TM® MMEKICJRH BE© JMVRf%RI^. 

 -.^^^ 



729 



trolled out-of-doors as in some suitable 

 place iu-doors. 



To insure drj' air. the cellar must be 

 :i well drained one. with bottom 

 cemented, and walls plastered to pre- 

 ^■l•l)t moisture from passing through. 

 NfNt it must be warm enough to pre- 

 vent freezing, and provided with sulli- 

 fient ventilation to admit of the es- 

 cape of the heat and gases generated 

 by the bees. The temperature most to 

 be desired is 45° Fahr. 



A portion of the cellar ought to be 

 set aside especially for the bees. When 

 presentable, I would locate them in a 

 solid body in the center of the room — 

 never close to the ends. Let the hives 

 rest a foot or more from the bottom of 

 the cellar, and upon each other, being 

 careful to break joints and get the 

 weakest colonies on top. 



This work should be delayed until 

 the autumn is sufficiently advanced to 

 chill the bees a little, so that tjiey will 

 not be too active ; avoid, however, the 

 other extieme of waiting for cold 

 weather. When all are nicely piled 

 up. exclude all light. Mr. Newman 

 advises entering the bee-department 

 every fortnight with a dark lantern to 

 see that all goes well. 



If the thermometer indicates above 

 4.'j-. admit cold air ; if below 40'-', which 

 ought not to occur, partly close the 

 ventilator to bring the mercury up to 

 the desired temperature. 



Mr. Newman and Prof. Cook agree 

 that each colony should begin the win- 

 ter with 30 pounds of good honey. 



I have never weighed mine, but be- 

 lieve it would be a good plan. Some 

 bee-keepers resort to small stoves to 

 keep their cellars warm enough, 

 others depend on the warmth from a 

 lire in a room above the cellar, while 

 others again connect it by a shaft or 

 X'ipe.with the stove above. By this 

 latter plan the cellar is ventilated with 

 warm air. 



Queen's County, N. Y. 



But Mr. Alley proceeds to add. that 

 ■■ paid-for articles are not so good as 

 those we get for nothing." lie further 

 asserts, that ■when a fellow is gettiu"; 

 |o tor an article, he is working for the 

 15. and not for the interest of those 

 who will read his, sometimes (yes, 

 almost always) long-winded sermons." 

 He winds up with the coaxing remark: 

 "Now if bee-keepers will give their 

 experience in their own apiaries, or 

 that of some neighbor who cannot or 

 will not write, we shall have all the 

 interesting matter we can use." 



Mr. D. A. Jones, of the Canadian 

 Bee Journal, copies the article from 

 which the above extracts are taken, 

 and endorses it as follows : 



Henry Allej- does say some sensible 

 things, and among others, he voices our 

 sentiments in regard to the above. When 

 we say "our sentiments," we do not wish 

 to be understood as meaning that all those 

 who write, do so for the mere love of gain, 

 but there is often a certain telltale style 

 about them that is easily recognizable. 



BEE-PERIODICALS. 



Our A|ticullural Literature, 

 Publishers. 



and 



lf"/'iJten for the American Bee Journal 



BY REV. WM. F. CLAHKE. 



Some months ago. Mr. W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson remarked editorially in his Bee- 

 Keepers' Bevieiv, that the bane of api- 

 cultural journalism was the cutting 

 down of subscription prices, and its 

 attendant competition of cheapness. 



As an illustration of this, we find 

 Mr. Alley saying in a recent issue of 

 the American ApicuUurist. "we cannot 

 aflbrd to pay for articles except in rare 

 cases." Of course not. 



I want to say a few plain, but not 

 unkind words, about the foregoing ut- 

 terances by this brace of apicultural 

 editors. 



Mr. Alley is very sweeping in what 

 he says about •• paid-for articles." Mr. 

 Jones endorses him with somewhat 

 ■• bated breath." But both are in the 

 same box as '-accusers of the brethren." 

 They distinctly convey the idea, one 

 that all. and the other that many of 

 those who have received pay for con- 

 tributions to the bee-periodicals — have 

 written "for the love of gain." and 

 not for the interest and profit of their 

 readers. 



Now. I do not hesitate to give this 

 charge a point-blank denial ; and I re- 

 gard it. moreover, as a gross and 

 gratuitous insult to apicultural writers 

 in general. I know it is not true in 

 regard to myself. I have received 

 kind and liberal pecuniary acknowl- 

 edgements for many of my articles 

 that have appeared in the bee-periodi- 

 cals. I have also written a large num- 

 ber without fee or reward, and I can 

 honestly say that I never penned one, 

 whether it was paid or unpaid for, 

 with any other motive than the good 

 of the bee-keeping public. 



Nor do I claim to be a whit more 

 unselfish than the rest of the quill- 

 driving fraternity and sisterhood who 

 have written for the bee-jjeriodioals. 

 The idea of such men as Prof. Cook, 

 Messrs. Heddon. Doolittle, Cornell. 

 McKuight, Holtermann, Dr. Millei> 

 and a host of others that might be 

 named ; and of such women as iSIrs. 

 Harrison, Cyula Linswik. Mrs. Chad- 

 dock. Mrs. Axtell. and many more 

 literary as well as bee-keeping ladies, 

 writing merely for "filthy lucre," is 

 too absurd to be entertained for a 

 moment, and I am persuaded, will be 



scouted by the great mass of bee-keep- 

 ers all over the North American con- 

 tinent. 



In the first place, it is foreign to tlic 

 true literary instinct to write merel3- 

 for pay. VVlien, in Dr. Watts' child- 

 hood, a farthing, the smallest English 

 coin, was ofl'ere<l for the best bit of 

 boy-rhyme, the future poet betrayed 

 the budding forth of genius by produc- 

 ing the following couplet : 



I write not for a farthing, but to try, 

 How 1 your fartbiuK writers may outvie. 



That's the intuitive feeling of every- 

 one, old or young, who is under the 

 infiuence of the genuine cacoelhes 

 seribe?uli. 



Next, every apicultural writer of 

 any note has been prompted by in- 

 terest in bee-keeping to put pen to 

 paper. If Mr. Alley knows ■ a fellow " 

 of whom this not true, let him name. 

 He dare not. and he cannot. Interest 

 in apicultui-e. and desire to advance it, 

 have developed manj' into interesting 

 writers, who. otherwise, would never 

 have discovered that they had a talent 

 in that direction. A. I. Root is a con- 

 spicuous example of this. His great 

 abilitj- was unknown to himself and 

 others, until he began to write articles 

 for the American Bee Jocrnal un- 

 der the modest 7i07n de 2]hiine of 

 "Novice." 



Again, why is it assumed that every 

 one who receives pay for apicultural 

 literarj' work is mercenary, sordid and 

 selfish ? Time is money, ink-slinging 

 is labor as really as honej'-slinging. 

 and "the laborer is vvorthy of his 

 hire." Do Messrs. Alley and Jones 

 take pay for their hives and other 

 " bee-fixins' " for "the mere love of 

 gain," without concern to give value 

 for value ? If they are not mere 

 " monc}' grabbers," whj' do they judge 

 those to be such whose forte is not in 

 hive-making and queen-rearing, but in 

 helping to diffuse apicultural knowl- 

 edge hj means of the press ? 



This kind of slur comes with an ex- 

 ceedinglj- ill-grace from Mr. Jones. 

 No man owes more to the pens of 

 others than he does. He cannot write 

 an article tit to be read, and his best 

 effusions need a great deal of touching 

 up by some one who knows how to do 

 it. Does Mr. Macpherson work for 

 nothing, in putting Mr. Jones' ideas 

 into readable shape ; or in getting paj' 

 for what he does, is he onl}' concerned 

 about his net receipts ? 



Like queries might be asked about 

 men in all the walks of business. There 

 are mercenary men everywhere, but 

 the great mass of those who live by 

 honest iudu.stry. are anxious to give an 

 equivalent for every dollar they re- 

 ceive, and cannot be justly reproached 

 because they take pay for their work. 



