Mav 11, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



297 



The Illinois Foul Brood Bill. — Secretary Jas. A. Stone, 

 of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association, desires us to 

 publish the following- statement regarding- the effort re- 

 cently put forth to secure a foul brood law in Illinois, but 

 which unfortunately resulted in failure : 



Editor American Bee Journal : — The Executive 

 Committee of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 desire in behalf of the Association to have kindly named all 

 those who have assisted in an effort to secure a foul brood 

 law for the State. We have found none more ready to as- 

 sist than Editor York, of the American Bee Journal, and 

 his letters to the House Appropriation Committee would 

 have influenced a reasonable set of men, but we found the 

 majority of that committee had no regard for reason, were 

 ■ not well enough brought up to give heed when our commit- 

 tee was being heard. 



Mr. N. E. France, of Wisconsin, helpt us as far as was 

 in his power, sending us pictures of apiaries destroyed by 

 foul brood, and the hives all piled. 



Mr. Dadant gave us letters of introduction to his sena- 

 tor, and the Bill was put in his (Senator Berry's) hands, 

 and went thru the Senate booming — to be defeated by the 

 Appropriation Committee of the House. 



Mr. H. F. Moore, secretary of the Chicago Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, did all he could to influence his representa- 

 tives, as also did Mr. Jas. Poindexter. of Bloomington, but 

 still we could do nothing with his representative — Funk. He 

 insisted that the wild bees in the timber would hold the dis- 

 ease, and it would be useless to rid our apiaries of the dis- 

 ease as long as there were bee-trees in the timbers. Such 

 flimsy arguments as this had their influence with the com- 

 mittee. And one of the committee-men said he was talking 

 to one of his constituents who kept bees, and he told him 

 he would not give a cent for such a law, as he never had 

 foul brood in his apiarj'. These little things had their 

 weight ag-ainst us. But we had on that committee some of 

 whom we are able to name : Chairman Curtis, Dr. Vincent, 

 Messrs. Young, Rankin, and some others we are not able to 

 name. 



Among our enemies there were none more bitter than 

 Stewart. He could not wait to hear from our committee, 

 and moved (without the chairman giving heed) to report it 

 back with the recommendation that it do not pass. Then 

 there was another member that lookt at us as if he would 

 say, " Just wait till I get a chance to swallow you!" We 

 askt for a roll call, but were unable to get it. However, we 

 will be able to get some of the names when we see their 

 pictures. J. O. Smith, ) r- ,■ 



Ta? a Stonw ExecuUve 



n^:^ k^J-TJt" { Committee. 

 Chas. Becker, i 



We trust that whenever any of those who opposed the 

 Foul Brood Bill come up for re-election they will be remem- 

 bered by bee-keepers, at least, in a way that they will not 

 soon forget. It seems strang-e that nearly every other or- 

 ganization except bee-keepers can get what they want at 

 the hands of tlve legislature. But so long as self-seeking 

 politicians are often elected to make the laws perhaps we 

 ougrht not to be surprised that the dear people "get left." 

 However, as the votes of the " dear people" put the selfish 

 politicians into power, the place to do the hardest kicking 

 is at home. 'Tis better to elect men of sense than those 

 who are after only the cents instead of the best good of 

 their constituents. 



Philadelphia's " Old Honey=Man." — The Philadelphia 

 Record says that one of the queer characters of that city, 

 who goes on in his own quiet way, and who has wealth 

 enough to afford him all kinds of luxury, if he so desired, is 

 known by every man, woman and child in the southern 

 part of the city as the " Old Honey-Man." The queerest 

 characteristic possest by this old fellow is his -extreme 

 reticence concerning himself and his past career. There 

 are those who know that he was a sailor at one time, and, 

 if he was not the captain of a ship, he was well up in the 

 ranks. With a traj'f ul of honey in the comb on his head, 

 the old man traverses all the downtown streets and a few of 

 the uptown ones, selling to all who care to buy. He has a 

 list of regular customers among the old-timers, and his 



visits to these are made with the regularity of a clock. For 

 years the " Old Honey-Man " sold bananas and honey, and 

 amast a fortune ; but years ago he gave up bananas, and 

 since that time devotes himself to dispensing honey and 

 sweet smiles, for the old man is verv genial. 



Mr. Doolittle says [in American Bee-Keeper] a wood- 

 en paddle about 5x7 inches is the thing to kill cross bees 

 that follow one around the yard. He once tried a paddle 

 made of fine wire-cloth stretclied over a wooden frame, 

 something like a sieve. But he says he can hit a bee just as 

 well with the solid paddle as with one that allows the air to 

 pass thru. The latter sometimes only stuns the bee, while 

 the solid one always kills it. — Gleanings. 

 * ♦ * « * 



StenoG, who picks around among the neighboring 

 fields of Gleanings, has this to say in reference to the word 

 " alright " to which we called attention awhile ago : 



" ' Alright ' is referred to as being possibly a new word. 

 That's alwrong. Poor spellers often use it, supposing it 

 follows the analogy of already. It is an eyesore to have 

 such things thrust before us. But it is no worse than some- 

 time as a word ; as, ' He was here sometijnea.go.^ Sometiiiies 

 (an adverb) is always one word ; but some time is an adjec- 

 tive and a noun. Sometime is obsolete. It used to mean 

 former or formerly ; as ' Monroe was sometime (once) presi- 

 dent of this country.' Also someone, noone. and anyone, in 

 place oT somebody, nobody, and anybody, are gross blunders. 

 If used they should be separate words." 



We are agreed with Mr. Stenog on the word "alright," 

 that it is "alwrong." But we wish he would unbend a lit- 

 tle and pick up the reform in spelling which ourselves and 

 others have undertaken. It wouldn't hurt him any to favor 

 a little progress in this line, and some day he might be glad 

 that he threw the weight of his influence on the right side. 

 ***** 



Mr. a. I. Root is always an interesting target at which 

 Dr. Miller enjoys shooting off jokes. Fair samples of the 

 " wads " in the Doctor's " popgun " are found in the follow- 

 ing, which appeared in Gleanings for April IS : 



"My dear old Friend: — Please have my subscription 

 extended. That's because I began with Vol. I. No. 1 of 

 Gleanings. I think it began not so very long after the first 

 visit I made to vou. That was not long after you had had a 

 fire, in 1870, aiid had your jeweler shop and dwelling all 

 under one roof. Other company was there, somewhat 

 crowding the sleeping facilities ; you and I slept together, 

 and you kept me awake detailing a plan that was in your 

 head for putting a hive under each hard-maple tree, tapping 

 the tree, and having the sap run directly into the hive for 

 the benefit of the bees. You didn't manufacture smokers 

 then, and I showed you how to smoke bees with a pan of 

 hot coals. You liked the plan, and as soon as I was out of 

 sight you tried it atid burnt up a hive, or tried to. I think 

 I've slept with you a number of times since, and was dis- 

 tinctly the gainer on at least two separate occasions, when 

 vou absent-mindedly put your nightcap in my overcoat 

 pocket instead of your own. I never lost anything by 

 sleeping with you. I always put my Waterbury under my 

 pillow. Please don't forget to have my subscription ex- 

 tended. "C.C.Miller." 



There's no telling what mischief those two " boys " 

 will get into at the Philadelphia convention, next Septem- 

 ber. But they'll bear watching. I hope Pres. Whitcomb 

 will keep both of his keen Nebraska eyes on them. If not, 

 they'll make "Uncle Whit " more nervous than he usually 

 is when joining in an Indian war dance. 



The Premium offered on page 254 is well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at it. 



