THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



21 



uses could be made of it and now 

 there is a market at good prices for 

 all that flows. 



Again, low prices are not confined 

 to honey. The poultry business has 

 been under the same cloud for sev- 

 eral months and the markets all over 

 the country are overloaded and thou- 

 sands of "Thanksgiving turkeys are 

 still unpicked," and will have to be 

 sold at very low prices. It is so vvith 

 beef; the great West can put down 

 better and cheaper fatted meat of all 

 kinds than we in the east can raise it. 



All lines of merchandise are low. 

 Clothing, for instance, can be pro- 

 duced at low rates, if you are dis- 

 posed to be economical, twenty dol- 

 lars will clothe you superbly for a 

 year, and honey at five cents per 

 pound will pay better now than ten 

 cents per pound a few years ago. 



During the near future, beekeep- 

 ers will raise their honey cheaper and 

 with less manipulation than ever be- , 

 fore, and a man will care for 400 

 colonies as easily as he now does for 

 200. And now that development 

 of the home market is agitating our 

 minds, we see great things in store 

 for us in the future. 



We had a suggestion in reference 

 to the above point for the considera- 

 tion of the National Convention, but 

 not even the slightest notice was 

 taken of it. Perhaps it was one of 

 our cranky ideas. By the way, for 

 what purpose did the National Con- 

 vention meet ? We cannot make 

 the discovery by reading its reports. 



Bee Literature. — The most inter- 

 esting essay read at the Indianapolis 

 Convention was by Mr. Thomas G. 

 Newman, Editor of the "American 

 Bee Journal." We make the follow- 

 ing quotation : 



" Ages before the creation of man on 

 this planet, the flowering plants de- 

 manded insect fertilization, and doubt- 

 less the bee was there to scatter the 

 pollen masses, fertilize the flowers and 

 gather the honey. Then there were no 

 sheep-bee lawsuits, nor controversies 

 concerning bees and grapes. These 



" luxuries " are a modern invention, 

 and belong to the nineteenth century. 



The writers of the Bible tell us of 

 the early races of bees, and describe 

 the "land flowing with milk and 

 honey." The records of the Egyptians 

 and the Chinese, cut in stone, show 

 that bees were known to them as faith- 

 ful servants tliatgainered the sweets of 

 the earth for their use. Three hundred 

 years before the Christian era, Aristotle 

 affirmed that the bee was " a magazine 

 of all the virtues" and Virgil, the noted 

 Latin poet, calls it "a ray of divinity." 

 Shakespeare and Milton devoted to it 

 their thoughts and words of praise. 



It was estimated, over three hun- 

 dred years ago, by De Montfort, who 

 then wrote a work on bees in French, 

 that between 500 and 600 authors had 

 preceded him on the subject of bee- 

 keepius:. Most of the books were writ- 

 ten in Latin, and are lost to the world ; 

 and but few have beeu handed down 

 to us." 



Mr. L. C. Root of Mohawk, 

 N. Y., offers for sale a part of his bees 

 and all his fixtures, as well as the best 

 location for an apiary in New York. 

 Mr. Root has been unwell for several 

 years and is now compelled to leave 

 his native state to seek a more con- 

 genial climate, hoping thereby to re- 

 gain his former good health. 



Any of our readers, desiring to 

 make beekeeping a business, will find 

 it to their advantage to investigate 

 these advantages before purchasing 

 elsewhere. 



Mr. Root has purchased a property 

 in Stamford, Conn., whither he will 

 soon remove. 



"All Bosli" is all the reply a 

 man makes (who does not know 

 what he is talking about) to a 

 statement of facts. Well, that ar- 

 gument will do under the circum- 

 stances. 



It was stated in a recent number 

 of the Apiculturist that the beau- 

 tiful color and peculiarities of the 

 Albino bee were developed and per- 

 petuated by in-breeding. When 

 anyone can disprove the facts and 

 teil us how it is done, then we are 

 read}'^ to own up to it that our 

 "statement is all bosh." 



