1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1491 



able for recreation than almost any thing 

 else. We may have noticed how the clovers 

 —red. white, " and alsike — have leaves and 

 blossoms that are different from other plants, 

 and we think of them as a family by them- 

 selves. Then, perhaps, we notice the meli- 

 lot and alfalfa are somewhat like the other 

 clovers, and so may be related to them; and 

 then the peas and beans, although so differ- 

 ent, have some things in common; while the 

 giant locust — how Ike the pea in leaf and 

 tiower! and we wonder how they can have 

 so many things in common and be so differ- 

 ent, and so unconsciously we have been 

 studying botany without knowing it. How 

 much better to "have a text-book, although it 

 may be a very elementary one, from which 

 we may learn more in an evening than in a 

 month by ourselves! Besides the pleasure 

 of the study of this science, it has its own re- 

 wards. Some years ago I had a plum-tree 

 that bloomed from year to year, but refused 

 to give me more than a few imperfect speci- 

 mens of fruit. Suspecting the trouble, the 

 next spring when the tree was in bloom I 

 went to another tree in tlower, of the same 

 species, but a different variety, and broke off 

 a branch and hung it up in my hitherto bar- 

 ren tree. When the sun came out the bees 

 flew, and there wei-e many marriages that 

 day; and when the autumn came that tree 

 was bending low beneath its bountiful load 

 of beautiful Satsume plums. And then I 

 marveled anew at the dislike of nature to 

 the marriage of near relations. 



The word chcmiMrij reminds us at once 

 of the chemist and his mysterioiis laboratory 

 and paraphernalia of bottles and fluids and 

 big names: but we need not be frightened. 

 We may learn to know very well the few 

 simple elements of which our bodies are 

 •composed, as well as the bodies of all an- 

 imals about us, and, we might add, plants 

 too, withoiit ever entering a laboratory or 

 taking a college course. We may then un- 

 derstand why pollen is so necessary when 

 bees are rearing brood or why they can sub- 

 stitute flower or meal for pollen. We may 

 then easily guess why the larva of the wax- 

 moth can grow if it can get a bit of pollen 

 or a dead bee or even old dirty combs, but 

 will die if compelled to feed on pure clean 

 "wax alone. 



The ortlerly way the simple elements 

 unite to form new compounds is a thousand 

 times more interesting than the latest scan- 

 dal in the daily press. 



Of physiology we ought certainly to know 

 enough to be able to care intelligently for 

 our own bodies. Many a men has failed be- 

 ■cause he did not know how to take care of 

 himself — yes, and died because he did not 

 know how to live. I once knew an agricul- 

 tural speaker so ignorant of his own anato- 

 my that he verily thought that what he swal- 

 lowed went somehow on to his lungs in- 

 stead of into his stomach, and yet he was 

 employed to go about the country to en- 

 lighten the natives I 



And so we might speak of physics and 

 other sciences such as geology and natural 



history, and even astronomy. They ax"e all 

 nuts that may be cracked by patient hands 

 or heads, and their meats enjoyed by the 

 humble bee-keeper as well as by the learned 

 scholar. 



Does all that I have outlined seem like an 

 idle fancy or mischievous fallacy? Does it 

 seem like' an impractical thing that a man 

 in business should be able to give time to 

 acquii-e an elementary knowledge, at least, 

 of the more common sciences, while still 

 working for daily bread? I believe not. 

 Where there is a will there is a way, and 

 the number who have done it is constantly 

 increasing. Only yesterday a lady was tell- 

 ing me of a man from the slums of New 

 York city, who has recently published some 

 books that have attracted considerable at- 

 tention, yet at thirty did not even know his 

 lettei's, and his material wealth does not ap- 

 pear to have been any greater than his 

 knowledge of his mother tongue. I refer to 

 Owen Kildare. 



At the beginning of this year the world is 

 vocal with the praises of Benjamin Franklin, 

 and still we are told that he did not begin 

 his scientific studies till past middle life, 

 while later he was considered one of the 

 great scientists of his time. 



I remember well one old farmer who at 

 seventy took up the study of Latin, and had 

 the pleasure later of reading his old Latin 

 authors. I admit that that was l)eginning 

 rather late in life, but it shows what, with 

 good mental powers, may be done. 



We have all, I suppose, heard of Elihu 

 Burrett. who mastered the languages while 

 he worked at the forge as a common black- 

 smith; and the influences or movements that 

 he started are still moving on to bless the 

 world. 



But I wanted to speak of another man 

 whom 1 met some twenty-five years ago, by 

 the name of Frost. He has sometimes been 

 known as the learned shoemaker. I went 

 with a friend to visit him in his shop one 

 evening; and as we were alone with him he 

 told the simple story of his life. He said 

 that, at the age of forty, owing to close con- 

 finement at the cobbler's bench, he was quite 

 broken down in health, and went to New 

 York to consult a specialist who gave him 

 no medicine, but advised him to exercise in 

 open air; and, that there might not be too 

 much monotony, he advised the study of bot- 

 any. He said that, in six weeks, he was a 

 well man; but so intense had his interest be- 

 come in his studies that he kept them up till 

 he had exhausted all the text-books that 

 would help him in this country. Then he 

 sent to Europe for a valuable treatise on his 

 favorite subject, only to find, to his amaze- 

 ment when he received it, that it was in Lat- 

 in, if I remember rightly. But he was not 

 to be denied the pleasure of reading the book 

 that had cost him so much, and so began at 

 once the study of I^atin. and was rewar<1ed 

 by being able to read his latest author. After 

 that he said he never inquired in what lan- 

 guage a book was printed if it only contain- 

 ed the information he sought. Later he said, 



