776 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtURE. 



Oct. 



oblige such men as Mr. IIoiii to give some 

 kind of a civil reply to complaints by the 

 above process. Perhaps some of you may 

 think I am hard and severe ; but we have 

 waited patiently for Mr. Horn, and have 

 published his promises and kept back com- 

 plaints by suggesting that he would tix every 

 thing in time, until we have received the 

 censure of many good men. I may add, that 

 Mr. Horn has secured the claim we have on 

 him personally, to be paid some time hence. 

 Now let him make arrangements so as to se- 

 cure the rest who have sent him money and 

 don't get any leply, or take the risk of hav- 

 ing his work during the past season submit- 

 ted to the postal authorities. I am inclined 

 to think that the amount he is now owing is 

 not very much, and that he could, if he 

 would, fix it all in the way I have suggested. 

 Some of the friends may think, as I have al- 

 ready suggested, that I am getting to be ter- 

 ribly severe ; but, my friends, we wish to 

 have every bee-man who reads the journals 

 understand that lie had better have a severe 

 attack of the yellow fever or Asiatic cholera 

 than to go deliberately into another Eurch 

 or Ilorn operation and hope to get through it 

 " scot free." " The way of the transgressor 

 is hard," and it is our duty to see tluit it re- 

 mains hard— so hard, in fact, that tliose who 

 are tempted may conclude it will not p;iy, 

 and give it up, even before they start out. 



OUR BEES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS KUOM FIJIENP HKIIDON IN I!E- 



GAKD TO THE PHINTEI) IjEAEhEl'S TO BE SENT 



TO OUK NEIGHIJOHS WHO AltE NOT UKK- 



KEEPEUS. 



j^^ EADER. please turn to paj^efJin ol' tliisvohiine, 

 O5 and read in numbered ])ar:ij;raplis friend 

 "^Pk Cameron's address to his iK'iglil)ors—an ap- 

 ^f- peal intended to enlij^hten, and make peace 

 and friends. Also please read friend Root's 

 foot-notes to the paragraphs in (piestion. Now turn 

 to page 695, and read what I have to say near the 

 bottom of left-hand column; also the editor's foot- 

 notes again, and you will then understand the mo- 

 tive which inspires these remarks. 



I will now endeavor to pick out and comment 

 upon the sections that 1 believe will harm any bee- 

 keeper who presents them to his neighbors. If all 

 " neighbors " were like unto the spirit of the origi- 

 nator of the paragraphs in question, the case would 

 be far different; but wise men lake the world as it 

 is; and while doing their part to reform the bad, 

 and to bring the morally blind up out of darkness, 

 they yet see the necessity tor firmly and rigidly, 

 though kindly, demandina all that belongs to them. 



THE OVEKTUUE. 



As it is so very rare that bees enter houses and 

 " sting the baby," or any one else, unless pinched, 

 I would have omitted this needless scare. 



Section 1 suits me. 



Section 2, 1 would have omitted the last line, as 

 the one preceding it is true, and covers all the 

 ground in this case, and this last line is needlessly 

 prejudicing against the character of our business. 



Section 3 is good. 



Section 4 might have begun with, " ]f, by negli- 

 gence, the bees have once gotten into your kitch- 

 en," etc. Let the neighbor understand that the 



fault is 7iis, not our.s-. We can't control the where- 

 abouts of our workers, and yet we consider our bus- 

 iness legitimate. 



SECTIONS OF DEFENSE. 



Section 1, good. 



Section 3, tiptop. 



Section 3. Never use this section, unless some 

 one in your vicinity has made such a charge. Nev- 

 er put yourself on the defensive until you are at- 

 tacked. This is a characteristic of the sheep, and is 

 the cause of so many " sheep-dogs." 



Section 4. Don't use the word " nuisance;" sa3', 

 " an annoyance." When an annoyance reaches the 

 " nuisance " point, it becomes removable by law, 

 and I claim that bees never are a nuisance, and 

 never will be, e.vcept where they are kept so close 

 to the rightful passageway of others that they use 

 their stings in defense of their homes. 



Don't say a word about " poison." This puts the 

 public— the good, the bad, the jealous, the revenge- 

 ful, and the half insane, all in mind of a secret way 

 to injure, to get up a commotion, and to see what 

 they can do. The neighbor who would lay out 

 poison for bees should be imprisoned; and when 

 you suspect such action, you should spare not 

 money, time, nor energy, to detect and pvmish the 

 hpinoi;s crime; and one of the strong points in de- 

 tection is not to have j'our suspicions detected by 

 the villian. 



1 may be in error; but I firmly believe that cir- 

 culars printed verbatim from friend Cameron's sec- 

 tions on page 619 will work an injury in any neigh- 

 bor hood where distributed. I further believe, that, 

 with a proper correction, such circulars would do 

 much good in communities where trouble is brew- 

 ing. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Sept., 1886. 



Friend II.,yoin' points are well made; and 

 when we print a new lot of these leaflets we 

 will modify them as you suggest. I think, 

 however, you exaggerate the evil you seek to 

 remedy. Occasionally there are people who 

 will, perhaps, be led to do these very things 

 because our friend has suggested them. It 

 is like the lady who told her children, on go- 

 ing away, not to put jjcas in their cars; and 

 v,'hen she got home, evei'y one of the lot had 

 gone and done the very thing she forbade. 

 I do not think, however, there are very 

 many people who would be led to poison 

 bees because they are reminded that such a 

 thing is possible. 



HINTS TO A B C SCHOLARS ON WIN- 

 TERING. 



THE IMPOUTANCE OP FEEDING, IN ORDER TO GET 

 YOUNG BEES. 



"TT is probably 

 lit ^''^'^ been goi 

 W has become 1 



^^ o I iir «i 1' c xxT i n f 



T is probably true, that the wintering problem 

 one over so often that the subject 

 stale— at least to the apiarist who 

 always winters successfully; but to a large 

 number of A B C scholars who have not learn- 

 ed how to winter their bees every time, there is one 

 thing they ought to know that has been left untold. 

 On page 373 of the A B C book, friend Root says, 

 in speaking of the wintering problem: "The main 

 points are, a brood-apartment closely packed with 

 bees, and plenty of good sealed stores. With these 

 two conditions alone, the bees will generally winter 

 all right, even in a hive made of inch boards." Now 



