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EDITOR. 



VoinV. Jan. 26, 18 



No, 4. 



Rise, for the day is passing, 



And you lie dreaming on ; 

 The others have bucliled their armor, 



And forth to the fight are gone. 

 A place in the ranks awaits you ; 



Each man has some part to play ; 

 The past and the future are nothing 



In face of the stern to-day. 



Our Review- of the new book, " Lang- 

 stroth Revised," is crowded out of this 

 issue. It will appear as soon as we can find 

 room for it. 



Tiie Bee Hive for January comes out 

 with a colored heading, minus its cover, 

 and the price lowered to 35 cents a year. It 

 contains 12 pages, is published monthly, 

 and is a spicy little periodical. It will be 

 clubbed with the American Bee Joubnal 

 for $1.20 per annum. 



]>r. A. B. Mason is at work for the 

 good of apiculture. He has already delivered 

 two addresses this winter, and is now booked 

 for another at a Farmers' Institute, 60 miles 

 south of Toledo, O. He is also on the pro- 

 gramme of the Tri-County Institute for 

 another address at Adrian, Mich. The 

 Doctor is a pleasant speaker, and can in- 

 terest almost any audience. 



Profesi^ional Bee-Men. — Judge W. 

 H. Andrews, McKlnney, Texas, on Jan. 10, 

 1889, desires to correct his letter as it ap- 

 peared on page 12, so as to read thus : 

 "Ninety-five per cent, of all the bees in 

 North America, kept by professionals and 

 their neighbors, are just mongrels." Several 

 words were omitted by the writer, Inad- 

 vertently. 



I%ot a I^ate Sprine:.— According to 

 the following from A. W. Greeley, Chief 

 Signal Officer, the Weather Department ap- 

 parently does not believe that the present 

 mild weather indicates a late winter and 

 cold spring. He says : 



The significance of the unusual weather 

 conditions for the past seven months can be 

 explained only with reference to the abnor- 

 mal distribution of atmospheric pressure 

 over the northern hemispheres. Under the 

 doctrine of averages we could reasonably 

 look for an open, mild winter, since the late 

 spring and summer was cooler than usual, 

 and to counterbalance the deficiency of 

 temperature in the spring and summer there 

 should bean excess in the winter just now 

 occurring. This, however, cannot be re- 

 garded as responsible for future prophecies, 

 since the scientific use of average can only 

 refer to very long periods, and cannot safely 

 be referred to in special short periods, such 

 as six months or a year, in case of tempera- 

 ture and rainfall. My personal opinion is 

 that no one has reasonable grounds for pre- 

 dicting a late spring, on the simple basis of 

 the present winter being so far mild and 

 open. 



"»VeIl Satisfied.— S. J. Church & Son, 

 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when sending the dues 

 for the National Bee-Keepers' Union, make 

 the following remarks : 



My vote is for the same officers for the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union who have 

 served so well since the Union has existed. 

 I am perfectly satisfied with the manage- 

 ment and the effective work of the Union. 

 I think the General Manager should be paid 

 a liberal salary for services rendered, for the 

 labor and care are too much for the mere 

 honor ot the office. 



That is natural and right, but the Union 

 is not in a condition to pay a salary, until 

 the expenses of the suits on hand are pro- 

 vided for. The present Manager never ex- 

 pects a salary, but his successor may do so, 

 and it would be right and proper to pay for 

 such services— provided the money neces- 

 sary to pay it, is forthcoming. 



But, alas, with a membership of only 

 hundreds where it should be thousands, 

 there is no chance to do anything like the 

 work which the Union is capable of doing 

 for the pursuit of apiculture. It ought to 

 have 25,000 members, at least. 



Did Ton Ever Xliinlc of the magni- 

 tude of our Query Department ? Up to the 

 end of last year we had published 600 

 Queries, beginning the year 1889 with No. 

 601. Ten thousand replies (in round num- 

 bers) have been given to the six hundred 

 questions therein propounded. In no other 

 way could the opinions of so many apiarists 

 have been obtained on the topics presented 

 for solution. This Department presents en- 

 joyable reading matter, not only for those 

 who ask the questions, but also for those 

 who reply, as well as the general reader. 



»r. XinWer, of New Philadelphia. O., 

 wrote us on Jan. 18, 1889, as follows : " The 

 weather so far has been remarkably pleas- 

 ant and mild. The bees, both in the cellar 

 and out-of-doors, are wintering finely." 



**^* ^«^*^'-r^V^^ — ■' — - — -- f ia 



Mild IVinler tVeatiier seems to 

 have prevailed over a large part of the 

 world. The metropolitan daily papers re- 

 port that the Londoners have bitterly com- 

 plained of their Christmas— saying that they 

 "gathered to their dinner in a thunder- 

 storm, and walked home through mud and 

 slush." 



Inmanyof thebayson the coast of Noi^ 

 way, the water has been found to be frozen 

 at the bottom long before It froze at the top 

 —the weather being so mild. 



We are also informed that apple men In 

 the lake counties and other sections of New 

 York State are being subjected to no little 

 worry through the mild weather, which has 

 caused fruit to rot. About half a million 

 barrels of apples, according to persons who 

 claim to know, are stored in the Empire 

 State, and half of these, it Is feared, will go 

 to loss. 



So it seems that bee-keepers are not the 

 only ones who have cause to complain be- 

 cause of the unseasonableness of the 

 weather. They have suffered two or three 

 years of failure of the honey crop because 

 of bad spring weather. Now it may be 

 their turn to rejoice while others are mourn- 

 ing. Nature gets even with us all in a life- 

 time. 



*-"• O. Perrine, who boasted at the 

 bee-convention at New Orleans, that he was 

 " the boss adulterator of the world," now 

 lives at Riverside, Calif., where he owns an 

 orange-grove. Mr. A. I. Root called there 

 while on his trip to California, and found 

 him as usual in great prosperity. 



Much More Food than usual has 

 been consumed by the bees during the mild 

 weather for the past two months. Care must 

 be taken to see that they are well supplied 

 with food, or starvation may be the result. 



Mr. A. S. Uoodricli, WorthingtOD, 

 0., has lost his wife, and when her lifeless 

 body was lying in itscasket.it was expected 

 that he would also pass to the other shore. 

 After five weeks of languishing he is re- 

 covering. The Bee Journ.4.1. extends 

 sympathy and condolence to a bereaved and 

 sick brother. 



Abuse is Xot Argr«n>ent.— It does 

 not require much intellect in order to be 

 abusive. No sensible person will throw 

 much mud when rocks are at hand. When 

 an individual stoops to use epithets in a 

 discussion, that is prima facie evidence 

 that nothing better is available. " If you 

 have no case, abuse the opposing attorney," 

 is the motto of pettifoggers,the world over. 



" Wliat a Beautitiil Winter (says 

 Mr. John Haskins, of Empire Prairie, Mo.) 

 we ,are having. It is warm most of the 

 time, like spring. On Jan. 3, the bees were 

 cleaning the dead bees out of the hives. I 

 hope they will winter finely." 



