AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



and selected the farm of which you have 

 heard so much. I would much prefer 

 to tell to you something of the pleasant 

 and delightfully happy hours I have 

 spent in its halls and on the campus, or 

 on the classic banks of Hinkson, which 

 winds its most graceful course along the 

 borders of the farm where oft in the 

 stilly moonlight, or in the early morn, 

 we practiced our junior and senior ora- 

 tion, sure that the Stephen's medal 

 would be ours on the coming commence- 

 ment when we would walk forth to con- 

 quer the world, exclaiming, Scientia 

 recjina mundi ! And why should we not, 

 when our " Alma Mater " taught that 

 science should ever rule ? 



I say I would like to tell you of these 

 and the happy hours I have spent under 

 the elms and basswood trees in the 

 campus, "Where soft eyes looked love 

 to eyes which spake again, and all went 

 merry as a marriage bell " — but I am 

 called here for another subject. 



The Missouri College of Agriculture 

 has now been in active operation for 22 

 years and was established ostensibly to 

 educate the sons of the farmer and me- 

 chanic in the practical operations of the 

 farm and the workshop ; that is, to put 

 within the reach of every son of Missouri 

 a thorough and practical scientific edu- 

 cation ; to teach the farmer's son what 

 soils are best adapted to certain crops ; 

 how to cultivate ; how to manure ; what 

 varieties of fruits are the most profit- 

 able ; what breeds of horses, h*gs, cat- 

 tle and sheep will bring him the greatest 

 reward for his labor ; what insects are 

 the most useful, and which are the most 

 destructive — and not only how to in- 

 crease the former, but how to destroy 

 the latter. 



The foregoing are some of the leading 

 objects for which the general govern- 

 ment and the State of Missouri estab- 

 lished and now maintain the College of 

 Agriculture at Columbia, and can It be 

 true at this late date — 22 years after its 

 establishment — I am here telling you 

 that this institution of scientific learn- 

 ing has never had a class in apiculture? 

 That this great institution that expends 

 thousands of dollars every year for prac- 

 tical education has never yet been the 

 possessor of a single bee-hive and its 

 contents ? And must I tell you that the 

 professor of biology, who this very min- 

 ute fills the chair, would run from the 

 little busy bee with as much energy as 

 he would from the grizzly bear, or the 

 Rocky mountain cougar? I say, must I 

 stand before you and tell to you these 

 things — to you, who are engaged in the 

 most delightful of rural pursuits — to you 



who are furnishing to the public the 

 most ancient, the most wholesome, and 

 the most delicious of sweets that the 

 taste of man has ever experienced, and 

 whose occupation brings to the aggre- 

 gated wealth of our State thousands 

 upon thousands of dollars? Aud who 

 knows how many millions of dollars go 

 to waste every year for the want of 

 proper practical education in this pur- 

 suit? 



Ours is a pursuit worth more to the 

 horticultural interest of our State than 

 all the beautiful flower-gardens and hot- 

 houses that have graced the horticul- 

 tural department of the college from its 

 establishment. Yet, this great scientific 

 school, supported at public expense for 

 the very purpose of teaching the life 

 habits of the useful insects, is not ex- 

 pending one single cent in this direction! 



I am not here to pull down other de- 

 partments — I love flowers as well as any 

 one — but I am here to ask you, intelli- 

 gent ladies and gentlemen, why our pur- 

 suit is not recognized ? In my feeble 

 way I shall try to tell you. I think 

 there are two principal reasons, viz. : 

 First, our Board of Curators is com- 

 posed of lawyers, doctors, preachers, 

 stock-breeders, bankers, and those of 

 other professions who know nothing of 

 our needs ; and, in the second place, we 

 ourselves are derelict in our duty. 



I say, let us wake up to our duty. Let 

 us not permit the money appropriated 

 by the general government, to revert for 

 the want of opportunities to be ex- 

 pended, when we need it so very much. 

 Let us see that the money appropriatad 

 for the Agricultural College is not ex- 

 pended for law libraries or philosophical 

 apparatus, while our pursuit — a legiti- 

 mate one — is left out in the cold ! 



' ' Let us, then, be up and doing, 



With a heart for any fate. 

 Still achieving, still pursuing. 



Learn to labor '" — but not '~ to wait." 



We have already waited too long. 

 Let us give the resolution that is to fol- 

 low this essay a unanimous vote, and 

 let us send it with a committee to see the 

 Board of Curators, and tell them in 

 earnest language that we merit recogni- 

 tion. Let us tell them that the College 

 of Agriculture ought to have an apiary, 

 and a practical teacher in bee-culture. 



So much for the College of Agricul- 

 ture. Now for the Experiment Station 

 which was established by the Curators of 

 the University on Jan. 10 and 11, 

 1888, in pursuance to an act of Con- 

 gress approved July 2, 1887. Let us 

 turn to these sections and see why the 



