(^.M'ANIXGS IN BKH CULTURE. 



St)MKBOl)V has been callinjr Dr. Miller a 

 liar. I do not believe he believes he is one, 

 neither does any one else nnless it is the fel- 

 low who gave him that mild appellation. Take 

 it all in all, I believe I wonld rather have a 

 man call me a harsh name that my friends all 

 know doesn't fit than to fling mild insinua- 

 tions at me that border prettv closely on the 

 truth. 



A I'Ai'HR by the Hon. R. L. Taylor, of La- 

 ]-)eer. Mich., formerly experimenter for the 

 Michigan State Apiary, on the relation of bees 

 to horticulture, was read by the president, Mr. 

 Taylor being absent. In this paper he touch- 

 ed upon the subject of spraying and the pol- 

 lenization of fnut-1)lossoms by bees. It was 

 one of the ablest and best papers that was ever 

 read on that subject ; and if no one has any 

 objections I propose having it put in the form 

 of a leaflet for general distribution among far- 

 mers and fruit-growers. I hope to present it 

 to our readers a little later on. 



A FEW days ago we had a pleasant vi.sit from 

 the editor of the Pacific Bee Journal, Mr. B. vS. 

 K. Bennett. Having been through a hard 

 rush of business publi.shing and editing the 

 bee-journal, and conducting the supply-busi- 

 ness, at Los Angles, Cal., he found the need 

 of a rest, and accordingly had been taking a 

 sojourn of two months in the East, among 

 friends and relatives. As previoush- announc- 

 ed, he attended the Bufl^alo convention, and 

 went from there on eastward, and finally in 

 his circle landed here at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees. He was just on his way back to 

 the Pacific coast, and left Medina for a bee- 

 line to his home. Mr. Bennett is only 24 

 years old, but has considerable business sa- 

 gacity and push. As editor of a bee-journal 

 and as a short editorial paragrapher he has 

 shown no mean ability. Gi^kanings wishes 

 him success. 



BEE-KEEPERS' PICNICS AND GOOD COOKS. 

 A BEE-KEEPERS' picnic is quite a common 

 social affair in York vState. I have attended 

 several of them myself. The last issue of the 

 tinier. FjCC Jour, refers to one held recentl}^ at 

 Freeville, and which I attended. It seems 

 that there are several counties in York State 

 that have county bee-keepers' associations 

 that meet at least once a year. It is the custom 

 to call in some outsider to address the associa- 

 tion, after which there is a general discussion 

 and question-box work. This is either fol- 

 lowed or preceded by a first-class picnic din- 

 ner. I said ' ' first-class, ' ' and I meant it, for 

 those York State women do know how to 

 cook. I remember that the president of the 

 Seneca Co. Bee-keepers' Association, Mr. Fred 

 S. Emens, at the last meeting at Elm Beech 



Park, was asked what lie thouglit of llie Sene- 

 ca Co. cooks. I couldn't .see the " point," 

 notwith.standing every one laughed. Noticing 

 my blank silence, some one whi.spered in my 

 ear that the president was a single man, and 

 that there were also .some " good-looking sin- 

 gle cooks " there that day. My eyes involun- 

 tarily wandered from good-looking' I-red to the 

 aforesaid prepossessing cooks, and I said to 

 mvself, " Yes, whv not ? " 



m'.VS LOOSE IN THE POSTOFEICE IN NEW 

 YORK CITY. 



Ai.oxc; the fore part of last month appeared 

 an item in the // 'arid, of New York, to the 

 effect that some bees had caused a panic in 

 the New York postoffice. It seems .some ig- 

 noramus of a bee-keeper had put up a lot of 

 bees in a flimsy package that leaked, and the 

 bees got loose in the mail-sack. When the 

 clerks in the New York office ( probably the 

 most important one in the United States) at- 

 tempted to open the sack, thei'e was a "pan- 

 ic ; " and the World for Sept. 8 gives an ac- 

 count of it as follows : 



The clerks who .sort Uncle Sam's mail in the big 

 granite Federal Building had the liveliest .sort of a 

 time for an hour or two last .Saturday night. 



Along about midnight, when ihe work is the heavi- 

 est, and van-load alter van-load of mail-matter is 

 dumped in the postoffice, to be .sorted bv the army of 

 clerks, a porter flopped a big leather pouch on a 

 " form," astlie sorting-tables aie called, and proceed- 

 ed to open it. 



As he slipped the leather strap through the .staples 

 and pulled open the month of the pouch he heard a 

 .sound he had never noticed before to proceed from a 

 mail-bag. It was like the humming of the summer 

 breeze through the tree-tops. 



" That sounds like mosquitoes," said the porter, wh 

 lives in Hackensack in the winter season ; but he 

 backed away from the pouch and called a fellow- 

 porter's attention to it. 



The two made a cautious investigation. The sound 

 had ceased, however, and one of the porters ran his 

 hand inside the pouch and felt around for about two 

 seconds. Then he let out a yell that alarmed the 

 roomful of clerks, and danced about the .sorting-table 

 shaking his hand violently. 



" Take 'em off ! " he yelled, and he tried to brush 

 something from his hand. 



'• What's the matter, Bill ? " asked his friend. 



" Bees, that's what! There's a million of 'em ia that 

 bag." 



The superintendent was called, and a council of 

 war was held. It was decided that, bees or no bees, 

 that bag of mail had to be sorted, and volunteers were 

 called lor. 



After con.siderable hanging back, two brave fellows 

 grabbed the pouch and emptied its contents on the 

 " form." 



As the letters and packages poured out on the table 

 a swarm of healthy "workers," as the apiari.sts call 

 them, arose in a cloud and .sent the clerks scurrying 

 to cover. 



Several felt the result of contact with the business 

 ends of the honey-makers, and it was .some time be- 

 fore the volunteers screwed up courage enough to re- 

 turn to their work. The mail-matter had to be .sepa- 

 rated, and that quickly, for already much time had 

 been lo.st. 



It is evident that the facetious reporter 

 drew largely on his imagination, and that the 

 actual occurrence was not nearl}' as bad as re- 

 ported ; but it was bad enough. It was just 

 such an occurrence as this that resulted in 

 Uncle Sam's prohibiting bees from the mails 

 a few years ago. Any bee-keeper who is care- 

 less enough to put up a package of queen and 

 bees so that it breaks open in the mail-bag 

 should receive a good scoring. 



