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TIlOiltAS G. ME^VaiAW, 



EDITOK. 



Voinv. Sept. 28, m No. 39. 



Honey and Ilees at the Maine State 

 Fair will liave attention in our next issue, 

 by au article written for tlie Ameuican 

 Bee Journal by our friend, Mr. L. F. 

 Abbott, editor of the Lewiston Journal. 



At llie loM-a State Fair, Mr. Geo. 

 W. Penn, of Colfax, Iowa, took three pre- 

 miums—first premium on fall extracted 

 honey ; first on beeswax, and second on fall 

 comb honey. We congratulate him on his 

 exhibit, which must have been a good one to 

 have merited these premiums. Those who 

 took the rest of the ribbons will no doubt 

 report soon. 



Prof. C C Blake predicts that the 

 year 1890 will be one of very great extremes, 

 both as to temperature and rainfall. He 

 has published an Annual (price ^2) for 1890, 

 which he says " points out what the tem- 

 perature and rainfall will be from July, 

 1889, to Jan. 1, 1S91, in all parts of the 

 United States and most of Canada and 

 Europe ; with advice to farmers as to what 

 crops to plant and when, so as to avoid the 

 unfavorable weather, and to raise fair to 

 good crops in spite of fate and hard luck. 

 Without this advance knowledge, it is 

 mathematically certain that very extensive 

 crop failures will occur next year in many 

 parts of the country." 



TWolable Old JVIcn Is the subject on 

 ■which that enterprising and gossipy para- 

 graphist, Mr. Blakely Hall, wrote for Frank 

 Leslie's Weekly last week. Everybody is 

 reading his weekly contributions with 

 peculiar interest, and this is one of the 

 breeziest of all. The American beauty pre- 

 sented this week is Mrs. J. W. Mackay. 

 She makes a handsome picture. 



■Mgrested I^ectar. — We are very 

 much surprised to find the following from 

 Prof. Cook in Gleanings in Bee-Culture 

 for Sept. 1, 1889: 



Our friend Demaree has now a recruit— a 

 doctor. This doctor— see the Amekican 

 Bee Jouknai,— makes several a.ssertions 

 that just a little knowledge of chemistry 

 would have prevented. Is it possible that 

 our "M. D.'s" know nothing of chemistry? 

 Such articles may possibly be excused in a 

 lawyer, but from a doctor they are certainly 

 indefensible. Even a lawyer should not 

 attempt to enlighten the public on what he 

 knows nothing about. His ignorance may 

 be excusable ; his misrepresentation and 

 pose, as a teacher, are more venial. To say 

 that nectar and honey are the same, or that 

 sugar syrup fed to bees is identical with the 

 honey placed in the comb, is to show entire 

 Ignorance of the subject. It is too bad that 

 such men will write. 



Now, Mr. Editor, why do not you editors 

 get a little blue litmus paper and a little 

 copper sulphate, or, better, Fehling's solu- 

 tion, and prove for yourselves the truth of 

 this matter ? Then when such articles are 

 pent in, throw them into the waste basket. 

 You would not insert an article about the 

 ki rig-bee. To say that honey and nectar 

 are the same, is as absurd as to say that there 

 IS a king-bee. 



We are astonished at the above quotation ! 

 Our great esteem for the writer will prevent 

 us from returning the compliment. Editors 

 try to advance the interests of the pursuit, 

 and not to play the tyrant. If they were to 

 refuse to publish everything which did not 

 agree with their views, or the theories of 

 those in authority, there could be no ad- 

 vancement, and progressive knowledge 

 would be at a standstill. 



Ridicule is not argument— neither are 

 arrogant assertions and contemptuous epi- 

 thets conclusive evidence. They rather in- 

 dicate the lack of evidence, and the weak- 

 ness of the cause which they are called upon 

 to bolster up. We are therefore very sorry 

 that the Professor should have seemingly 

 invoked their aid. 



Dr. McKinney has another article in reply 

 to Prof. Cook, on page 616 of this issue. 

 When professors, doctors and lawyers fail 

 to agree— who shall decide the questions at 

 issue ? 



To throw such articles into the waste- 

 basket will no more prove their falsity than 

 the thrusting of Galileo into the Inquisition 

 proved that the world did not revolve 

 on its axis ! False theories can only be 

 disproved by overwhelming and convincing 

 arguments. 



We have a particular relish for debate, 

 but we loathe uncourteous personalities and 

 quarrelsome contention. We enjoy either 

 hearing or reading intellectual conflicts. 

 The more courteous the controversy, the 

 more profound is our admiration for it, and 

 the more penetrating are the arguments, as 

 a general thing. 



Our good friend. Prof. Cook, we feel sure 

 must have failed to give his article in Glean- 

 ings, that mature reflection which he should 

 have done, and will be very glad, no doubt, 

 to modify it when he realizes the peculiar 

 position in which it now places him. He 

 evidently penned it in an unguarded mo- 

 ment. 



611 



Fire has destroyed the fine exhibit of 

 friend Emerson T. Abbott, at the St. Joseph, 

 Mo., Exposition. The main building was 

 entirely destroyed on the night of the 15th 

 inst., entailing a loss of a quarter of a 

 million of dollars, and the loss of one life. 



All will sympathize with Mr. E. T. Ab- 

 bott ; his loss is a heavy one. He had on ex- 

 hibition about all in value of what he pos- 

 sessed, and in one hour it was swept out of 

 existence ; and as he had no insurance, the 

 loss is a total one. We wonder at his not 

 taking out an insurance policy, especially 

 when we think of his shrewd business 

 qualities ! How nice eight hundred or a 

 thousand dollars would be to him now, in 

 the hour of calamity. Let all take a lesson 

 from this disaster, and insure their property 

 against loss by fire. 



Mr. Abbott has a determination, and will 

 at once prepare to start again in the world, 

 pay his debts, and resume his business. He 

 is just the man that reverses cannot crush, 

 and we bespeak for him an increased trade 

 next season, as well as that sympathy which 

 should flow from friend to friend. 



The St. Joseph i\reu)s of Monday contained 

 a full account of the fire, and from it we 

 take this item about the honey exhibit : 



Crowds beean to arrive from the city, 

 which but added to the confusion. Ex- 

 hibitors paced anxiously up and down the 

 muddy paths, muttering and bemoaning 

 their fates. Others took the matter philo- 

 sophically. One poor fellow, his hat off and 

 his arms folded, stood watching the burning 

 buildings. " There eoes all f have in the 

 world," said he. " The result of five years' 

 labor I placed in that building, and now I 

 haven't fifty cents." It was Emerson T. 

 Abbott, who had a bee and honey exhibit. 



Xlie Pall Crop of Honey, like all 

 other crops, has varied in different locations. 

 In some it has been large, in others only of 

 medium size. Mr. C. H. Dibbern, of Milan, 

 Ills., on Sept. 19, 1889, wrote thus concern- 

 ing his fall crop : 



"We have had frosts during the last two 

 nights, and the honey harvest for Itisg js now 

 over. The fall crop has not come up to our 

 expectations ; probably not more than one- 

 half the usual fall crop has been secured 

 Still, as we had a full crop of white honey, 

 we ought to be content." 



Proud of tlie Tolumeis Dr. J. M. 



Hicks, of Indianapolis, Ind., thus writes of 

 the pleasure he experiences in reading the 

 numbers of the Illustrated Home Jour- 

 nal, and of his intention to bind them lor 

 his library. He says : 



Its make-up is certainly of the best, and 

 when the full numbers for the year 1S89 are 

 at hand, I intend to have the book well 

 bound worthy of its merits, and add it to my 

 many valuable books, such as Sliuckard on 

 the Humble and British Bees, as well as the 

 several volumes of the Ameuk^n Bef 

 JouiiNAL, National Bee Jounuil, Moon's 

 Bee World, and many others I might men- 

 tion, which are already bound and in my 

 library, all of which I have saved for years, 

 and prize very highly. 



C'ircuni!4tanccs beyond our control 

 prevented our attending the Detroit Fair. 



