102 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



The resolution, after some discussion, was 

 unanimously adopted, Mr. Skinner giving the 

 most pertinent reason for the Postmaster Gen- 

 eral's action in the matter. He said that some 

 postmasters had mistook packages of bees for 

 money, had opened them and got stung, and 

 then complained to the Postmaster General, 

 that bees sent throneh the mails were getting 

 out and stinging the postmasters, and hence 

 the ruling. The Secretary stated that packag- 

 es of bees sealed up, with letter postage on 

 them, postmasters had no business to know 

 what was in them or to open them any more 

 than they had to open our private letters or 

 money packages, and that it was as much a 

 criminal ofl'ense to open one as the other. 



The question presented by Mr. Meador was 

 then taken up. Why does apiculture attract 

 so little attention as a branch of husbandry ? 

 The President spoke on this question at some 

 length. He thought that owing to many fail- 

 ures arising from want of a more thorough 

 knowledge of the business, many were dis- 

 couraged. That a practical knowledge of the 

 business was necessary to insure success. Mr. 

 Skinner said that one reason why this impor- 

 tant branch of husbandry lagged was from the 

 fact that our agricultural societies were too 

 much absorbed in shows, gambling, horse race- 

 ing, etc., to give any encouragement to any use- 

 ful industry. Mr. Callahan and Mr. Miller 

 thouglit there were only a few localities where 

 beekeeping could be made profitable on 

 account of a scarcity of bee pasture or honey 

 plants. Gen. H. Cameron said that apiculture 

 attracts little or no attention at our State fairs 

 and from the thoughtless public, for various 

 reasons : All the wealth-producing indu.stries 

 are. or at least have been, pushed into the 

 b^tckground by certain practices, ftishions and 

 c'i£tonis which contributenothing to the wealth, 

 morals, or true civilization of the State. This 

 is chiefly owing to our own indifference and 

 thi thoughtlessness and infidelity of our edu- 

 catcrs. The interests of the wealth-producers 

 of ti "i State are not made so prominent as the 

 inter*, its of sporting men, because we do 

 not ov u nor control tlie newspaper press of the 

 State. Papers started to advocate exclusively 

 the rights of the individual classes are not sus- 

 tained as they should be, and many of them are 

 permitted to die. This is the basic evil or par- 

 ent of all the ills we complain of. If the 

 industrial classes will organize thoroughly, and 

 properly inform themselves on all matters 

 ■which vitally afi"ect their prosperity and wel- 

 fare, American civilization will be greatly im- 

 proved and citizenship more highly respected, 

 Republican institutions will range higher than 

 they now do, at home and abroad, and the ad- 

 vocates of industry and honesty will be able to 

 hold the first place in the United States as 

 easily as the advocates and friends of loaferism 

 and idleness hold it at the present time. Work- 

 ingmen and women would be infinitely better 



off if they would spend one-half their time in 

 the business of saving what they produce. Mr. 

 Cameron closed his remarks by calling atten- 

 tion to the novelty of apiculture as an addi- 

 tional reason why it did not take its appropri- 

 ate rank among the useful industries of the 

 country. 



Mr. Meador said he introduced this question 

 because it was an important subject, and he 

 would give his views in a few words. Up to 

 the time of the discovery of the movable frame 

 beekeeping could not take a forward rank 

 among the industries, on account of the diffi- 

 culty of management. When the movable 

 frame was discovered and api«;ulture began to 

 prosper, unprincipled men took advantage of 

 the situation and flooded the country with 

 worthless patents, a vender of which could be 

 found in every town, and unsuspecting people 

 were swindled to such an extent that they be- 

 came disgusted with the business. He said no 

 other stock would bring such a large return as 

 bees, with so little labor. If our bees required 

 constant attention, he thought there would be 

 more success. He believed that it was an easy 

 matter for the beekeeper to realize 100 per cent, 

 from his bees, while no other stock would do 

 half as well. He had a hive this season worth 

 $15, which with its increase and surplus honey 

 was now worth $100. 



The Secretary thouglit that many who at- 

 tempted to keep bees calculated that they 

 would take care of themselves; that they 

 either lacked the disposition or the ability to 

 give them that attention that is absolutely nec- 

 essary to success. 



N. Cameron, 

 State Secretary Beekeeper's Association. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Notes— Agassiz Criticised. 



A lecture upon bees by Prof. Agassiz has 

 been reported in some of the papers, in which 

 he tells a good deal that is valuable, and what 

 I know to be true, some things that may be 

 true, though I have never been able to verify 

 them, and some things, if he is reported cor- 

 rectly, which I know to be false. This I very 

 much regret. I would not willingly shake the 

 confidence in so eminent a man, but allegiance 

 to the truth certainly ought to stand before alle- 

 giance to men. 



I will notice a few points in the report of 

 the lecture as given in the New York Tribune, 

 Scientific American, Rural New Yorker, and 

 other papers. Agassiz is reported as saying : 

 " When a swarm breaks off from an old com- 

 munity to form a new colony, the division is 

 generally due to the appearance of a new 

 queen." Now this is not true. The new queen 

 has not appeared nor will she appear according 

 to the general rule for eight or nine days to 

 come. The Professor seems to have confound- 

 ed the first with second or third swarms from 



