1873 J 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



is almost synonymous with "an axe to grind." 

 It is, of course, impossible to do it, but tbis 

 society could agree to adopt one bive. Many 

 benefits would result from it, My apiary is 

 nearly ruined by a variety of hives. One and 

 another bas sent me a bive to try until I have 

 tbem of all sorts and sizes, and am bewildered 

 which to adopt, tempted to pray, "Save me 

 from my friends !" and should feel relieved if a 

 law could be passed probibiting me under heavy 

 pains and penalties to use any but a certain one. 

 It is with hives very much as with reaping and 

 mowing machines. As an agricultural editor, I 

 am often asked which machine is the best. I 

 don't wonder at it, for if I were actually farm- 

 ing, I should be puzzled which to buy. But 

 the truth is, they are all valuable. There are 

 good, better, and best no doubt, but a big crop 

 of hay or grain can be well harvested with any 

 of them, and so can a big crop of honey be 

 harvested with any good movable comb hive, if 

 the bees are well managed, and the extractor 

 wisely worked. One thing in regard to hives is 

 assuredly important, and that is, that they be 

 not too complicated and costly. Simplicity in 

 hives, like simplicity in machinery, is a great 

 desideratum, and they should be capable of 

 construction by any farmer who is handy with 

 tools. Your amateur beekeeper who does not 

 look to his bees for support, may lay out money 

 on costly and fanciful hives, but the million 

 want and must have a cheap, common sense, 

 practical hive, good enough if home made. As 

 for moth, miller traps, winding passages, comb 

 guides, and such things, they are like gold but- 

 tons to a working man's every-day coat, super- 

 fluities, if not follies. If we cannot wisely take 

 action as to these things, we can at any rate 

 ventilate them, and leave our discussions to 

 exert their own influence on the public. 



I am told "bive men" are very jealous and 

 sensitive, and perhaps the remarks just made 

 may bring a hornets' nest about my ears, but as 

 I wear a veil and gloves of perfect good nature 

 and kindly feeling toward all, I don't expect to 

 be seriously hurt. Moreover, having come from 

 a laud of liberty to a land of liberty, I expect to 

 exercise the right and enjoy the luxury, so much 

 prized by Britons and Americans, of free speech. 

 And what I expect for myself I concede to others. 

 Let us have plain, outspoken, unvarnished talk, 

 without ill feeling or discourteous personalities. 

 Then we shall be "happy to meet, sorry to part, 

 and glad to meet again." 



Having stirred up the "hive men" a little, I 

 propose to pay my respects for a few moments 

 to the editors and correspondents of the bee 

 journals. Would it not be well to pass a resolu- 

 tion that we will support no apiarian journal that 

 indulges either in bad temper or bad grammar, 

 or that calls or permits people to call others 

 hard names ? No one is fit, to be an editor who 

 murders what we Britishers call "the Queen's 

 English," or who has not the common sense and 

 dignity to exclude from his columns all that is 

 low, vulgar and abusive. There are many in- 

 telligent correspondents of periodicals, whose 

 early education has been neglected, but who are 

 nevertheless valuable contributors. Their ideas 



are good, and very often they choose forms of 

 expression that are original and forcible. Now 

 it is unfair to them to put their communications 

 in the rude and crude form in which they are 

 received. An expert editor can "fix up" these 

 communications and make them presentable 

 with less labor than it takes to get up original 

 articles. And what a gratification it must be to 

 a correspondent unskilled in the rules and graces 

 of rhetoric to have his ideas put into good shape 

 and made not only readable, but attractive. It 

 is akin to the pleasure a poor man feels when 

 bis children receive notice and kindnesses from 

 richer neighbors. Not only should communica- 

 tions be pruned into grammatical shape, but the 

 knife should be remorselessly used in cutting out 

 every harsh epithet, every angry word, every 

 unkind expression, everything likely to stir up 

 the worser part of human nature. It may be 

 urged that being outside of all the patent right 

 disputes, which have turned the peaceful arena 

 of bee keeping in the United States into a battle 

 field, I am unable to understand and appreciate 

 the provocations and temptations to calling hard 

 names, and showing bad feeling. Perhaps there 

 is force 'in this. But it is not so much the censor 

 as the peace maker that I seek to act. I do not 

 pronounce on the merits of any question, or take 

 sides in any dispute. I would heal some places 

 and pour oil on troubled waters. Do we not all 

 believe in that sublime religion which insists on 

 the gold rule, " Whatsoever ye would that men 

 should do unto you, do you even so unto them," 

 which commands us to "love our neighbor as 

 ourselves," which forbids us to 'render evil for 

 evil," or "railing for railing," and which says, 

 "if any man smite thee on the right cheek, turn 

 to him the other also." While believing like 

 Christians, let us not behave like heathens. 



In conclusion, I could wish that I were quali- 

 fied to point out to you some fitting topics for 

 discussion at this meeting. There arc many 

 questions I should like to ask of fellow bee- 

 keepers who have older and wiser heads than 

 mine, and whose experience in apiculture has 

 been more extensive than mine. And as oppor- 

 tunity offers in our public sessions and private 

 intercourse, I shall gratify my curiosity and dis- 

 play my ignorance. I supose we are all here as 

 learners, but there are some amongst us who are 

 better qualified as instructors than others, and 

 those who occupy the advanced forms or the 

 teachers' desk in the school of apiculture, are 

 best fitted to guide our deliberations both as to 

 the suggestion of topics and the treatment of 

 them. President Quinby, in a letter which I 

 received a few days ago, but which I have un- 

 fortunately mislaid, commissioned me to lay three 

 subjects before you, one of which has escaped 

 my recollection. The other two are, first : "Will 

 right management of bees develop peacefulness 

 of disposition, as we know wrong management 

 developes the opposite — in other words, what ia 

 proper bee management? The second topic is 

 that, which more than any other, is now pressing 

 heavily on the hearts of all beekeepers in the 

 land: What caused the disastrous losses of knt 

 winter, and how may the repetition of that sad 

 experience bo avoided in future? 



