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XH091AS G. ]^E'%»T»IAI%, 



EDITOR. 



Voiny. May 18,1889. No. 20. 



May Fo'tvers are coming, 



The bees are hiimnjing, 

 And the small boy hankers tor early fruit ; 



The skies are bluer, 



The gales are fewer. 

 And the damsel is trimming her bathing suit. 



'Fhomas Ciavin, of Warburton, Ont., 

 is dead. He was 31 years of age, and his 

 death was caused by diabete.s. He was one 

 of our subscribers, and was an enthusiastic 

 lover of bees. 



We Regret to learn that Mr. A. J. 

 Hatfield, of South Bend, Ind., unfortunately 

 broke his leg last fall, and is now only able 

 to get along with one crutch, but expects to 

 be able to dispense with that soon. 



Golden Bees.— Mr. W. P. Henderson 

 has sent to us from his Tennessee apiary, 

 some of the brightest yellow bees we ever 

 saw. In fact, the black or dark is barely 

 enough to discern. They are as yellow as 

 the yellowest queens, and when on the wing, 

 look much like bright yellow queens. They 

 are docile, and Mr. Henderson says, they 

 are fine workers, even if they are so grandly 

 dressed. 



Saved by the Union.— How often, 

 when requested to join " The National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union," will some one ask, 

 " What good will it do me ?" The very fact 

 of belonging to such an organization is of 

 itself not only an honor, but also a power 

 In the defensive ! If a jealous or prejudiced 

 neighbor finds that a beekeeper belongs to 

 a " Union '' for tlie defense of the pursuit- 

 he will think twice before rushing into a 

 lawsuit. 



Here is a case in point, and an excellent 

 illustration of the moral effect of being a 

 member of the Union : Kev. Robert Carver, 

 of Manton, Mich., a member of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, wrote to the Manager 

 that he was sued by a jealous neighbor to 

 appear before a prejudiced Justice of the 

 Peace, for maintaining a nuisance. The 

 damage was placed at ?100 for trespassing 

 bees. Threats were made to drive him and 

 his bees out of the village. 



As Manager of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union, we counseled liim as to what to do 

 and how to proceed ; told him to hire a 

 good lawyer, and assured him that the 

 Union would stand by him as long as he 

 was in the right, and defend his rights in a 

 moral as well as a financial way. 



The case was called, and an adjournment 

 was made until April 29. Mr. Carver re- 

 tained a lawyer, showed him the letter, and 

 also the published " Reports " of the 

 "Union." He read the latter carefully, 

 went down town and talked with the oppo- 

 site attorney, and some of those incensed 

 against the bees. The result was that they 

 were quite willing to compromise the affair. 

 By mutual agreement the bees were to be 

 moved a few rods from the road, and the 

 suit dropped, leaving the parties who 

 brought suit to pay all costs. 



Mr. Carver writes as follows : " A friend 

 of mine happened in, when several of them 

 were talking about the matter, and he heard 

 the village marshal say to them that if ttiey 

 went on with the case, they would have all 

 the bee-fraternity to fight, and would have 

 their hands full." 



This is another triumph\for the Union. 

 The counsel of its Manager, and the moral 

 effect of being a member of an organization 

 for the defense of the pursuit— caused the 

 prosecuting party to withdraw from the 

 field and pay all the costs ! 



Will our friends please chalk up another 

 victory for the Union ! 



Is He Reliable ?— We often receive a 

 postal card containing something like this : 

 I want to ship some potatoes, berries, eggs, 

 honey, chickens, fruit, or some other pro- 

 duce, and, naming some person, the ques- 

 tion is asked, " Is he reliable ?" or " Is it 

 safe for me to ship to him ?" Now while 

 we desire to accommodate our friends, still 

 it is quite a task to lay on us to answer such 

 questions. The better way would be for 

 those interested to step into a home Bank, 

 and have the banker look them up, through 

 Bradstreefs or Dunn's commercial agencies. 



In tlie Controversy concerning 

 "large and small hives," between tlie 

 Messrs. Dadant and Mr. Hutchinson, we 

 shall not interfere— they are well able to 

 discuss the matter intelligently and thor- 

 oughly. We desire, however, to make a 

 few remarks about the article appearing in 

 our columns, instead of the Review. To re- 

 fuse to publish an article from the Messrs. 

 Dadant, or any prominent apiarists, is mc re 

 unpleasant to an editor than it is to the 

 writer of the article— but there are occasions 

 and circumstances when such an unpleas- 

 ant duty is to be performed. 



Some four or five years ago we received 

 an article from the most prominent and 

 popular apiarist in America, and one of the 

 best of men the world contains. It was 

 very faulty, and full of unwise suggestions 

 and notions, and we deemed it best, both for 

 the author as well as apiarists generally, not 

 to publish it, and we wrote him a private 

 letter to that effect. It was an unpleasant 

 matter to us, and " mortified " our friend 

 and correspondent considerably— but time 

 has shown that our judgment was correct. 

 He was saved from the " mortification " 

 which would have ensued, and is now glad 

 thatthe article neverwas published .' 



We fully agree with brother Dadant, tliat 

 an editor should be "impartial " in giving 

 full latitude to both sides of every questiou, 

 and we fully believe that it is the intention 

 of all editors of bee-periodicals to do so, but 

 they are " frail '' like other men ; they err 

 in judgment (at least we realize that we do, 

 and judge others by ourself) ; they make 

 mistakes, and have to act " on the spur of 

 the moment " in deciding many questions, 

 which, on more mature consideration, would 

 have reversed the decision. 



It is best, generally, not to judge our 

 brethren of the press too severely— in fact 

 they need sympathy more than censure- 

 charity rather than rebuke ! 



We feel quite certain that Bro. Hutchin- 

 son will gladly re-publish Bro. Dadant's 

 article with his reply, for we know that they 

 all have none but the most kindly feelings 

 towards each other. " Let brotlierly love 

 continue," is sound advice, and applicable 

 to all ages and under all circumstances. 



Uncappinsr-Knifc — A person sign- 

 ing himself "Inventor," asks if all bee- 

 keepers are " satisfied with somebody's un- 

 capplng-knife, or is there a demand for a 

 simply-constructed, easily-operated uncap- 

 ping machine, that will do perfect work in 

 one-half or one-third the time required with 

 a knife ? Such a machine would cost ten 

 dollars." 



We cannot answer for all, and therefore 

 give any one a chance to answer the ques- 

 tion. Perhaps the time has arrived for a 

 machine to be invented. If so, it will be 

 done, for all good and useful inventions 

 come in just the right time. 



Uee-Enemies are numerous, and Mrs. 

 S. E. Sherman, of Salado, Texas, asks if 

 martins are among the number of bee- 

 catcliers. King-birds are often called boe- 

 martins, and we presume these are what 

 our correspondent intends to ask about. 

 They are very destructive to bees, but seem 

 to prefer the drones. 



A Supplement to the American Api- 

 cultiirlst for May is received. Mr. Alley 

 occupies seven pages in an article on 

 "Rearing Queens in Full Colonies without 

 Depriving the Bees of their Queen." It 

 seems many have been experimenting In 

 this direction at the same time, and prob- 

 ably without a knowledge of each other's 

 experiments. Truly, this is a grand age of 

 development. 



