1892 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



733 



jiariicii-stulT in fjciicnil. w lu'ii it brings large 

 prioos* arc not really a neveKslty. If people 

 ooiihl not alToid to pay sueh prices for the 

 onions, they eould bny elieaper ones that did 

 not look (juitc as haiuisonie. hut w liicli were, 

 doubtless, nearly as jrood; or they I'onld f)ur- 

 oliase a jrn>at variety of other vejietabh^s that 

 were i)lentifnl and cheap. I did not for a mo- 

 ment mean to eneonraiii' extortion in the ncces- 

 ■sitUs of life like Hour and coal, especially 

 during a time of unusual public distress; nor 

 did I think of recontmending any thins that 

 would help monopolies, trusts, and million- 

 aires: and when I say " the greatest good to 

 the greatest n\imber." 1 should wish to have it 

 understood that I always mean to be partial to 

 the poor and )i(iril-ir(t'rli)i<j people. Million- 

 aires do not need help and encouragement, as 

 we all know.] A. I. K. 



WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR 1 



SOMK WISE WORDS FKOM T. GREINEK. 



Frietid Root: — Your articl<> under this head- 

 ing, page G59. accidentally comes in my way the 

 second time, and I could not iielp reading it 

 over once more. Although 1 have more work 

 of a literary nature on hand just now titan I 

 ■<.'an handle. I can not withstand the temptation 

 to lay my other matters aside for awhile, and 

 send you a few words commenting on the ques- 

 tion pH'sented in the article mentioned. 



First. I must state, with all emphasis, that 

 the farmer or gardener is entitled to every 

 penny that his products will f(>tch in an open 

 market. Average farming and average gar- 

 dening do not pay. I make this statement at 

 the risk of being called a " calamity howler," 

 for the crop reports back me up in it. The 

 average crops, such as given by the statistics. 

 as, for instance, 10 or 12 bushels of wheat. 7.5 or 

 80 bushels of potatoes, etc.. per acre, can not 

 possibly leave any profits. The man who pro- 

 duces them receives but a fraction of what his 

 labor is really worth in the open market. 

 .Specialists in wheat and potato growing, etc., 

 on the other hand, make these crops pay them 

 good profits. Should the latter, then, refuse to 

 accept the full market price for these products, 

 on the ground that their profits are too large 

 for their consciences, depress prices, and make 

 the business still more unprofitable for their 

 less skilled brethren? Nay. Superior skill 

 should find superior reward. 



I believe that cheapness of the necessities of 

 life would lie a blessing to our people!. In fact, 

 prices of all products have a downward ten- 

 dency, and yet 1 believe that the soil -worker is 

 usually a little at a disadvantage. If the law 

 of supply and demand alone were to regulate 

 prices, and allowed to establish them on a more 

 natural basis than they are at present, the 

 soil-worker would be enabled to materially re- 

 duce the cost of production: and. if he has a 

 level head, and manages things with ordinary 

 skill, to put cereals and fruits and vegetables 

 into the market, even at lowci' ligui-es than 

 now usually obtained for them, with a better 

 chance of making the business pay. At pres- 

 ent the farmer, as a class and a whole, is not 

 making money. I do not know of a single in- 

 stance of a man who. in the la^^t 20 years, has 

 commenced without money and has accuniulat- 

 ed wealth in (jcnerol farniina. I know in- 

 stances of money being laid up by opi-cially 

 shrewd people who made a specially of this or 

 that cro]): but they got only tlu; just reward 

 for their skill and painstaking. Foiced veget- 

 able crops can hardly be called necessities of 

 life. They are at least half-and-half lu.xuries; 



and neonle that want them can be ex peeled to 

 pay tne full market price for tluiin. It would 

 be foolish in such case to talk of oppression, or 

 taking an unfair advantage of our neighbor. 

 I am naturally of a liberal disposition. I give 

 away a large share o! my suiplus of vegetables 

 and fruits to neighbors, etc.: but I have no 

 scrujiles whatever in taking for the products I 

 send to market every cent that the salesman 

 can get out of them for mc. Vet I admire the 

 conscientiousness of our friend Finch, of Ala- 

 bama. Would that we could instill a little of it 

 into th(> coal kings who got immensely rich 

 when we paid them S4.,")() for a ton of coal, and 

 who now force us to pay an extra tribute of 

 W.50 per ton! Would that Mr. Finch could 

 spare a Utile of that conscientiousness for some 

 of the Hell Telephone Company, who might 

 give us much better service at one-tenth the 

 present cost, and then amass an immense for- 

 tune. Let a little of that conscientiousness go 

 to some of our highly protected manufacturers, 

 too. who are only too ready to take advantage 

 of restricted competition and squeeze the con- 

 sumer on one side and their employes on the 

 other: a little of it, also for politicians in liigh 

 and low places, etc. But then. I hardly dare to 

 hope that the millennium will come yet in this 

 century. T. Greixei;. 



[Well done, old friend. I am verv giad in- 

 deed to have you come in and back me up by 

 saying what I wanted to say. better than I am 

 able to say it myself. I want to take excep- 

 tions, however, to just one sentence of yours: 

 "I do not know of a single instance of a man 

 who, in the last twenty years, has commenced 

 without money, and accumulated wealth.'" Of 

 course, this refers to farmers in general. Now, 

 I suppose the difference in opinion will be in 

 regard to the definition of the word "wealth." 

 I know of hundreds of farmers who commenced 

 with nothing, and have earned a fair compe- 

 tence by continuing on the farm. It seems to 

 me they have as much wealth as a man needs 

 to make him a happy and useful citizen. I 

 want to thank you especially for the plea you 

 put in for our good friend Finch. I most em- 

 phatically indorse it; but at the same time I 

 think he is making a mistake, and wronging 

 his neighbors by blocking the way for them to 

 get the highest market price for their products.] 



Lad/es' Conversazione. 



CUTTING OUT DRONE COMB, ETC. 



BLACK OR ITALIAN BEES— WHICH DO I PREFER ? 



I fear that, in one of my articles to Glean- 

 ings not long since, I gave a wrong impression 

 about wintering when I said. "' The blacker, 

 the better they wintered." Since spring, I 

 think it more the locality that made part of the 

 difllerence in wintering. Bees that were so 

 situated that they could gather basswood honey 

 last summer wintei'ed iK'tter than other bees; 

 and the bees that wer(! kept in and near the 

 basswood timber near us were blacks and hy- 

 brids. Again, an apiary of 20 hybrid colonies 

 nearly all wintered near us. when our Italians 

 fared so poorly. On inquiring into all the w-hys 

 and wherefores. 1 find they fed them up for 

 winter in pie tins, extending the feeding some 

 five weeks. The long unw. of feeding caused 

 them to raise brood, while we fed ours up in 

 two or three feeds. Our bees were all old ones 

 that went into winter quarters, consequently 

 they died before they could raise enough bees 



