that I answer them in the American 

 Bee Journal ; and as the most of them are of interest to all 

 bee-keepers, I have concluded to do as requested. To simplify 

 matters I have numbered each question, and its answer 

 follows : 



QuES. 1. — Will a queen reared from an old queen about to 

 be superseded, be as good as when reared from the same 

 queen in her prime ? 



Ans. — Yes ; and I would add that some of the best queens 

 I ever had in my apiary were reared by this superseding pro- 

 cess, the old queen living from one day to one year after the 

 young queen, or the queen-cell for her, was started. The an- 

 swer to question 7 will hold good here. I have never seen 

 any difference in queens or workers reared from queens about 

 to^cease life, as compared with the same from the same queen- 

 when in her prime. Has any one else ? If so, will he please 

 tell us about it ? 



QuES. 2. — What is the least number of day after hatch- 

 ing, the weather being favorable, required before a young 

 queen will leave the hive for fertilization ? 



Ans. — Five days after maturity is the least number that I 

 evei knew to elapse before the queen'^^wentuout to meet the 

 drones. But a queen does not always hatoh'on her maturity, 

 for very many are held in their cells from one to five days by 

 the worker-bees, after they would have gnawed off the cap- 

 pings to their cells and come out could they have had their own 

 way. Queens are more often held in their cells in this way 



