1894 



GLEANINtlS IN BEE CUI.Tl'RE. 



685 



like leaving home again that we resolved to 

 stop not so long again. As we hauled out of 

 Fillmore we mutually exclaimed, "May the 

 shadows of the Mclntyres and Arundells never 

 grow less!*' As between the two there are ten 

 children, there is not much danger of lessening 

 shadows. 



^mm — » — ^ 



THE REPORT OF THE ONTARIO BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS' ASSOCIATION. 



ROBBING SICK PEOPLE. AGAIN. 



By Allen Pringle. 



Mr. Root:— In the August 1st Issue of Glean- 

 ings, notice is made of the Annual Report of 

 the Ontario Bee-keepers' Association; and in 

 looking it over you were "struck at once with 

 the evident fullness and correctness of the re- 

 port." Allow me to say here, that, at our last 

 meeting, we made a new departure in order to 

 secure a full and correct report of our annual 

 meeting. We engaged a professional stenog- 

 rapher to take a verbatim report of the whole 

 proceedings. The credit of that move is due 

 Mr. R. McKnight, of Owen Sound, who argued 

 that, as our association is under the patronage 

 of the Ontario Government, we ought at least 

 to present a full and creditable report for publi- 

 cation. The writer seconded Mr. McKnight 

 in this, and the meeting sanctioned it. It seems 

 to me that the North American and other im- 

 portant apiarian associations might profit by 

 this precedent. 



Before closing this note, allow me, Mr. Ed- 

 itor, to fully indorse what you say in the same 

 issue, under the head of " Robbing Sick People 

 — Science and Superstition." If you will devote 

 a portion of your journal to extraneous subjects 

 (and you have a perfect right to, so long as you 

 duly announce it on your title-page), that is a 

 kind of preaching of exceeding value and vital 

 importance to such of your readers as need it; 

 and the great majority of people everywhere 

 need such admonition and instruction. What 

 still further enhances the value of the expose is 

 the fact that, as nearly the whole newspaper 

 press, without exception (religious as well as 

 secular), and also, I am sorry to say, the agri- 

 cultural and other journals, hold their columns 

 open to be bought by these conscienceless 

 frauds and sharks, the same columns are shut 

 against the expose of the evil. And this is 

 really one of the greatest evils of modern civ- 

 ilization. To think that, for the sake of the 

 almighty dollar, the press of the country (yours, 

 ours, and others') will knowingly allow the 

 leeches and vampires of society to thus prey 

 upon the ignorance and credulity of the people! 

 As an individual I can not withhold my thanks 

 from you for your brave and timely condemna- 

 tion of the gigantic evil. Why, the thing is 

 coming to such a pass that you can not open a 

 paper without being confronted on every page 



of it (editorial, business, news, etc.), with the 

 flaming falsehoods of these mountebanks who 

 artfully resort to every device and trick to 

 catch the attention of the reader, and rake in 

 the hard-earned money of the poor, the sick, 

 and the unfortunate. 

 Selby, Ontario. 



[As we stated editorially, the report bore 

 evidence of having been fully and accurately 

 reported. We wish that the North American 

 had funds enough so that its reports might be 

 prepared in a similar way. It is much more 

 satisfactory to condense afterward from a full 

 stenographic report made on the spot than to 

 try to get down in longhand all the good things 

 that were said and done. As it is, there are 

 apt to be many important omissions, and some- 

 times a little coloring favoring certain views. 

 If the North American could have the funds of 

 the Illinois State Bee-keepers' Association, or 

 those of the Ontario, it could do many things 

 that it can not do now. 



We are glad to place the credit of that excel- 

 lent report upon the right persons, and there- 

 fore accept the correction. 



If more of our religious and agricultural 

 papers would look less to the dollars and cents, 

 and more to the greatest good to the greatest 

 number, they would be more careful about ac- 

 cepting certain lines of advertisements. — Ed.] 



THOSE CALIFORNIA HONEY-YIELDS, AGAIN. 



WHAT AN OLD CALIFORNIA VETERAN HAS TO 

 SAY OF THEM. 



By R. Wilkin. 



I am quite in sympathy with the statements 

 of W. G. Hewes, in Gleanings of May 1, re- 

 garding the average yield of be.-s in California. 

 I refer, as I think he does, to Southern, not 

 Middle or Northern, California. Only when he 

 spoke of prevaricators among the sage rush, 

 by which, of course, he meant bee-keepers being 

 as plentiful as ticks, I felt like saying, " Not so 

 fast, friend Hewes." But when I reflected that, 

 in all my ramblings among the brush, I had 

 very rarely got a tick on me, I concluded he 

 was right. He only meant that they were very 

 scarce. 



At the State bee-keepers' convention at Los 

 Angeles last winter it was interesting to ob- 

 serve how Prof. Cook's eyes brightened up as 

 the best of evidence, the personal reports for a 

 series of years by good bee-keepers, came in 

 thick and fast, corroborating his already high 

 estimate of California's possibilities. Of course, 

 Martin and others caught the enthusiasm; for 

 who is it that does not like to hear of grand 

 successes? My own pride in our State, and in 

 my own reputation as a successful bee-keeper, 

 prevented my speaking out real loud against 

 the danger of exaggerated notions, and I only 

 modestly remarked that I thought a consider- 

 able discount should be allowed from these 

 reports to make them correspond with the act- 

 ual experience of all. 



During my first thirteen years in California, 



