1881 



GLEANIKGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



279 



FRIEND COOK'S TALK TO THE BLAST- 

 ED HOPERS. 



IS IT TRUE, THAT "IN GOD WE TRUST"? 



S the mortality among bees seems to be of huge 

 proportions in a vast number of localities, 

 and as the wails of mourning arise from those 

 who have lost, by disease or otherwise, a large por- 

 tion of their bees, I am constrained to give a few 

 very consoling thoughts upon our apparently very 

 great loss as follows:— 



Job said, when hiscattle, children, etc., wore taken 

 from him, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 

 away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Let us 

 ever be thankful in adversity as well as in prosperi- 

 ty. But there is a class of individuals who are nev- 

 er thankful, either in prosperity or adversity; in 

 the former, they are negligent and wantonly care- 

 less; in the latter, they of course sec nothing to be 

 thankful for. I have given my rcpoi-t for 1880; now 

 I will give my report for the winter. 



I put 11 stocks of bees (all I had) into winter-quar- 

 ters on summer stands; packed in fine hay, or what 

 we call " nimberwill," a fine grass that grows on 

 shady ground; but, alas! they have gone to the 

 next world, whore sickness and death never come. 

 There is, to my knowledge, only 3 living stands in 

 this township, out of about 100, and all round, as far 

 as I have heard, it is the same. From reports in 

 Gleanings, can there be any thing found to be truly 

 thankful for? Can we find thankfulness in our 

 hearts wherewith to be thankful for the circum- 

 stances we are now found in? Our bees are gone, 

 never to return, and some of us may be left without 

 the wherewith to replenish our empty hives. Is 

 there any thing here to be thankful for? It does 

 seem as though things look very dark and discour- 

 aging, and as though the bright side had become 

 dark also; but there seems to be nothing that has 

 only one side to it. There surely are two sides to 

 every thing, and almost invariably one side is much 

 darker than the other. There are two sides to the 

 subject of our losses, and I have briefly penned the 

 dark side, and now let us look at the bright side. 



There is much for us to be truly thankful for. We 

 can thank God that circumstances are as well with 

 us as they are. for they might have been a great deal 

 worse. The question might arise, "What could b^ 

 worse?" My friends, God could h:ivc taken its away 

 .iust as easily as he did the hces; and if he had done 

 so, without our being in a saved condition, it would 

 have been utter and everlasting ruin. This would 

 have been worse, Avould it not? We may well thank 

 our Creator for life, health, and strength, by which 

 we can build up our seemingly ruined fortiinHs; and 

 with the supplj' of hives and broad sheets of honey- 

 comb left us by our all-wise and divine Protector, fnr 

 which we should be very thankful, we can S'lon 

 buildup our npiaries as go^.d »s they were; yen. I 

 believe better, if we. as atrenis, d'> our wh.de diitv. 

 We should not e-rumblc at all it the hives nv dirty, 

 and the once b»-autiful fram^-sand regular cnibs ."II 

 covered with dead b'-es, and dri ping tr m the ef- 

 fects i^f a terrible (or, rathe .fl't'iy) ili*c:iio; hut we 

 should rejoice and be glud. and nivc thnnkstoO'd 

 that we have them fvcn as they are. We should bo 

 thankful for the knowlcdse we hrtve gtiined and 

 skill acquired b> our past experience with be^s. and 

 for the many very happy hours we hHve p.s^ed in 

 our bee-yards. These things wo c <n not very well 

 lose unless we go insane; which would be a teriitile 



experience, worse than the loss of our pets (another 

 point in favor of thankfulness.) 



I will give an illustration showing what we should 

 do. We will suppose the father of a family of chil- 

 dren purposes building a dwelling-house for himself 

 and family; will suppose this to be a frame house, 

 and for the inside work he purchases a few hundred 

 lath. Now, these lath will be found to suit the chil- 

 dren's fancy for nice playthings; and, in great glee, 

 having the house-building fever, will proceed to 

 form all kinds of houses, porches, piazzas, cupolas, 

 towers, etc., and enjoy life splendidlj'. Now, when 

 the father informs the children that he is ready to 

 use the lath, and proceeds to gather up the scattered 

 ones, the children will, in all probability, unless ex- 

 ceptionally good children, set up a protesting cry 

 against such proceedings on the part of the father, 

 and will continue, until convinced that the lath 

 must go to be a part of a structure built for their 

 comfort and convenience; but when they put their 

 trust in their father, believing him to know what is 

 best for them, the cry will cease, and a general 

 round of satisfaction will be experienced. Now, in 

 comparing the lath to the bees, the children to the 

 bee-keepers, and the father to our heavenly Father, 

 wo have it. Whether the bees go toward building us 

 a heavenly habitation is not a matter of dispute; 

 they are gone, and our heavenly Parent took them, 

 and let us abide by his decision, firmly believing that 

 he knows best. He built this world and all there is 

 in it, and it belongs to him, and let us say amen to 

 all his works. Let us profit by past experience, and 

 if we see in it any part of our duty undone, let us in 

 future do that part, and do it well, not only in bee- 

 keeping, but in our every-day labor. I am not in 

 Blasted Hopes yet. I still hope on and trust. 



Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou 

 dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.— Pa. 

 37:3. T.J. Cook. 



Newpoint, Ind., March U, 1881. 



May the Lord bless you for your kind 

 words, friend Cook ! Tliey have done me 

 good already, and I am sure many a heart 

 will thank you for your excellent illustra- 

 tion of thehith houses. 



TOUGHNESS AND ENDURANCE FOR 

 ST.\NDING THE WUMTER. 



ANOTHER REASON FOR OUR LOP.SES IN WINTERING. 



•v|j5Sf5^HY all this talk about wintering, when It 

 W/M simply resiilves itself down to these facts? 

 ^ 1. We must have bees with vitality enough 



to withstand the 1 >ng cold winters, which we can 

 get by procuring our b' es from any source where 

 thev have swarmed nature lly tor a fe^v years, and 

 in rai-ing our qu'-ens and drones we must lei them 

 «warm themselves, or raise (jii'^'ens Hr'iflciMl'y as 

 g led, which can only he •lone !iv ii'ieee-breeders of 

 I >ng exp rience 



2. We 'iiU"" see that the\ hi't- a 'od s'ores, not 

 gra^p. appl •. penoh. ••an-, or anv other jnic* U' r 

 b 'ney-d- w that h s so m ch -u()>taii(v in i that, in 

 gp'iing the neecs iry honey t<> ke4 p them wHr'"^ 

 thev g .' fiiiorl up "iih feces, which 'hf^ r tain un- 

 til the> get a ehinc t • fly. thus ahing them "hat is 

 ciillerl d sentery Xtiw I modestlx cliiin that I cmu 

 priivr- to your and fViPiid D lolittle s mind-; -vhv they 

 "int-'-r so poi.rlv, ilter y -ii hofi 'V it up ( e • 



Gr.KAMNGS, Fell. 18H1, p. HS.i he ni !1 CHii-e t 



bees wintering .so poiil- i" I 'h^- c .Id ^iu'eife is^ 



