538 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



we oug-ht not to draw attention to a dull 

 market for fear of depressing- still more. It 

 can't be much worse, and just now the 

 truth should be known in the interest of the 

 future's sake. Perhaps others may feel 

 that we have an ax to grind r - -^e are hon- 

 ey buyers. Our business in that line is 

 very small, and we would be perfectly will- 

 ing- to give it up at any time. Our real in- 

 terest is with the producer. If he can't get 

 permanent good prices he has no use for 

 bee papers nor bee supplies. Our ax is 

 also the bee-keepers, and we feel it is high 

 time something was said, and forcibly too. 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



Mr. O. L. Hershiser has been giving a 

 series of lectures on bees before the children 

 of the public schools of Buffalo. Beginning 

 on the 28th of last April, and continuing till 

 May 9, every school day, forenoon and aft- 

 ernoon, Mr. H. gave a lecture before a di- 

 vision of the seventh-grade children of the 

 public scools. As only about 300 children 

 could listen at a time, and there were 3500 

 in the seventh grade, it can be imagined 

 that Mr. H. had to do a good deal of talk- 

 ing. That his lecture was highly interest- 

 ing is evidenced by the numerous newspa- 

 per clippings that have been forwarded to 

 this office. The headings in the papers 

 show that the drones, and the stings of the 

 bees themselves, come in for a large part 

 of the attention of the children. It seemed 

 very queer to them that the "papa bees" 

 should be thrust out in cold weather after 

 summer's laziness. The sting and its in- 

 tricate mechanism, how the bee is supposed 

 to sacrifice its life like the Spartan, was 

 likewise enlarged on. The reports go on 

 to speak of the shower of questions that 

 were fired at the speaker at the end of his 

 lecture, giving strong evidence that the 

 children were interested, and fully under- 

 stood the subject as it was laid before them. 

 Indeed, one paper says that, so rapt was 

 the attention, a pin could have been heard 

 to fall at any time. At the close of each 

 lecture a series of stereopticon views were 

 thrown on the screen, illustrating different 

 phases of the subject brought out in the 

 talk. Some slides were borrowed from this 

 office, and some others were made for the 

 occasion. 



I understand that these bee-lectures are 

 to be a permanent feature of the Buffalo 

 schools hereafter, and why not? If it is in- 

 teresting and profitable to tell about bird 

 life, why should it not be equally interest- 

 ing and profitable to tell about bees, ants, 

 and other insects? And if it is a good 

 thing for Buffalo, why should it not be for 

 other cities in the United States, and, for 

 that matter, for every public school in the 

 country? There are plenty of bee-keepers 

 who are able to give interesting talks on 

 this subject; but I fancy there are not many 

 of them who would be able to lay it before 

 children in such a way that a pin could be 

 heard to drop during the entire talk. 



Mr. Hershiser is to be congratulated on 

 the success of the venture thus far; and his 

 sr-'-'^^will mean that the movement will 

 probaoly be introduced in other schools. 

 Bee-keepers all ^- c the country can do a 

 great deal by bringing the matter before 

 boards of education. Tell them what has 

 been done in Buffalo, and ask them to try 

 the experiment just once. If the result is 

 as successful as at Buftalo, the feature will 

 probably become permanent in many other 

 schools. 



We have a very large collection df slides. 

 Many of them, however, have been broken 

 by being loaned out. In order to help 

 along this laudable movement we have been 

 thinking of having many duplicate slides 

 made (to replace those that may be broken) 

 showing bee-keeping from the popular point 

 of view, so that the same can be used by 

 lecturers at farmers' in.stitutes and in pub- 

 lic schools throughout the United States. 

 We expect to have these slides under way 

 very soon, and will sell them at a nominal 

 price, or rent them, as may be preferred. 

 It will probably be too late to introduce the 

 feature in other schools this season; but if 

 our bee-keeping friends do their duty much 

 can be done to educate consumers on the 

 general subject of how honey is produced, 

 and why it can be produced in such large 

 quantities, and yet be genuine bee honey, 

 without any glucose about it. This is a 

 very important matter, and I hope the Na- 

 tional Association will in some way bring 

 it before the public schools of the country 

 at an early day. 



The greatest difficulty we have to con- 

 tend with now is ignorance as to the char- 

 acter and quality of our product. Over 

 half the people suppose that comb honey is 

 manufactured, and a large part of the oth- 

 er half believe that liquid honey is largely 

 glucosed. The public need to be enlight- 

 ened; and the quickest and surest way to 

 do it is through the children. Get a child 

 all fired up with enthusiasm, and he will 

 tell his papa and mamma what wonderful 

 things he has heard. Then he will want 

 some pure honey, and his parents will have 

 to get some, of course. 



I do not know whether Mr. Hershiser 

 started this movement or not. I should not 

 be surprised if he did. He has been iden- 

 tified with quite a number of movements to 

 educate the public concerning the whole- 

 someness of honey. He has been elected to 

 high offices in the National Association and 

 in State organizations; was superintendent 

 of the honey exhibits at the Pan-American, 

 and at the New York State exhibit at the 

 World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 He has 

 something over 400 colonies, and his crop 

 last year was between 17,000 and 18,000 

 lbs. Well fitted he is professionally as a 

 lawyer, and practically as a bee-keeper, to 

 act as lecturer on bees before the public 

 schools of Buffalo. 



Mr. N. E. France, General Manager of 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association, would 

 make another good lecturer. 



