Dec. 20, 1906 



103] 



American Ttee Journal 



^^niisceiianeou- 

 ileus -Items 



Mr. Frank Rauchluss, of Denver, 

 Colo., Manager of the Colorado Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' Association, gave us a brief call last 

 week when on his way home. He had been 

 visiting in Louisville, Ky., and other cities. 

 He reports a fair honey crop in Colorado this 

 year, and that the Association of which he is 

 manager continues to " do business at the old 

 stand." 



An Irish Estimate of "Our Bee-Keep- 

 ing Sisters" department, and its capable 

 " conductor," is thus given by Editor Digges 

 in the valuable Irish Bee Journal for Decem- 

 ber: 



The American Bee Journal is called in the 

 States the " Old Reliable," and is one of those 

 ever fresh, ever welcome publications that no 

 bee-man worth a dollar and a half can afford 

 to do without. Of that attractive Journal, 

 one of the most delightful departments is 

 that of "Our Bee-Keeping Sisters." It is 

 conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson, whose 

 portrait appears in the title-block, and whose 

 wisdom, and graceful treatment of a vast 

 variety of subjects makes us sigh, from week 

 to week, for the uprising in this old land of 

 some bee keeping sister with like gifts of 

 head and heart, to stir the silent sisterhood of 

 European beedom. 



Mr. Morley Pettit, who, during the past 

 year, has been conducting the Department of 

 " Canadian Beedom " in this Journal, rinds it 

 necessary to discontinue that work on account 

 of taking up another line which requires all 

 his time and thought. The following letter 

 explains the change more in detail : 



Dear Friend York:— Every once in a 

 while there seem to be hard things come up 

 for us to do, and I have met one of them now. 

 Since I decided to go into the ministerial 

 work I started studying and working along 

 that line, and have found it more and more 

 difficult to give " Canadian Beedom " its due. 

 Formerly, a bee-paper — the " Old Reliable " 

 or some other — was my constant companion 

 for reading in spare moments. My work was 

 bee-keeping, and my best thought was given 

 to that business. 



Now it is different. The Conference of the 

 Methodist Church has given me a circuit 

 with 3 churches at which to hold services, 

 and do pastoral work. This, with the fairly 

 heavy course of studies which will cover 4 or 

 5 years, so fully take up my time that bee- 

 papers remain almost unopened, and I find 

 myself already out of touch with apicultural 

 thought. 



In view of this I must, although very re- 

 luctantly, I assure you, give up "Canadian 

 Beedom." I shall hope to contribute articles 

 occasionally, but that may possibly be only a 

 hope, as the new work seems to take prac- 

 tically all my thought. 



Yours very truly, 



Morley Pettit. 



While we also regret the necessity which 

 seems to require the giving up of " Canadian 

 Beedom" by Mr. Pettit, we recognize the 

 prior claims upon him of a higher call which 



he has received— a call to the work of the 

 ministry. We can only wish Mr. Pettit the 

 largest success in his chosen field of labor. 

 He will be well equipped for it, and doubtlsss 

 will be as successful in the pulpit, and doing 

 pastoral work, as he wa6in working with the 

 bees. He will also be able to draw many a 

 sweet lesson from his former vocation. 



A New York Bee-Keepers' Institute 



The honey has gone to market, and the bees 



are in the hive, 

 But the bee-man is always bu6y, sure as 



you're alive; 

 In winter he is planning for the summer 



that's to come. 

 And when the bees are swarming " you bet " 



he's " going some." 

 And so the year rolls quickly by, with its win- 

 ter and its summer, 

 For the bee-man he gets busy, and I tell you 



he's a hummer. 

 But there come6 a time, it's between the hay 



and grass, 

 When it's well to stop and ponder before we 



let it pass, 

 For these Institutes are catchy, and full of 



good advice, . 



And so before you miss them just " think it 



over twice." 



— Taken from an Institute Program. 



The Illinois State Convention was 



held Nov. 20 and 21, at Springlield. Secretary 

 Stone sends the following brief report: 



Although we had heavy rains both days of 

 our meeting, there was a good attendance. 



Pres. C. P. Dadant, of the National; Pres. 

 J. E.Johnson, of the Western Illinois; Secre- 

 tary R. A. Holekamp, of the Missouri State 

 Association, were all present, besides about 

 20 members from different parts of the State. 

 The railroad transportation being better than 

 the wagon-roads, most of those present came 

 by rail. 



Mr. Dadant read a paperon " Drone-Lajing 

 Workers," by request of the committee assign- 

 ing the subjects. Mr. Johnson read a paper, 

 entitled, " In the Poor Years Prepare for the 

 Good Years Which are to Follow." 



The time was well taken up by the ques- 

 tion-box and the business of the meeting. The 

 officers elected are as follows, for the ensuing 

 year: 



President, J. Q. Smith, of Lincoln ; 1st 

 Vice-President, J. E.Johnson, of Williams- 

 field; 2d, S. N. Black, of Clayton; 3d, E. J. 

 Baxter, of Nauvoo; 4th, A. L. Kildow, of 

 Putnam; 5th, W. H. Hyde, of New Canton; 

 Secretary, Jas. A. Stone, Route 4, Springfield; 

 Treasurer, Chas. Becker, of Pleasant Plains; 

 and Foul Brood Inspector, J. Q. Smith, of 

 Lincoln. 



The committee to bring bills before the 

 Legislature is as follows: Messrs. Dadant, 

 Johnson, and Stone, with the Executive Com- 

 mittee. 



By vote it was ordered that, each bee-keep- 

 ers' society in the State that affiliates with the 

 State Association by sending 25 cents per 

 member as dues, should be allowed to send a 

 delegate to the next annual meeting of the 

 State Association, the railroad fares of such 

 delegates to be paid by the State Association. 

 Jas. A. Stone, Sec. 



Good-Nature, like the little busy bee, 

 collects sweetness from every herb; while ill- 

 nature, like the spider, collects poison from 

 honeyed flowers. — Selected. 



DR. JOHN DZIERZON 



Last week we announced the death 

 of Dzierzon, the great German bee- : 

 keeper. VVe take the following, includ- 

 ing the two illustrations, from Glean- 

 ings: 



We have to chronicle the death, on Oct. 26, 

 1906, of the Rev. John Dzierzon, D. D., Father 

 Emeritus in the Catholic Church, at his home 

 in Lowkowitz, a hamlet near Kreutzburg, Sile- 

 sia, Prussia. He was born in the same place, 

 Jan. 11, 181 1, probably in the same house in 

 which he died, so that, had he lived a few 

 weeks more, he would have celebrated his 96th 

 birthday, or 25 years over the allotted three- 

 score and ten. 



He was born just 17 days after L. L. Lang- 

 stroth, the father and founder of American 

 bee-keeping. In many ways these men greatly 

 resembled each other. Both lived to a good 

 old age — the one 85 and the other 95; both 

 were clergymen, typical of their country, and 

 both were founders of a great school of bee- 

 keeping and both died in October, after long 

 and useful lives. Though Father Dzierzon 



spent his whole life in the same little hamlet, 

 he was not without honor in his own country. 

 He was of Polish extraction, and lived only a 

 short distance from the Polish line. We hear 

 much nowadays about environment and her- 

 edity, and believers in both will find that Dr. 

 Dzii 1 /on's life bears testimony to the value of 

 both, for the Poles are great bee-keepers, and, 

 owing largly to the presence of large amounts 

 of linden (basswood), that part of Europe 

 is a great bee-country, although the subject 

 of our sketch had to depend very largely on 

 the blue corn-flower (Centurea cyanns) and 

 buckwheat for almost all his surplus honey. 

 The Poles are a gifted race. 



In his early years young Dzierzon must 

 have been greatly impressed with the horrors 

 of war, for he lived in a region decimated 

 by Napoleon in his great campaign against 

 Russia. It hardly seems possible that one 

 man's life would connect us with the great 

 of Friedland, Eylau, and Borodino; 

 but here we have to do with a great bee- 

 keeper who could do it, and who died only 

 last month. But the people were sick of 

 glory and carnage, and devoted themselves 

 with great industry for many years to the 

 arts of peace. Dzierzon chose the peaceful 

 vocation of pastor of a church in Karlsmarkt, 



