440 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 11, 



the number of colonies so treated be one or many. If I am 

 not mistaken, Mr. Charles Dadant speaks of the practice by 

 the bee-keepers of his native France, as if it were something 

 he would be glad to have them abandon. 



I am not prepared, and have no disposition to dispute Jlr. 

 McArthur's claim for the superior profitableness of his plan of 

 migratory bee-keeping over the one suggested by me. Whether 

 profitable or unprofitable, it was a plan I had no intention of 

 pursuing. I suggested a different plan because I believed it 

 might be made profitable, and I knew it to be more humane. 

 There are some things which are not considered any violation 

 of any law, either human or divine, which some folks do not 

 care to do for profit. There may be profit in skinning skunks 

 and muskrats, but some other man is more than welcome to 

 the profits if he will only do the skinning. 



Mr. McArthur seems to regard my contention ihat there 

 is a distinction between killing the bees and killing a calf, as 

 something not worth taking into consideration. I am willing 

 to concede that, while there is a distinction, there is not 

 enough difference to pay for quarreling about. 



Yes, Mr. McArthur, I eat things killed, but participate as 

 little as possible in the killing. The trade of butcher is an 

 honest and necessary one, but somehow I cannot help think- 

 ing that the world is to be congratulated that the number of 

 butchers need not be great. 



If anything I have said in this connection seems to be 

 more caustic than kindly, it comes from the feeling I have 

 that the practice Mr. McArthur advocates would not be whole- 

 some in its influence on bee-keepers. It seems to me to be a 

 step in apiculture both downward and backward — a step which 

 the bee-keepers of America cannot afford to take. If Mr. 

 McArthur has not already entered upon the sulphuring prac- 

 tice, I will still indulge the hope that he may never do so. But 

 whatever he and others may conclude to do, for myself I will 

 continue to live with ray bees as I do with my cat, my dog, 

 and my horse — without any thought of the sulphur pit for the 

 one, or of the shambles for the others. Leon, Iowa. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Re\'. Emerson T. Jlhhott, St. Josepi, :i/o. 



Stra'wberries Again — A Reply. — It seems to 

 me that Mr. Secor has engaged in a great deal of special 

 pleading, trying to make his point. I have not labored, as he 

 suggests, at any time ■' to break the force of the arguments " 

 which he has offered to prove that bees never work on the 

 strawberry blossoms; for, to be frank, I do not think he has 

 offered any "arguments" to prove his position. We had 

 nothing but his dictum to prove anything, and so far as that 

 goes, my dictum and observation are just as good as his. I 

 have not made any " specious " statements, as I understand 

 things, and so far as Mr. Secor's insinuations as to my igno- 

 rance are concerned, I am not in the least troubled about 

 that. Aryumcntum ad Iwjnlncm might do in politics, but it 

 seems to me a little out of place in this case. This is not a 

 question of " out-talking Missouri farmers," but if it were, I 

 might be permitted to remark that " Missouri farmers " are 

 probably about as intelligent as Iowa horticulturists, and are 

 about as competent to weigh arguments. We have some 

 people in this country who are "men of trained habits of ob- 

 servation," and they know enough to understand that the 

 mere dictum of four men will not be taken as the final argu- 

 ment among si.fty millions of people. 



I went over to the market, which is in front of my office, 

 and found a score or more of intelligent Germans with crates 

 of strawberries in their wagons, all of whom were strangers to 

 me, and every one of them to whom I put the question, " Do 

 bees work on the strawberry bloom?" answered, "Yes." 

 One of them, who had unusually fine berries, said, "Yes; if 

 they had not, I would not have had any berries this year." It 

 is true these men are " Missouri farmers," but they know a 

 bee when they see it, if it is not too far off. 



Mr. Secor closes his article with a very amusing declara- 

 tion, which may cause as many smiles on the part of the intel- 

 ligent botanists of this country as he imagines gathering on 

 the physiognomies of the Iowa horticulturists when his per- 

 version of my statements was put before them. No intelligent 

 botanist would take his " olfactories," or any one else's, for 

 that matter, as a final argument that a plant did not produce 

 nectar. As to the rest of his article, and the real question in 

 discussion, I submit the following in evidence : 



Mr. Jacoh Faith, Montevallo, Mo. 



My Dear Sir: — I hope you will excuse me for bothering 

 you, but it will be a great favor if you will answer briefly the 

 questions which you will find below. Thanking you in ad- 

 vance, I am. Yours truly, 



Emerson T. Abbott. 



Question. — 1. Have you ever seen the honey-bee working 

 on the strawberry blossoms? Answer. — Yes; and strawber- 

 ries are benefitted by bees. 



Q. — 2. Did they work on them this year? A. — Yes; they 

 worked on the blossoms, but not on the fruit. 



Q. — 3. Are there any varieties of the strawberry which 

 produce stamens only ? A. — Nearly so. Michel's Early pro- 

 duces much stamen and little fruit ; also most wild straw- 

 berries produce abundant stamen, or pollen, and very few 

 berries; they are profitable to set for fertilizers. 



Q. — 4. Do you think the wind, or insects, have the most 

 to do with the fertilization of the strawberry ? A. — The wind 

 has more, or will fertilize more than the bees, but both are 

 needed for a successful yield. I am not partial, as I grow 

 over '25 acres of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, 

 and have no bees, but my neighbors have bees. I believe bees 

 are very beneficial to almost all fruits, especially apples, 

 plums, berries and pears ; as for peaches, I feel unable to say. 



Yours truly, Jacob Faith, FruU-Qrower. 



True, this man has the misfortune to live in Missouri, but 



he is an 'authority on berries all the same, and can quote vari- 

 eties up into the hundreds that would make that little array 

 of names of Friend Secor, quoted to overwhelm me, look very 

 small. 



This ends the personal element of this discussion so far as 

 the department of " Notes and Comments" is concerned, and 

 for fear, after reading Mr. Secor's article, some one should 

 conclude that all the mission the conductor of this department 

 has is to "out-talk Missouri farmers ;" and, as his intelligence 

 seems also to be in question, he begs permission to submit th& 

 following from a man who is not a "Missouri farmer :" 



College of Agriculture and Experiment Station, 

 University of Missouri. 

 Office of Dean and Director. 



CoLU.MBiA, Mo., March 11, 1895. 

 Mr. E. T. Abbott, St. Joseph, Mo. 



Dear Sir: — At the close of our short practical courses on 

 subjects connected with the pursuit of agriculture I wish to 

 thank you, on behalf of the College, for the admirable manner 

 in which you have dealt with the subject of bee-keeping. You 

 possess the true teacher's spirit, as is manifested by the lively 

 desire of many of the young men who attended your lectures, 

 not only to learn more of the art and science of bee-keeping 

 than was possible in the short time you gave us, but actually 

 to begin keepi[ig bees at the first opportunity that might pre- 

 sent itself. I confess a similar wish arose in my own heart, 

 and, while in my younger days I had read with much interest 

 Huber's works, the nearer duties of life had put my enthusi- 

 asm in the wonderful economy of the bee's household to sleep, 

 until your most interesting presentation aroused it again to 

 something like its former strength. I thank you for it. 



With no desire to flatter you, I will say that the liveliness 

 of your discourse is increased in value by accuracy of scien- 

 tific statement, and the general tenor of practical mastery 

 with which you impress your audience. We shall certainly 

 want you again next year, when I trust the Board of Curators 

 will succeed in securing your services for a sufficiently long 

 and extended course of lectures to do justice to the real impor- 

 tauce of the subject. Why ! such instruction as you have just 

 given our students should be given in every school of the land, 

 and I take the liberty of advising you to let people know how 

 thoroughly both professors and students here feel with your 

 work, and how gratefully they speak of its merits. 

 Yours truly, 



P. Schweitzer, Acting Dean and Director. 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide"' offer on page 4-17. 



