822 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



fact, I think it requires more labor. 

 He has three beside himsell: to work 

 in the apiary, while I do all my work 

 alone. Mrs. D. used to help me about 

 the bee-yard, which lightened my 

 cares much, as well as to be a great 

 pleasure for us both ; but since our 

 tip-over some four or five years ago, 

 she has all she can do to care for the 

 house, on account of her lameness. 



It is only througli a thorough 

 knowledge of the plans and work 

 done by others that we can compare 

 them with our own, and because Dr. 

 Miller gives us that knowledge is why 

 1 like his book so well. I advise all 

 to read it, especially beginners, for 

 the knowledge gained regarding the 

 managing of an apiary will be worth 

 many times its cost. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Tlie Honey-Proflncers' Association. 



M. M. BALDRIDGE. 



I have read, with pleasure, the edi- 

 torial on page 771, in regard to the 

 Honey-Producers' Association. Many 

 of the remarks therein were antici- 

 pated at the time, and, in fact, long 

 before my article, on page 774, was 

 written. 



Yes, we must have a market report 

 on honey in each and every number 

 of our bee-papers, but such report 

 should be the one agreed upon by the 

 members of the association. This, 

 of course, should be prepared, as the 

 Editor indicates, by and through a 

 committee selected by the association. 

 And it would not surprise me at all 

 if the association should be able to 

 select a committee of honey-pro- 

 ducers competent to attend to this 

 matter ! When such a committee 

 fixes a scale of prices at which honey 

 should be sold, by the members of the 

 association, then each one should 

 make it his or her business to adhere 

 strictly to such prices in the sale of 

 his or her honey. Unless the members 

 do this they had better not join the 

 association. In short, any member 

 who refuses to be governed by the 

 prices agreed upon by such commit- 

 tee, should be made to forfeit, as a 

 penally, his or her connection there- 

 with. 



The Editor refers to the " slip-shod, 

 back-woods, go-as-you-please bee- 

 men," who ruin the honey markets 

 " by their lack of intelligence, and un- 

 business-like methods." For myself 

 I have no fears whatever of any harm 

 or competition from that class of bee- 

 men. In my experience, the real 

 mischief-makers are such as are " up 

 with the times" in the production of 

 choice honey in modern packages. 

 They are the ones who are running 

 around from place to place, from vil- 

 lage to village, and from city to city, 

 and bragging about their big crops of 

 honey at home, ranting about over- 

 production, and wondering how they 

 are going to dispose of them. They 

 are the ones who are forcing the 

 grocery-men, and everybody else, to 

 take the " stuff" off their hands and 



at their own prices. And they are 

 especially the ones that we would like 

 to educate by having them join the 

 producers' association, subscribe for 

 the bee-papers, and be willing not 

 only to drop their " unbusiness-like 

 methods," but to secure a fair, 

 honest and decent price for their 

 honey. But if we cannot induce such 

 mischief-makers to join the assoaia- 

 tion, and work in harmony with its 

 purposes, then we, who are or may be 

 members, should do the next best 

 thing. And what is thatV Simply 

 to keep a close watch of their move- 

 ments, and when they attempt to sell 

 their honey at a price that will harm 

 the association, or demoralize the 

 markets, just quietly buy them out! 

 Then what V Simply keep our own 

 honey out of sight until we can dis- 

 pose of the would-be mischief-makers' 

 crop at the prices fixed by the Asso- 

 ciation. By this means we will be 

 able to sell their honey, as well as our 

 own, at a profit, and this will speedily 

 teach them that they had better be- 

 come one of ws, and thereby reap the 

 benefits. 



It will now be seen, I trust, that 

 one of the chief purposes of the 

 Honey-Producers' Association is to 

 secure control of the mischief-mak- 

 er's honey. There are enough honey- 

 producers in Kane county, where the 

 writer resides, who would, as mem- 

 bers of a producers' association, be 

 both able and willing to watch the 

 mischief-makers in the county, to 

 secure every pound of their honey in 

 case they should attempt to place it 

 upon the markets for less than that 

 for which it should be sold. And I 

 presume enough producers can be 

 found in every county of the United 

 States, who would be" both able and 

 willing to do the same thing. What 

 has the reader to say on this point V 



St. Charles, 5 His. 



ror the American Bee Journal 



The Canadian Bee-Lawsuit 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



Eor one, I entirely concur in the 

 views expressed by the Advisory 

 Board and Manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, in the Manager's 

 report on page 761, as to championing 

 the cause of Mr. Jos. Harrison. Only 

 members of the Union have a right to 

 expect its interposition on their be- 

 half. Moreover, Canadian bee-keep- 

 ers have not seen fit to join the Union 

 in such numbers that they can rea- 

 sonably consider themselves part of 

 its constituency. And, still further, 

 the Union is a national body. It is 

 not, like the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, an international 

 organization. This latter fact has, no 

 doubt, had its influence in deterring 

 Canadian bee-keepers from joining. 

 I connected myself with it, not for 

 my own personal benefit, but as an 

 expression of sympathy with the 

 fraternity in the United States, and 

 an endorsement of the principle of 

 combination for mutual defense. I 

 do not think that Mr. Demaree, or 



any one else need "fear that our 

 Canadian brethren will misconstrue 

 our motive, if we refuse to come ta 

 the rescue." 



But I do not understand Mr. Dem- 

 aree's remark, that " the Union had 

 better save its ammunition for larger 

 game." The " game " is large enough 

 in all conscience, for it involves the 

 rights of 10,000 bee-keepers, and will 

 certainly carry with it a precedency 

 that will be quoted all over the Amer- 

 ican continent, and throughout th& 

 bee-keeping world. Mr. A. I. Root's 

 offer of $5 toward the defense fund is 

 kind and generous. If it be found 

 necessary to get up a subscription list,^ 

 I have no doubt that other bee-keep- 

 ers in the United States will con- 

 tribute to it. 



Mr. Harrison has written me a let- 

 ter commenting on my article on page 

 741, from which it would appear that 

 the trouble arose out of a quarrel con- 

 cerning a pig-pen. He says : "I kept 

 bees on my place for some years be- 

 fore my neighbor came to live beside 

 me, and he lived beside me eight 

 years, never finding fault with me for 

 keeping bees until I wanted him to 

 keep his pig-pen cleaned out so that 

 it would not cause sickness. He and 

 his wife have always come through 

 my bee-yard for water from my well, 

 and the bees did not annoy them, 

 neither did they at any time go into 

 his kitchen to such an extent as t» 

 cause annoyance." Yet Mrs. Mcin- 

 tosh swore on the trial that the bees 

 were troublesome when she was mak- 

 ing preserves, and that she had to 

 burn sulphur to stupefy them. Mr. 

 Harrison says that Mr. Mcintosh was 

 stung three times ; also, that the bees- 

 " sometimes swarmed on his place," 

 but " did not annoy him." Mr. Har- 

 rison denounces Mrs. Mclnstosh's^ 

 testimony as " a lie," and affirms that 

 Mcintosh was stung " through his 

 own ignorance and carelessness. "^ 

 There is much more in the letter 

 which indicates that a bad spirit had 

 gotten into both blacksmith and bee- 

 keeper, and but for this, in all proba- 

 bility, no lawsuit would have beert 

 instituted. 



Now, we all know that bees can be 

 very troublesome to house-keepers 

 during preserve-making time. A sin- 

 gle bee-sting may cause a great deal 

 of pain. Few people, unfamiliar with 

 bees, like to have them swarm ou 

 their premises. In view, therefore, 

 of the facts he admits, I do not think 

 that Mr. Harrison is justified in say- 

 ing that the bees were not an annoy- 

 ance to his neighbor. If, iustead of 

 taking this ground, and accusing 

 Mrs. Mcintosh of lying, he had pur- 

 sued a conciliatory course, perhaps 

 the difficulty would not have occurred. 

 Suppose he had kindly instructed his- 

 neighbor how to avoid being stung, 

 offered to provide MrsMcIntosh wire- 

 screens for her kitchen door and win- 

 dows before preserving-time, and sent 

 them a present of honey in considera- 

 tion of his bees swarming on their 

 premises, it is probable that they 

 would have been mollified, and no 

 litigation would have arisen. 



I have a next-door neighbor who i» 

 not the best-tempered man in the 



