Aug. 2, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



f lleedomites'/v 



REV. J. Q. DIGGES 



It is with much pleasure that we present to our readers 

 this week the picture of our brother editor across the sea, 

 the Rev. J. G. Digges, of the Irish Bee Journal. There are 

 only a few of the bee- papers published in foreign lands that 

 we are able to read, and the Irish Bee Journal is one of 

 them. There are many published in French, Italian, Span- 

 ish, German, Russian, etc., that are " like Greek " to us; 

 but all of them, no doubt, are of interest to the bee-keepers 

 in the countries where they are published. The Irish Bee 

 Journal, however, is one of the most interesting that comes 

 to our desk. Its editor, Mr. Digges, is a versatile writer 

 and evidently an accomplished gentleman. We had the 

 pleasure of meeting his brother, who has been a leading 

 physician for over 30 years in St. Louis. He it was who 

 represented the Irish bee-keepers so well at our National 

 Convention during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. 



The subject of this sketch, the Rev. J. G. Digges, was 

 born in Dublin, and was educated at the High School there ; 

 subsequently entering Trinity College (Dublin University) 

 in 1878, where he studied law and divinity, and graduated 

 as B. A. with honors (Respondent) in 1882, and as M. A. in 

 1885. He was ordained Deacon in 1883 for the Curacy of 

 Mohilcum-Tarmonbarry. and Priest, 1885, for the Curacy of 

 St. George's, Belfast. He was appointed Private Chaplain 

 at Lough Rynn— in his first parish, Sept. 1, 1885— where he 

 still remains. 



In 1885 it was that he handled his first honey-bees, when, 

 one morning, he found on the veranda of his house a sack 

 containing a swarm that had been left there by the wife of 

 a neighboring cottager, as a " lucky gift for his reverence." 

 He contracted " bee fever" immediately, and violently, but 

 did not in the least know what to do with the " lucky gift." 

 He wrote off at once for literature, sent to Walton for a 

 modern hive, joined the Irish Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 and, in 1886, was the proud possessor of 3 colonies. In that 

 year one colony gave 120 pounds of section honey, and re- 

 turned a net profit of about $20 — section honey was then at 

 a fancy price in Ireland. Those 3 colonies, during several 

 years, fed, clothed and educated an orphan girl, paid for her 

 training as a nurse, and eventually assisted her passage to 

 the United States, where, almost as soon as she landed, she 

 married a respectable tradesman, and started nursing on 

 her own account. (Sisters, take notice I) 



Up to the year 1901 there was no bee-paper published in 

 Ireland. Mr. Digges, as editor, then started the Irish Bee 

 Journal, as the organ of the Irish Bee-Keepers' Association ; 

 and, as proprietor and editor, has this year carried it into 

 its 6th volume. Few who witnessed the birth of the paper 

 thought that it would long survive, but it has progressed 

 wonderfully, has enlarged its size, and has enjoyed a steady 

 increase of circulation not only in Ireland, but also in Great 

 Britain, the British colonies, the United States, and Canada. 

 In 1904 he published the " Irish Bee Guide," which, 

 originally intended to meet a want in its own country, has 

 found its way all over the world, and has called forth letters 

 of the warmest approval from the most distant places. 



Mr, Digges is also the author of " The Cure of Ine- 

 briety," which was published in 1904, and was extensively 

 reviewed by the press. It starts from the thesis that the 

 drink habit is not an incurable vice, but a curable func- 

 tional disease of the nervous system, and, on the principles 

 it recommends, many patients have since been successfully 

 treated in London, where the medical faculty has evinced 

 much interest in the remedy. Another work from his pen 

 has just been published, dealing with the Irish industrial 

 question, and he has written, besides, many articles upon 

 railway development, agricultural, and kindred subjects. 



Outside his professional duties, the subject of this 

 sketch is a busy man. It was of him that the Daily Mail 

 (London) recently said in an article on " Some Curiosities 

 of Directorates :" 



"The Rev. J. G. Digges, of bee-keeping fame, is the 

 most bloated pluralist among the clergy, controlling the 

 destinies of six companies, of which five are close'.y con- 

 nected with bee-keeping and agriculture, and the other one 

 a railway." 



He is a member of the Council of the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, a direc- 

 tor of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway, President of the 

 Mohill Agricultural and Dairy Company (Ltd .), President 

 of the Irish Bee-Keepers' Federation (Ltd.), Trustee and 

 Honorary Secretary of two Agricultural Banks, an exam- 

 iner and member of the committee of the Irish Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, a member of the Company Leitrim Committee 

 of Agriculture, Honorary Secretary of the Athenaeum 

 Club, Dublin, and holds office on the Boards and Commit- 

 tees of several other companies and societies in Ireland. 

 We should say that Mr. Digges is a busy man—" as busy as 

 bees," as is often remarked. How he also manages to edit 

 so good a bee-paper is a mystery. 



The " Irish Bee Guide," mentioned before, is a book of 

 220 pages, aside from a number of advertising pages. _ It is 

 written in a most fascinating style, and is also copiously 

 illustrated, not only with pictures representing the appli- 

 ances used in bee-keeping, but also scattered throughout its 

 pages appear fine portraits of some of the leading bee-keep- 

 ers of Ireland. The whole work is arranged in numbered 

 paragraphs, which makes it very easy for reference. Mr. 

 Wm. A. Pryal, of California, who received a copy of this 

 work, was so charmed with it that he wrote the following 

 review of it, which we are pleased to give a place here : 



From the old classic hills of Ireland there was sent forth a year or 

 so ago a work on the bee that deserves greater perusal in America 

 than I believe it has received. In thus recommending it, I do not wish 

 it understood that I indorse it as a manual for our bee-keepers to fol- 

 low, but simply to call the American bee-keepers' attention to it as a 

 work written by an intelligent and fair-minded apiarist— by a man 

 who evidently has no fads or fancies to promulgate. 



Viewing the book as it lies unopened one is unprepared for the 

 feast of rich and instructive reading contained within its 6emi-flexible 

 green Irish linen covers, the front one of which is embellished with 

 the title, together with the ancient harp of Tarra ; a couple of sham- 

 rock leaves and other ornaments, are in a darker green than the cloth. 

 The title on the back is the worst feature of the work— it is too indis- 

 tinct. , . ... . 

 On opening the book one at once notices the superior quality of 

 the paper— and not over-sized paper is used throughout, except for the 

 portraits, these being 18 full-page cuts. The press-work is better 

 than I have seen in any of our popular American works on the same 

 subject. Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan's "The Honey-Bee" is about the 

 best book on the bee, from a printer's point of view, I ever saw, but 

 the same author's " British Bee-Keepers' Guide Book " has not so 

 much of the labor and expense bestowed upon it. So, as stated, the 

 " Irish Bee Guide " is the handsomest work for general use by bee- 

 keepers published in the British l6les or elsewhere, as far as I know. 



The volume is divided into three parts, the first, covering 41 pages, 

 deals with the bee, and disposes of the subjects by chapters. Chapter 

 I considers the occupants of the hive; II, The Bee in Spring; III, The 

 Bee in Summer; IV, The Bee in Autumn and Winter; V, Anatomy ol 

 the Bee; VI, Different Races of Bees; VII, Bee-Products, etc. 



Part II ha6 6 chapters, and discusses Hives and Frames; Appli- 

 ances for Supering; Comb Foundation; Appliances for Feeding 

 Bees; Appliances for Subdividing and Handling Bees; Appliances for 

 Honey and Wax Extraction. 



Nineteen chapters and an Appendix complete the work The 

 chapter on the diseases, etc., of bees is concisely written, and, if it 

 were for no other reason, the American bee-keeper should have the 

 book just to read what the author says about these diseases. He de- 

 fines each disease in one paragraph ; gives the symptoms m the next, 

 and ends by giving the treatment required for its cure. Foul brood 

 is treated more elaborately than any other bee-disease, some 10 pages 

 being used to cover the subject. 



The illustrations for the most part are half-tone blocks with a 

 sprinkling of zincographs, or pen-and-ink drawings. Many of the 

 half-tones are reproductions from photographs by the author, who, 

 along with other accomplishments, seems to be a good camenst. His 

 photo of " Hives on Flags," facing past- so, is one of the most realistic 

 pictures of hives I ever saw. In this respect Editor Digges of the 

 Irish Bee Journal, can enter the same class with E. R. Root and W . /-. 

 Hutchinson, editors of two of our well-known bee-papers. 



This causes me to digress. Why do we always have to write or 

 speak of a ftee-book or a tee-paper I Why not a honey or wax book or 

 paper? Or, perhaps, better still, an apiarian paper? We never hear 

 any one say a row-book or coio-paper. It is a dairy-paper, unless the 

 work is especially on the diseases and general treatment of the ani- 

 mal, and then it is truly a cow-book. 



To show the masterly style in which the author uses the English 

 language, I should like to quote some passages from the volume but 

 lack of space forbids. Generally the language is concise and plain. 

 But at times it is poetic, and is only exceeded by that of Mr. Maeter- 



