T64 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



IMY BEES. 



Out in the bright June sunshine. 



Under the apple trees 

 Stand in a row together 



The liomes of my honey-bees. 



This swarm, I call " old crossys " — 



Hybrids, and full of spite, 

 Farthest away from the pathway. 



Working from morning till night. 



Next, " the Italian beauties "— 

 Gold, 'gainst the hive's white ground. 



Ready to swarm first in spring-time. 

 Hive full of bees the year round. 



Then, " the Italian's daughter," 



Hive in one weeli full of brood- 

 She may soon equal her mother. 



And prove when tested, as good. 



Next, tlie red hive, with inmates'! 



The Ijindest and gentlest of all ; 

 And sections packed full of honey 



I'll take from the hive in the fall. 



So, as I walk through the clover, 



Or down to the end of the row. 

 And pause by each doorway a moment. 



When, busy, they rush to and fro, 



I think, in this world's busy harvest 



We people are somewhat like bees- 

 Some robbers, some drones, and some workers; 

 None thrive with whom work disagrees. 



—Nebraska Bee-Keeper. 



Topics of Interest. 



Eiperlieiits-History and Sajgestioiis. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



The subject of experiments in bee- 

 keeping is one that has taken much of 

 my thought for years ; and so the arti- 

 cle on page 542, from the able pen of 

 one of our most expert bee-keepers, Mr. 

 P. H. Elwood, the late President of the 

 American Association, was read with no 

 slight interest. I am glad that he and 

 the American Association are moving in 

 this direction. I believe he is the chair- 

 man of a committee to look after this 

 matter. I am glad that this is so. Such 

 action is wise. T believe the govern- 

 ment, which is looking after the inter- 

 ests of almost all industries in very tell- 

 ing ways, should not overbook that of 

 bee-keeping. I am also quite certain 

 that, if bec-lceepers demand recognition, 

 and ask aid, the government will not be 

 slow to render all possible assistance. 



HISTORY OF APIARIAN EXPERIMENTS. 



The present Assistant Secretary of 

 Agriculture, Hon. Edwin Willits, is a 

 man of great breadth, and so has the 



broadest sympathy with all useful work. 

 He recognizes in apiculture an industry 

 that has men of the noblest fiber in its 

 ranks ; that gathers up what would 

 otherwise be a waste-product, and hands 

 It forth to feed the people, thus adding 

 to the Nation's wealth ; that does a 

 great though unrecognized service in 

 securing more perfect fertilization of the 

 flowers of our fruits and vegetables, 

 thus adding immensely to the fruitage 

 of our fields, gardens, and orchards. 

 Such breadth of knowledge, and such 

 interest in all that is useful has made 

 him the earnest friend of bee-keepers, 

 as of all other useful citizens. 



Just as he was leaving his duties as 

 President of this College, where he had 

 done most excellent service, to assume 

 the still more arduous duties of his pres- 

 ent position, I talked over with him the 

 whole field of apicultural experimenta- 

 tion and told him where I thought the 

 United States government could and 

 should assist the bee-keepers in their 

 work. He assured me that bee-keepers, 

 as well as those of other industrial pur- 

 suits, should receive attention, and, 

 when possible, aid and encouragement, 

 so far as he was able to secure such 

 service. 



The next year after Dr. Willits as- 

 sumed his duties, I was in Washington, 

 and was asked by both Dr. Willits and 

 Dr. C. V. Riley (who, as head of the 

 Division of Entomology, would nat- 

 urally have supervision of experiments 

 in apiculture) if, in case the Department 

 wished to carry on experiments in api- 

 culture, the bees at this College could 

 be secured for such work. I replied 

 that I thought they could be had for 

 such purposes. 



In the autumn of 1890 Dr. Riley 

 visited me here at the College, and asked 

 me if I would supervise experiments 

 here for the government. I said I would 

 do so if he would employ a good apiarist 

 to take charge of the work. I told him 

 that I thought the best service which 

 the government could render was to 

 secure bees from the Orient; that there 

 might be bees in the East that were 

 superior to ours, and that this was work 

 that private enterprise ought not to have 

 to undertake ; there were possibilities 

 in this direction that the government 

 ought to develop ; the knowledge thus 

 gained would be valuable to science ; 

 and if no practical good came from it, it 

 would still be wortli the time and money 

 necessary to the enterprise. 



I also urged that Mr. Frank Benton 

 was just the man to attempt this work. 

 I think an unsuccessful effort was made 



