THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



35 



first swarm or colony, whichever is right 

 according to-modeni beeology. 



He hopes tlie time will speedily come 

 when he can say in all truth and sir.cer- 

 ity, "an honest bee is the noblest work 

 of its Creator, or introducer, whether 

 it, she or he has five bands, none at all 

 and is as black as Erebus. 



His bees are not honest noiu; they 

 broke their former record, and have 

 adopted a "go as you please" gait. He 

 gave them credit for being the best- 

 behaved bees in the world, and the best 

 workers withal, for hadn't he paid 

 many hard-earned dollars for queens 

 with pedigrees and many yellow bands, 

 their progeny being warranted not to 

 sting, provided they were not crossed 

 with hornets and in the very laudable 

 and lawful efforts to hoard honey they 

 had no use for ; in that respect being 

 likened to a Gould or Vanderbilt (be- 

 cause they were built that way) ? and 

 did not they water their honey even as 

 railroad magnates water their stock? 

 and didn't they bring in stuft (some- 

 times called '-bug juice") and store it 

 in cells prepared for the sweetest nec- 

 tar, which will cause their bowels to ex- 

 tend and their eyes to distend this winter, 

 stuff they cannot possibly digest in their 

 inert condition (so say the learned ones) ? 



Second. They (the bees) became 

 thoroughly imbued with the "independ- 

 ent principle "discussed on the farms, 

 in the cities, towns, hovels and palaces 

 in Nebraska." 



Why should they be required to wear 

 out their wings and precious lives toil- 

 ing for bloated bond holders, so long 

 as tlie national banks could borrow 

 money of the government at two per 

 cent, and the best comb honey would 

 not bring but 15 cents per pound in the 

 market wliich the universal law of sup- 

 ply and demand did not legidate? 



Third. They called conventions, held 

 daily meetings on clover heads (drip- 

 ping with honey they refused to gather) 

 in fair weather, and under pumpkin 

 vines during the rainy season adopted 

 resolutions, condemned in scathing and 

 unmeasured terms the powers that be 



that sought by providing them luxuri- 

 ous apartments, furnished with all the 

 m.odein improvements, to induce them; 

 to lay up large stores of honey to en- 

 rich their owners. 



Seditious commotions were of hourly 

 occurrence. Flattering overtures were 

 made to the old parties — the hornets 

 and bumble bees — to join their ranks 

 and aid in crushing and stamping out 

 the gigmtic honey monopoly. 



Anarchical sentiments obtained a 

 firm foothold in the colonies, and the 

 adherents of that pernicious doctrine 

 looked with disfavor upon their weahhy 

 neighbors who had by untiring industry 

 accumulated a suri)lus of golden stores. 

 They stoutly maintained that the world- 

 owed all a living (dudish drones includ- 

 ed) whether they labored for it or not,, 

 and that it was against public policy 

 and the fundamental principles of their 

 order to allow some to accumulate more 

 than they could consume, while millions- 

 had not a dro[) of honey to eat. 



Fourth. On or about the 5th day of 

 September, and for a longtime thereaf- 

 ter, incited and spurred on by the an- 

 archical bees aforesaid, they in great 

 numbers attacked their wealthy neigh- 

 bors and robbed them of all their stores, 

 and had not the strong arm of their 

 keeper protected by rubber gloves and 

 a bee veil over his face come to their 

 rescue with fire, smoke and wet grass, 

 the most destructive warfare ever re- 

 corded in the history of the Italian race 

 would have occurred and none left to 

 tell the tale. 



And afterwards, to-wit on tlie 4th 

 day of November, £891, after the smoke 

 of the battle had Kited and defeat had 

 restored their perturbed spirits to their 

 normal condition, they souglit to as- 

 cribe their defeat to the fact that the 

 hornets and bumble bees refused to 

 combine with them, but continuetl to 

 labor to provide for their own necessi- 

 ties and the public weal, never losing 

 sight of the glorious mottoes inscribed 

 on their temples, their homes. Pro bono 

 publico, and "The voice of the people 

 is the voice of our God." 



