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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of his which appeared in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review for Nov. 10, 1890, there 

 was an attack on a class of writers in 

 the bee-papers whom he designated as 

 "literary apiarists, pseudo-professional 

 men, snide lawyers, quack doctors," 

 etc. He expressed the opinion that the 

 editor of a bee-paper should " get on to 

 these fellows," and further, that he 

 should " keep them out of his columns." 

 At the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention, held about that time, Mr. 

 Heddon was reported in the Detroit Free 

 Press as having said " he knew of sev- 

 eral men who wrote fluently on bee- 

 keeping, who never produced a pound of 

 honey in their lives," and more in the 

 same strain. In the Review he said the 

 editor could give the names of the par- 

 ties referred to. Of course, then, he 

 could have done it himself. Why did he 

 not do so, while he was about it, instead 

 of hurling disparagement at the whole 

 tribe of literary and professional men ? 

 According to Mr. HeddOn, no one is 

 of any account as an apiarist, or qualified 

 to write in the bee-papers, unless he 

 keeps at least 100 colonies, and makes 

 bee-keeping pay from a dollar-and-cent 

 point of view. He must be a specialist, 

 or he is a know-nothing. Now, I beg to 

 ask how many of the great lights of 

 bee-keeping have been specialists? 

 Huber, the father of modern apiculture, 

 was blind, obtained his facts by the ob- 

 servations of others, reasoned on them, 

 and published his conclusions to the 

 world. I question if he ever sold a 

 pound of honey. According to Mr. 

 Heddon, " such a writer could only be 

 misleading, and ought to be weeded out 

 of bee-literature." How much of bee- 

 literature would be left if all such and 

 their writings were weeded out of it ? 

 These attacks on "literary apiarists," 

 and " apicultural literarians " reflect no 

 credit on Mr. Heddon. They are wanton 

 onslaughts on a whole class of men, 

 some of whom may be unworthy, but 

 most of whom have rendered signal ser- 

 vice to bee-keeping. 



Moreover, these attacks are ungrate- 

 ful returns for the eminent services 

 rendered to Mr. Heddon personally, by 

 the very class of men whom he so un- 

 sparingly denounces. When he got up 

 his book, entitled " Success in Bee-Cul- 

 ture," he was glad to avail himself of 

 the help of a literary man whom he calls 

 " My Friend" throughout its pages, and 

 who was not at the time, and had not 

 been for years, engaged in practical bee- 

 keeping, 



What Mr. Heddon has written on this 

 subject hits the Nestor of American 



Apiculture, "the unkindest cut of all," 

 and is a most ungrateful return for the 

 great lift Father Langstroth gave him 

 in writing up his hive. 



No one appreciates more highly than 

 I do Mr. Heddon's abilities and attain- 

 ments as a bee-keeper, and I have many 

 times, cheerfully and spontaneously, 

 used my pen in his defense against en- 

 vious and unscrupulous assailants. I 

 must* confess I feel stung to the quick 

 by h'is caustic and unjust criticisms, for 

 if there is any man living who belongs 

 to the class he has singled out for mas- 

 sacre, I am he. I depend upon my pen 

 for a livelihood, and I keep bees, not for 

 pecuniary profit, but because I love the 

 pursuit. Moreover, I believe that a bee- 

 keeper, who, like myself, has from a 

 dozen to twenty colonies, whose won- 

 drous ways he watches and studies with 

 absorbing interest from day to day, may 

 be just as well qualified to write about 

 bee-keeping as one who owns hundreds 

 of colonies, and sells honey by the ton. 

 What is there to prevent such a man 

 from giving " honest reports and opin- 

 ions ?" I contend that he is all the 

 better qualified to do so, from the fact 

 that he does not look at the pursuit 

 from a purely financial stand-point. He 

 is in a position to be thoroughly impar- 

 tial, disinterested, and unselfish. 



Guelph, Ont. 



An Interesting Experience with 

 Queen-Bees, Etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY E. B. KAUFFMAN. 



I have taken some interest in bees for 

 several years, which I bought in box- 

 hives. I then got bee-books, and in the 

 season of 1891 I transferred one colony 

 to a movable-frame hive, and got along 

 nicely. I bought an Italian queen-bee 

 and introduced her with success. 

 Strange it is what happened to her ; see 

 the Bee Jouknal of March 10, 1892, 

 page 344. 



In the latter part of March I bought 

 from the South another queen for the 

 same hive, and introduced her as 

 directed. Then I left home for Lancas- 

 ter City. In one week I returned, and 

 as I came to that bee-hive I noticed the 

 queen dead on the ground. I opened 

 the hive and found no brood. I then 

 united the bees with another colony. 

 My wife then told me she would rather 

 see me upset the hives and give up bee- 

 keeping, but I transferred the other 



