1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



237 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Chicago, April, 1873. 



Proceedings of the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society. 



It appears that this Journal is the only one that 

 has faithfully published the official report of the 

 society's last annual meeting. It was resolved: 

 "That D. L. Adair be employed as reporter of the 

 society, and that a full report be had of the pro- 

 ceedings to be published in the different bee jour- 

 nals and agricultural papers." Fifty dollars were 

 set apart as remuneration to Mr. Adair for prepar- 

 ing the report, and supplying the various periodi- 

 cals with it. The society spared neither pains nor 

 expense to secure a good report, and the fullest pub- 

 licity to it. Yet, some, who promised "a full 

 report," have mutilated and abbreviated it to suit 

 themselves, and only im the pages of the American 

 Bee Journal has faith been kept with the society, 

 and justice done it. Bee-keepers will please make 

 a note of this. 



A Iling at Apiculture. 



"People who — deluded by the one-sided statements 

 of interested apiarians— are all ready to embark in 

 the bee business, with the expectation that there can 

 be no possible dash of bitterness in their cups, are 

 requested to consider the complaint that comes from 

 Marysville, Ohio, to the effect that the honey-makers 

 in that locality are generally all dead from frost or 

 starvation." 



The above, which we clip from the agricultural 

 department of the N. Y. Times, is a specimen of the 

 unfair manner in which bee-keeping is dealt with by 

 not a few who ought to know better. We are not 

 aware that any apiarians, however " interested," are 

 in the habit of deluding people into bee-keeping by 

 representing that they cannot possibly have " a dash 

 of bitterness in their cups." It would be contrary 

 to all experience, and very foolish, to do so. "Inter- 

 ested apiarians" contend that, properly managed, 

 bee-keeping is a fairly remunerative branch of rural 

 industry, and they frankly own that, like any other 

 business, it is liable to reverses and mishaps. But 

 it is mainly the spirit of the above quotation which is 

 objectionable. We presume the agricultural editor of 

 the N. Y, Times did not gloat over the prevalence of 

 rinderpest among cattle, or the epizootic among 

 horses, and why should he gloat over the mortality 

 among bees? Ought he not rather to feel and express 

 regret and sympathy when disaster befalls one of the 

 productive industries of the land ? Did he warn 



people to let cattle-breeding alone when the herds 

 were decimated by rinderpest? Or when a hard 

 winter killed out the wheat crop, did he denounce 

 grain-growing as a snare and a delusion? " Fair 

 play is a jewel," and we want it for apiculture, as 

 well as for other rural pursuits. 



Appeal on Behalf of Mrs, Tupper. 



We are sorry to learn that on the 7th of March 

 Mrs. Tupper' s house took fire, and the devouring 

 element made its way to the cellar, destroying a 

 number of her bees. The advance proof of an article 

 from the Bee-Keepers' ' s Journal, containing a strong 

 appeal to the apiarian public for help in various ways, 

 has been sent us for insertion in the A. B. J. But 

 we must have a fuller account of the facts before we 

 can publish any such appeal. It contains no state- 

 ment of Mrs. Tupper' s actual loss, and suppresses 

 the fact that she was insured. It informs us that 

 Mrs. Tupper had " a number of stocks buried, with 

 choice queens, part of them imported." From what 

 we know as to the condition of Mrs. Tupper' s apiary 

 last fall, we are inclined to think that the insurance 

 and the choice colonies buried out of doors will 

 reduce her loss to a figure so trifling that the public 

 need not be asked for help. 



The appeal in question speaks of Mrs. Tupper as 

 "one to whom apiculture is more deeply indebted 

 than any other." We scorn to strip well-earned 

 laurels from any brow, but there is neither truth nor 

 justice in so extravagant a claim. Nor will it be 

 conceded by intelligent and well-informed bee-keepers, 

 until the names of Huber, Berlepsch, Langstroth, 

 Quinby, and others, are forgotten. 



Bee-Keeping. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



Bee-keeping, though pursued by some as a special 

 business and by others as a pleasant pastime, is 

 essentially one of the economies of the farm, and in 

 the Old World a farm would hardly be thought 

 completely stocked without, a few hives. In this 

 country bee-keeping by ordinary farmers is the ex- 

 ception rather than the rule. Indeed, it is looked 

 upon by not a few as a sort of weakness, a species 

 of hobby-riding, when a farmer takes to keeping 

 bees. 



Now we believe in what is called "mixed hus- 

 bandry." The tendency is too much to go into 

 one particular line of things. A few years ago the 

 mania was for wheat growing, because wheat was 

 the great cash article in the produce market. The 

 rage in this western country has been too much for 



