46 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Aug. 



communications to New York." This is Mr. 

 King's peculiar way of announcing the fact that 

 his Bee-Keepers' Magazine, which was ushered 

 into being at Chicago rather more than a year 

 ago amid such a flourish of trumpets, and has 

 grown "small by degrees and beautifully less," 

 has no longer any abiding-place in Chicago. It 

 never had except in name and profession. It 

 never was a bona fide Chicago institution. It 

 was a mere "address": only that and nothing 

 more. And now that is withdrawn. 



But what has this to do with Mr. Clark's move- 

 ments? Well, some people have a singular, 

 enigmatical way of setting forth their mental pro- 

 cesses on paper. A little explanation is needed 

 to enable the reader to put that and that together. 

 In the present case, a brief narration will best 

 explain things. 



Shortly after the death of the late Mr. Wagner, 

 an effort was made to form a joint stock company 

 to carry on the American Bee Journal, and a 

 circular was sent round to a number of leading 

 bee-keepers to that effect. It was part of the plan 

 as stated in the circular, to remove the Journal 

 to Chicago. Mr. King got wind of this and 

 proceeded in hot haste to forestall the movement 

 by producing a beautiful specimen number of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine, hailing from Chicago. 

 This naturally threw cold water on the project, 

 and led to hesitancy and delay. We were in 

 Chicago last October, and called at the " oflSce," 

 so called, of the Bee- Keepers' Magazine. A glance 

 round revealed the true state of things. It was 

 a mere local agency of the New York journal. 

 We felt that so palpable a farce need not hinder 

 the contemplated removal of the American Bee 

 Journal. Correspondence and negotiations were 

 entered into, the result of which was an arrange- 

 ment by virtue of which the Journal was 

 removed bodily to Chicago in January. With- 

 out seeking or planning on our part, it so came 

 about, by a sort of poetic justice, or providential 

 retribution, that on maturing arrangements for 

 the permanent publication of this journal, we 

 became joint occupants with the Norwood Print- 

 ing Company of the very premises, 25 West Lake 

 street, at which Mr. King's sham shingle had been 

 displayed for some months previously. Well 

 might the removal of the A. B. J. to 25 West 

 Lake-st. be a bitter pill for Mr. King under the 

 circumstances. But if he had not made queer, 

 awkward wry faces over swallowing it in the 

 June number of his paper, we would have spared 

 his feelings this little narration. The simple 

 truth is, that a mean attempt on his part to head 



off the friends of the A. B. J. in their efforts to 

 put it on a good, strong, prosperous footing, has 

 proved a mortifying failure, and hence the con- 

 temptible and misleading notice in reference to 

 ourselves. 



The paragraph in question seems to require a 

 little further pers^onal explanation. We spent the 

 first four months of the present year in Chicago, 

 at downright hard work to establish the A. B. J. 

 in its new position. Other interests and duties 

 then required attention, and everything connected 

 with the journal being in working order, we 

 obtained the services of a competent assistant in 

 the office, a thoroughly qualified bee-keeper, able 

 to manaaie publication matters as well if not bet- 

 ter than ourselves. We pull the editorial oar as 

 at the first, but to do this it is not necessary to be 

 constantly in the ofl[ice. Having an apiary and 

 other more important interests at Guelph, and it 

 being a cool, delightful place, we suppose we can 

 spend the summer months there if we choose, 

 without asking Mr. King's permission, and if he 

 will be so very obliging as to address his exchange 

 with us to that post ofilce, we shall be able to pay 

 our respects to any queer, ugly editorial para- 

 graphs he may get off concerning us, more 

 promptly than we have done in the present in- 

 stance. 



If the object of such paragraphs is to convey 

 t^ie :mpr€ssion that the A. B. J. is an uncertaiui 

 ricketty institution liable to be annexed to Canada' 

 or to vanish from Chicago as the Bee-Keepers'' 

 Magazine has done, we beg to assure Mr. King 

 that he is not likely to enjoy the satisfaction of 

 witnessing any such catastrophe. Twelve of the 

 best bee-Reepers on this continent are responsi- 

 bly behind it, and we fancy that the interest man- 

 ifested in it at Indianapolis last December and the 

 hearty manner in which its friends are rallying 

 round it in its new western home, are pretty sure 

 indications that it will both " go on and prosper." 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Chips from Sweet Home. 



About 500 hives, in a range of five miles, 

 were kept here last season, about 15 of them 

 surviving. I had 55 last fall, and all api^arently 

 in good condition, but this spring my chips 

 were very dry, as all my bees had quit keeping 

 house. However, I went to G. B. Long's, Hop- 

 kinsville, Ky., and brought back 96 hives, so 

 that I am now stocked up again. 



D. D. Palmer. 



New Boston, Illinois. 



