THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



169 



The poor inoffensive little B's cougealiu' 



in a trice. 

 The rescarcli will still go on till the facts 



arc all developed ; 

 Till all the men, an' boys an' girls iu glory 



are enveloped ; 

 Till each an' ev'ry applicant secures the 



proffered knives, 

 Otherwise the work will cease with their 



illnstrions lives. 

 Friend Sniitii, he's advocatin' sugar gran- 

 ulated, white an' pure, 

 For wiutrin' houey B's, successfully au' 



sure ; 

 But natur' never had a thought when con- 



structin' a workin' B, 

 That he'd lug iu nectar from ev'ry shrub 



an' tree ; 

 T'was thot' he'd seek to gather only what 



was pure an' good, 

 An' not fill up his skeps an' gums with 



poisoned food ; 

 An' natur' didn't construct her hives of 



ev'ry known device, 

 An' pack 'em full of straw an' chaff, so 



very precise. 

 My skeps are gettiu' rather old, an' let in 



wind an' air, 

 But I reckon MY B's '11 hibernate with 



safety there. 

 I once got lots of honey in hollow trunks 



of trees, 

 There stored by abscond! n' swarms of 



honey B's. 

 If I'd touch up half the hobbies afflictin' 



our B-fraternity, 

 I'd be kept writin' my natral life an' thro' 



all eternity. 

 My rhyme may be somewhat at fault, my 



measure \\<^t didactic. 

 An' thro' your gold-bowed specs seem 



somewhat erratic. 

 An' maybe to your way of thinkin', have 



but little force; 

 But you can't twist old natur out of her 



accustomed course, 

 For she ever builds true to Hue ; an' in the 



ages yet to come, 

 Will ne'er mould a B with sharper sting 



or more contented hum. 

 I know I'm right, an' am forced to con- 

 clude. 

 That forever the drone will be a rollickin' 



dude; 

 An' the B as now, 'tis sad to relate. 

 Will continer to git "mashed" on his ele- 

 gant shape. 



Madison, Neb. 



Our Brethren. 



M. A. Kef-ley. 



The Api will be sent to any address 

 on receipt of 75 cents. Those who accept 

 of this ofler will be entitled to the drone- 

 and- queen trap for 35 cents. 



A good word for bee publications and 

 for beekeepers. 



As a class, beekeepers are fortunate in 

 many things. To mei'cly mention all would 

 take too much time. Let three suHicc. 



First, then, as to the beekeepers them- 

 selves. Can any other occupation so lim- 

 ited as to numbers as is ours show so 

 many " shining lights?" We should be, 

 as we truly are, proud of our leading 

 brethren. Proud of them because of their 

 talent and learning, their ability and dis- 

 position to give information to us "lesser 

 lights." I would like just here to say whom 

 I have in mind, but I will not, for the list 

 Avould be too long to be measured by your 

 indulgence. "Verily, they have their re- 

 ward." And the rank and file, too, of our 

 people are, I think, above the ordinary run 

 of common vocations. Of course there 

 may be, doul)tless are, some bad men among 

 us ; but they are few. 



And, agiiin, we are fortunate in that we 

 have such good periodicals devoted to our 

 calling. There is no excuse for ignorance 

 as to our business upon the part of any of 

 us when we can, by the outlay of a small 

 sum, secure such useful literature. The 

 trouble with too many is that they regard 

 a dollar in the hand woith two in a book. 

 Many want to know but would like others 

 to do the paying. I am often pestered by 

 " fogy " box-hive men and " fraudy " pa- 

 tent-clap-trap men in search of informa- 

 tion. Of course it is a pleasure to give 

 good people all the light we can, but there 

 should be a limit somewhere. It seems to 

 me that limit is found when several 

 swarms hang on the trees ana the tired 

 beekeeper has hardly time to eat. I often 

 tell my inqulrin<r neighbor beekeepers to 

 subscril)e for and read the bee journals. 

 And surely, any man, or woman either, 

 who expects to succeed in beekeeping will 

 find more than the w'ortli of their money 

 in any journal that I know of on this 

 green earth. Often in sinrjlp issues I find 

 ideas that are worth more than the entire 

 annual subscription pi'ice. 



And lastly, as the parson says, we are 

 fortunate because of the spirit of broth- 

 erly Ivindness that modern beekeepers dis- 

 play toward each other. Every issue of 

 every bee-paper that comes to my home 

 contains valuable information clothed in 

 language radiant with brotherly love. 

 Years ago some of our editors and writers 

 were discourteous to each other but this 

 is now a thing of the past. Now, thank- 

 fully be it said, brotherly kindness gleams 

 upon the page like diamonds set iu gold. 



