AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



United States Congress ? Here is good 

 work to be done. I see no reason why 

 there shall not be an active campaign all 

 along the line, that we may have the 

 best and most effective legislation in all 

 the States, and in Congress. " Where 

 there is a will there is a way." Where 

 there is so desirable an end to be accom- 

 plished, there ought to be a tremendous 

 will. 



There is yet one more thing needful. 

 The best of laws do not enforce them- 

 selves. Such enforcement takes time, 

 money, effort, and is not always the 

 most agreeable work. Thus we cannot, 

 ought not, to expect any one person to 

 attend to it. No one bee-keeper has the 

 adequate time or money, and why should 

 one work for all ? 



No ! the National Bee-Keepers' Union 

 is just the organization to do this work. 

 Under Mr. Newman's very wise man- 

 agement, it has done most excellent 

 service. Under his direction it can win 

 still greater laurels. I know of no one 

 so well qualified to make things lively as 

 Mr. Newman, supported by the Union. 

 I hope he will accept the responsibility, 

 and be well paid for the work. If the 

 thousands of bee-keepers will each pay 

 a dollar, all this can be done, and the 

 funds be more than enough to compen- 

 sate all who engage in the service. 



I believe here is a grand chance to 

 advance not only bee-keeping interests, 

 but the interest of right doing as well. 

 Fraud and deception, which are the very 

 foundation of all this adulteration ini- 

 quity, are stepping stones to all dis- 

 honesty and immoral practices ; if bee- 

 keepers can wipe them out, as above 

 suggested, it will be just cause for re- 

 joicing among all the people. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



An Explanation Regarding Past 

 Prophecies of Honey-Flows. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY SAM WILSON. 



On page 535, Mr. Thomas Johnson 

 takes me to task. He says I hit it pretty 

 well in 1891, but missed it badly this 

 year, and that I simply tried to imitate 

 1891. I know I did not have a good 

 chance this year to prove what I claim, 

 to men that do not want to believe. 



If Mr. Johnson will turn to page 580 

 of the Bee Journal for April 28, 1892, 

 and tell me why I said I did not have a 

 good chance to prove this year (1892) 

 that J could tell what I claimed to tell, 



and why in 18911 said the northwest 

 would have a failure, and the extreme 

 southern portion of Illinois and Ken- 

 tucky would have a good flow, and that 

 it would be good in the East, and the 

 best in central New York of anywhere 

 in the United States — then he can tell of 

 any good honey-flow long before hand, 

 and especially of any failure. Nothing 

 can turn a coming failure into a success, 

 but bad weather can stop bees from 

 work, as it has this year, when there 

 was plenty of nectar for them to gather, 

 if they could have gone out to work. 



As to the proof of the above, the re- 

 ports of bee-keepers from southern Illi- 

 nois and Kentucky attest to the fact, 

 and as to central New York, Mr. E. R. 

 Root said in Gleanings that the yields 

 were so great there that the bee-keepers 

 would not report their yields for fear of 

 an influx of bee-keepers from other parts 

 of the country. So much for my pre- 

 dictions for 1891. 



Let us return to 1892. Gleanings re- 

 ports this year to be better than the last 

 five years, from clover and linden, de- 

 spite the fact that three-fourths of all 

 the bees died last winter, and on account 

 of the unprecedented wet and bad 

 weather all over the western States, ex- 

 cept western Iowa, where, I think, bees 

 wintered and built up well. Mr. John- 

 son reported his bees in good condition 

 (and I don't suppose he is any better 

 bee-keeper than the average) . It stopped 

 raining in western Iowa, and was fine 

 weather through clover and linden 

 bloom, while it rained right on in the 

 eastern part ; the wonder is that they 

 got any honey in eastern Iowa, as there 

 bees were reduced three-fourths in num- 

 bers, and what were left were run for 

 increase ; and then it was cold and wet 

 all the time through linden and clover 

 bloom, but in spite of all that, the bees 

 secured considerable surplus. As for 

 me trying to imitate my predictions of 

 1891, I knew I could not do that, and 

 so I stated, on page 580. I said then 

 that the honey-flow would be more gen- 

 eral, and who says it has not been so ? 



Mr. Johnson cannot prove me a " false 

 prophet," neither does his honey-flow 

 that he brags about, for he got it almost 

 all from fall flowers, when I did not 

 claim to tell anything about the fall 

 flow. He talks about Mr. Frank Cover- 

 dale getting 40 pounds per colony on an 

 average, when I find he got an average 

 each year of over 200 pounds in 1886 

 and 1889, and one of those years it was 

 all comb honey. When Mr. Johnson 

 does that well, I want to hear from him. 



