1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ill 



"VVe found one colony badly diseased in the 

 sprinfif, so that we received no profit from it, ex- 

 cepting tlie honey the old combs contained when 

 it was transferred to an empty Iiive. Wo took 

 no increase from two others, and obtained only 

 the sixty pounds of honey from them. All the 

 Increase and nearly all the extracted honey, 

 therefore, was taken from eight colonies. This 

 does not compare with some reports that we 

 read in the Journal, but we are very well satis- 

 fied with it. 



Our extractor is a wooden one, well coated in- 

 side with beeswax, which was spread on and 

 heated in with a hot sad iron, the square edges 

 of which, fitting into the corners nicely, spread 

 the coating well. The beeswax prevents the 

 wood from absorbing honey, and keeps it sweet 

 and nice. 



We run the exti-actor with the gearing of an 

 fipple-parer, which works satisfactorily, since 

 we use stays to keep the wire clotli up to its 

 place. 



We think the ladies are pretty well represented 

 in the September number of the Journal, and that 

 Miss Katie Grimm has done remarkably well, both 

 as to the amount of honey obtained and amount 

 of work done, by one so young, and of the weaker 

 sex. 



We hope that friend Gallup will send on that 

 "hash" soon, as we are getting awful hungry. 



W. D. Wright. 



KnowrsviUe, If. Y., Sept. 16, 1871. 



[For the Americiiu Bee Journal,] 



Apiarist, or Apiarian ? 



Mr. Editor : — Mr. Choate once reproved an 

 opposing lawyer for " overworking an adjec- 

 tive ;" but I am sorry to find the large majority 

 of writers on our science slight a highly respec- 

 table ?ic/i//?i and "push it fi-om its place," by 

 saying apiarian when they speak of a beekeeper. 

 Now, all the dictionaries (Worcester, Webster, 

 &c.) tell us that apiarian is an adjective, and 

 means "belonging or relating to bees;" whilst 

 apiarist means " a keeper of bees." If, con- 

 trary to Washington's solemn warning, we will 

 "quit our own to stand on foreign ground" 

 even in our language — if honest, plain beekeeper 

 is not fine enough for us, if we will be pedantic, 

 let us at least be proper, and not run the risk of 

 being styled malaprops. 



Crttious. 



(I^" Though not at all inclined ourselves, to 

 "push a respectable noun from its place," we* 

 cannot concur in the opinion of our esteemed 

 correspondent that apiarist is the proper pr pre- 

 ferable word, or that apiarian is now or still an 

 adjective only. These words may be so set down 

 in the dictionaries at present ; but dictionaries 

 are primarily mere lists, inventories, or registers 

 of the -words which a language comprises ; and 

 words must necessarily get into use before they 

 can get into dictionaries. They must first come 

 into reputable, if not general use ; and that, after 

 all, settles their meaning and their legitimacy, of 

 which facts the dictionaries can simply make 

 I'ecord, when the word-hunters, like scientific 



explorers of other fields, have succeeded in find- 

 ing, classifying, and arranging them in their 

 portfolios. 



In this particular case, Johnson has neither of 

 the words ; as in his time the language was 

 probably still too poor to count such terms among 

 its hoarded treasures. They came into common 

 use long after he had finished his lexicographical 

 " drudgery." So far as we can now call to mind, 

 Kirby is still the only English author, who uses 

 the word ajiiarist ; at least he is as yet the only 

 one cited in the dictionaries as a voucher for it. 

 Now, Kirby is or rather was, in his day, very 

 good authority in matters entomological— such 

 as the structure or habitat of a bug or a but- 

 terfly ; but, even with his Bridgewater treatise to 

 back him, he can hardly be ranked as a classic 

 in English literature — especially when made sole 

 sponsor for the word, against the many belle- 

 letter scholars, who use apiarian instead, and 

 have succeeded in giving it standing and cur- 

 rency. By and by the dictionai-y-makers too 

 will find out that there is another and equivalent 

 term in good use, and will then give us that also 

 as a noun, as they did aforetime with regard to 

 sectarian, presenting it to us in both capacities, 

 though as nouns we had already the twins, 

 sectary and sectarist. Nor does the mere ending 

 of the word necessarily make it an adjective, or 

 we should have to interchange veterinarian and 

 veterinary, calling the latter a noun, and classing 

 it with equally awkward itinerary. 



Bee-father we regard as a better word than 

 either of those under notice, being good old 

 English too, or sound significant vSaxon. But, 

 for the ladies' sake (who are fast coming to be 

 denizens of bee-land, and will soon embellish it 

 with " floral embroidery "), we presume it will 

 have to be set aside— and beemaster likewise, 

 retaining homely beeJceeper only, as quite fine 

 enough for us ; though it is a term much too 

 comprehensive — embracing many to whom 

 neither the insect, nor the science, nor tlie frater- 

 nity will ever be greatly beholden. 



But apart from this, and to better purpose, we 

 desire to say that there are other words besides, 

 now in use in bee-culture, for which the diction- 

 aries have not yet made room ; and as the 

 science advances, we shall doubtless be con- 

 strained to introduce many more, doomed to 

 wait for registry and formal adoption till the 

 word-mongers happen to light on them in their 

 explorations. Of late the term apiarism, seem- 

 ingly in substitution for bee-culture, is beginning 

 to be used by English writers ; though its precise 

 meaning appears to be not yet settled. From the 

 German, too, we have the word apistics, which, 

 like statistics, linguistics, and others from the 

 same source, may be relnctantly admitted, but 

 is yet likely to be sooner or later accepted, as 

 the general terra for the science which in this 

 utilitarian age, is destined to take and hold no 

 insignificant rank among those contributing to 

 the wealth of nations. — The German beekeepers 

 are favored with an ampler terminology, or are 

 more easily helped. Their language, besides 

 being more copious, is more plastic and accom- 

 modating. They no sooner find, or feel, or 

 fancy the need of a word, than straightways they 



