Vol. XII. 



FEB. 1, 1884. 



No. 3. 



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NOTES FROITI THE BANNER APIARY. 



NO. 51. 

 IHE OTHER SIDE OF BEE CULTURE, ONCE MORE. 



fRIEND ROOT: -Away back in 1878, when I was 

 writing my first articles for Gleanings, you 

 wrote to me as follows: " Friend H., when 

 you have had more experience with bees you may 

 do much good by writing in that same frank, honest 

 manner in which you have started out." Again you 

 wrote: " The way in which you write, without tear 

 or favor, is what especially pleases me." On page 

 531 of Gleanings for 1883, in speaking of myself, 

 you say: "The extreme honesty and fairness of 

 his articles, and a sincere desire to benefit his bee- 

 keeping brothers, is what gives the chief value to 

 his writings." Now when, in this same "frank and 

 honest manner," " without fear or favor," in all 

 " honesty and fairness," and with " a sincere desire 

 to benefit my bee-keeping brothers," I criticise your 

 wares, methods, or journal, why do you feel called 

 upon to exclaim: " What is the matter with you 

 lately, friend H.? You have not got astray into 

 bad company, have you?" 



You admit that you think it wrong to induce peo- 

 ple to engage in bee-keeping, by presenting the 

 bright side of it; yet, isn't the would-be bee-keeper, 

 who sends for a sample copy of Gleanings, quite 

 apt to receive the imj^ression that bee-keeping is a 

 bonanza? I do not consider yen as altogether to 

 blame for this, because people, as a general thing, 

 will report their 8i(cce8f!cs and say nothing of their 

 failure!:; but if, between such reports as that of 



friend Dixon, on page 9, and that of friend Bliss, on 

 page 31, could be sandwiched something like the fol- 

 lowing: "Our location is not very good for honey. 

 It requires good bees well managed to get any sur- 

 plus, and some have given it up as a bad job," then 

 bee-keeping would be shown up in its true light. 

 The above quotation is an extract from a letter re- 

 ceived yesterday from Prof. John Phin, of Cedar 

 Brae, Paterson, N. J. 1 have no objection to " big " 

 reports, just to show the "possibilities" of bee- 

 keeping, if they are only interspersed with " little " 

 reports to show the "impossibilities." These big re- 

 ports, however, are not so ebjectionable as the pro- 

 mulgation of the idea that bee culture, as a general 

 thing, in the long run, is a grand success; in fact, a 

 regular bonanza for almost everybody. I am aware 

 that the books and journals do, to a certain extent, 

 show up the "other side" of bee culture, but the 

 manner in which they do it reminds me, in one re- 

 spect, of the regulation love-story; it makes little 

 difference how many trials, troubles, and tribulations 

 the hero and heroine are called upon to endure, ev- 

 ery thing always comes mil all right in the end. Here 

 are a few extracts that I have clipped from an ad- 

 dress by our common good friend, the llev. W. F. 

 Clarke. 1 suppose everybody knows that it is al- 

 ways safe to bring any thing in that friend Clarke 

 ever wrote or said. Here is what he did say: 



"WnO SHALL KEEP BEES? 



" * Everybody,' was once the current answer. I 



have given it myself before now. Ten years ago, In 



my prize poem on 'The Honey-Bee,' I pictured 



' Each household of an apiary possessed.' 



It was the general idea then, that, in a proper con- 



