342 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



colonies divided ? What was the weight 

 of each in the spring? Was any feeding 

 done and to which ones and how much ? 

 What was the strength of each colony, 

 and the quahty of each queen, and how 

 much care was taken to determine these 

 points ? What was done with the swarms 

 from each class, and what was the weight 

 and condition of each brood-nest at the 

 close of the honey season ? There are 

 too many high claims made for new dis- 

 coveries, which after a little time are giv- 

 en up as valueless, to warrant one in ac- 

 cepting with confidence any new plan 

 whose results are proclaimed only in gen- 

 eral and indefinite terms, unless there are 

 inherent reasons to indubitably recom- 

 mend it. This fact furnishes one reason 

 why I insist so much on serious and exact 

 language. 



A CONTINUED PLEA FOR GOOD ENGLISH. 



In the commerce of speech use only coin of 

 gold and silver. — joubert. 



In Gleanings, 736, and in the American 

 Bee Journal, 665, the editors severall}- dep- 

 recate the public criticism of language 

 used in the apicultural journals; but the 

 latter devotes a half column and the former 

 more than a column to that work. Their 

 practice is better than their creed. Public 

 criticism, if good at all, will accomplish 

 manv times as much benefit as it would if 

 purely private. 



Mr. Root properly points out that I 

 used could be pleased for should be pleas- 

 ed and earliest for earlier; but he defends 

 his use of "canine," and cites the Stand- 

 ard Dictionary in his support. If he will 

 examine that dictionary more closely he 

 will find that the word is designated as 

 "humorous." I at least did not get the 

 idea that when he used the word he was 

 writing a humorous article. The Inter- 

 national Dictionary does not recognize 

 the word at all in that sense. INIr. Root 

 says then "the joke is on Mr. Taylor and 

 Mr. Cowan has the laugh." Mr. Cowan 

 has the laugh, no doubt, but not at me. 

 Further on he says ' -some of the very 



words that the critic classed as slang the 

 Standard Dictionary recognizes as collo- 

 quialisms." Will he please state where? 

 Inexact statements are in some respects 

 worse than slang. Colloquialisms have 

 seldom any place in reasonably good ser- 

 ious writing. 



If Mr. Root wishes to be strictly just he 

 will recall his assertion "that he [I] has 

 been hypercritical and hardly up to the 

 latest authorities," until he makes furth- 

 er investigation. 



I don't know that Dr. Miller feels about 

 this sort of criticism as the other editors 

 do; at least, he seems to want me to go 

 even further and supply the place of the 

 dictionary; for he asks me (American Bee 

 Journal, 612) what I mean by the word 

 "sic," but I shall have to draw the line 

 there. There are plenty of good diction- 

 aries, and, as he must see, there is plenty 

 of work already laid out for me. 



The doctor gives unwittingly, in Glea- 

 nings, 754, a good illustration of the evil 

 of bad English. He says "A late French 

 journal quoting a 'straw' from Gleanings, 

 page 379, translates the sentence ' Then 

 smoke like sixty till l^es rush out of hive' 

 after this fashion: 'Then smoke till 

 about sixty bees rush out of the hive. ' ' ' 

 He tells the story in great glee, evidently 

 thinking it a good joke on the F'rench- 

 man. But without doubt the Frenchman 

 would have had no difficulty with good 

 English. Curiously enough, the doctor, 

 speaking of the difficult languages of 

 other lands, asks: "Why couldn't they 

 [foreigners] write everv thing in plain 

 English?" That's asking a good deal 

 when ZL'e don't seem to be able to do so. 



.\ GENUINE COMPLIMENT UNWITTINGLY 

 GIVEN. 

 I do not usually value compliments 

 very highly; but when the}' come unin- 

 tentionally, and from an opponent, too, 

 I cannot help receiving comfort from 

 them. Dr. Miller ( Review, 309) criticises 

 me very sharply and at con.siderable 

 length on account of the style of my crit- 

 icisms, and then says: "If I seem to have 



