The certainty that by co-operative effort 

 error will, however plausible, be exposed 

 and elminated in the long run, tends to 

 make men less vehement in the defense of 

 views still open to question, and more toler- 

 ant of the opinions of others. Thougii like 

 results would undoubtedly be attained 

 through individual investigation working 

 apart and communicating its results to the 



Eublic tlirough the ordinary channels, yet 

 y co-operative effort these results are 

 compassed more speedily, and sooner placed 

 upon an enduring basis. 



Men cherish their opinions as they do 

 their offspring. Mischevious notions, when 

 once they obtain currency, often work 

 baneful results before tlieir fallacy is 

 exposed. They are earnestly and vehe- 

 mently defended, and as earnestly and 

 vehemently assailed. When a speedy con- 

 firmation or refutation is impossible, they 

 entrench themselves with an aixior, and 

 maintain their defenses with a tenacity, 

 which stimulates corresponding vehemence 

 in the assault. Many of the riots which 

 have afflicted the world are traceable 

 largely to this intemperate conflict of 

 opinion. Wars of words have not unfre- 

 quently given place to wars waged with 

 more destructive weapons ; and the stake 

 and the battle-field have enforced, for a 

 time, a unanimity of opinion, which, while 

 it lasted, proved the paralysis of intel- 

 lectual activity. By voluntary association 

 and co-operative effort, evils such as these, 

 similar in kind but less in degree, have 

 either been avoided or reduced to a min- 

 imum. 



The results of associated effort have 

 already been conspicuous in bee culture.— 

 Within a quarter of a century the net 

 returns from the honey bee have increased 

 more than one hundred fold. The habits of 

 the industrious little worker have been 

 carefully studied, its natural history has 

 been investigated, the laws which govern 

 its reproduction and development have 

 been learned, and the conditions of its 

 renumerative activity have been made 

 known. 



All this knowledge would have become 

 the property of the scientist and the pro- 

 ducer in time, but the old routine has been 

 set aside, and the slow course of develop- 

 ment which satisfied investigators and 

 producers in the time of our fathers, has 

 given place to a united activity by which 

 the area of knowledge has been rapidly 

 widened, and the aggregate of production 

 increased many fold. Thousands of tons of 

 the most delicious food, whose sweetness 

 had been for ages literally wasted ui)on the 

 desert air, have been added annually to the 

 stock formerly known and available, and 

 thousands more will be added year by year 

 from the same source of supply. 



I am persuaded that this industry is still 

 in its infancy, and that in the future, when 

 bee culture shall have been extended, as it 

 imdoubtedly will be, not only means of 

 livelihood but avenues to wealth will be 

 opened up to the industrious and the frugal 

 from this source of remunerative activity, 

 the value of which 1 should hesitate to 

 estimate. 



It is, therefore, with pleasure that I see 



the beginning of a movement in Northern 

 and Central Kentucky to develop an indus- 

 try which our rich and broad pastures, and 

 our blossom-bearing fruit and ornamental 

 trees are eminently adapted to encourage 

 and render profitable. 



H. C. Hersperger, of Jessamine county, 

 delivered the following interesting essay, on 



BEE-KEEPING, A SOURCE OF WEAI^TH : 



In the present state of society, when 

 every one is living up to the full extent of 

 his ability, it is wise to make money from 

 all the honest sources within our reach.— 

 That we may learn to make money from 

 the management of bees is our business 

 hereto-day. If we can, by intelligence in 

 the application of science to tlieir habits, 

 make them a source of wealth to our people 

 and the nation, we will have done much for 

 the good of society. 



We hear of bees from the earliest ages 

 down to the present time. They are spoken 

 of in the Bible, many centuries before the 

 Christirn era, and in the writings of Virgil 

 and Columella ; but they seem to have had 

 no management except that which was 

 dark, mysterious and uncertain. No good 

 results are reported of them. The correct 

 understanding of their natural history, and 

 the proper applicjition of art and science to 

 their habits^was left for Huber and Dzier- 

 zon, and Langstroth and Quinby. 



The laws which govern bee instinct were 

 unknown .to them. The science and art, so 

 applicable and essential in the successful 

 management of tlu-m in the present day, 

 were unthought of in the past, as they are 

 nnthought of now by nine-tenths of our 

 people. The light had not yet come out of 

 them. Fifty years ago, the light had not 

 come out of steam and electricity. Now 

 they are the motive powers of the world, 

 bearing telegrams to every part. 



Of course, we do not claim for bee-keep- 

 ing a place among these wonderful agen- 

 cies, but we do claim for it a place among 

 the industries of our people, capable, by 

 intelligent management, of giving as good 

 results for the outlay as are obtained by 

 any work done upon the farm. 



It appropriately belongs to farming.— 

 Farmers have the soil and the flowers, and 

 where forage is wanting, they can supply 

 it by sowing and planting. And it is to 

 them I especially direct my thoughts to- 

 day. The flowers upon your fields, mead- 

 ows and waysides contain in their tiny 

 cells a sreasure — a delicious sweet, secreted 

 day by day, and unless some arrangements 

 are made to gather it in, will be daily 

 wasted upon the air. It is this saving, this 

 gathering from every available sourse that 

 brings thrift and success to the farmer.— 

 Shall we let this treasure of the flowers be 

 wasted in our fields or shall we gather it in, 

 is a question worth consideration. 



He is a poor economist indeed, who 

 suffers available treasure to go to waste 

 around him. What would you think of the 

 farmer who would not gather the golden 

 grain when it was ripe and waving in the 

 helds ? Or, what would you think of the 

 man who would harvest the new crop and 

 let the old crop go to waste ? The man of 

 thrift gathers and saves from every possi- 



