189b. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



747 



joice the heart of a Dadant as to its dimensions. It contains 

 18 frames, and the bees in that hive have not been idle dur- 

 ing the summer. The Doctor had tal<en off the surplus ar- 

 rangement some 10 days before I visited him. It was left 

 near the hive, and was supposed to coutain about 40 pounds 

 of line honey. As this is the Doctor's first experience with 

 bees, he was very proud of that surplus honey. So, after din- 

 ner he said he wanted me to see him take out his sweet ac- 

 cumulation. Generous fellow that he is, he went out and 

 called in one of his neighbors, to whom he wanted to make a 

 present of some of that precious sweet. 



All things being ready, we proceeded to the yard, and 

 " Emm Dee," by the most approved method, made a dive for the 

 honey. He soon found empty combs, plenty of them, all of 

 which bore evidence of having been full to the brim of the 

 finest of white honey; but, alas! where was it now ? The 

 Doctor's face was a study as he pulled out frame after frame — 

 the sections were in wide-frames — and found every section 

 empty. As he took out the last frame he found five sections 

 which were full of honey. Three of these, in his generosity, 

 he gave to his neighbor, and had two left. About all he said 

 was: "The pesky bees ! they have carried it all below." I 

 hefted the hive and contents, and it seemed to me it would 

 weigh about 200 pounds, but yet I had a lingering suspiciou 

 that some other bees had carried off that honey ; but I would 

 prefer that nothing be said to the Doctor about this. Previ- 

 ous to that, the Doctor had taken off some 30 pounds of beau- 

 tiful comb honey. 



My next halt was at Keokuk, Iowa, where I was met at 

 the train by that practical, far-seeing, aged apiarist, Chas. 

 Dadant, of Hamilton, HI. If anyone wants to know the 

 breadth of French hospitality, let him spend a night with the 

 Dadants. Their hospitality is like their foundation — the best 

 made. 



On my way home I stopped at Palmyra, Mo., and by re- 

 quest of Secretary Rippey, of the State board of Agriculture, 

 spoke at a meeting of the Farmer's Institutes there and at 

 Shelbyville. 



This seems like a good deal to cover in about a week, and 

 is almost like a dream, now I am safe at home, but modern in- 

 vention has almost eliminated space, and 1000 miles is now 

 no more than 50 a few years ago. 



Czit)Bidiar) Bccdorr)^ 



Clipping Queens' Wings. 



A writer in this department of the American Bee Journal, 

 who wrote on page 686, is opposed to the clipping of queens, 

 and some of his reasons for not clipping are curious enough. 

 In his reply to Dr. Miller he appears to get beyond his depth, 

 and his philosophy is badly mixed. He says : " Disuse brings 

 deterioration, and it has only to be continued long enough to 

 result in extirpation." That is true — quite true. 



Again: "When there is no longer any call for wings. 

 Nature will cease to produce them." That, too, is true — very 

 true; but it is dangerous ground for him to tread, as we shall 

 see presently. The doctrine, so far, is sound and scientific. 

 It is evolution, which is now as well established as the "law 

 of gravitation." But then, per contr<i, he goes on to say : " I 

 think the infinitely wise Creator knew what organs and func- 

 tions it was best to give a queen-bee, and that it is rather pre- 

 sumptuous for man to say, in effect, this little creature would 

 be improved by being deprived of her wings, or, at any rate, 

 of the power to use them." Now, apart from the utter and 

 irreconcilable conflict between the two theories or philosophies 

 let us apply the reductio ad absurdum to the argument, and 

 see where it will land its author. 



A few months ago I had my horned stock dehorned ; that 

 is, I had the horns, big and little, of young and old, taken off 

 close to the head. But I ought not to have done this, for did 

 not an " infinitely wise Creator " know best what organs and 

 implements the stock needed ? The agriculturist and stock- 

 raiser, however, do know that the horns are better off, com- 

 mercially speaking ; and also humanely speaking, for the 

 stock inflict ten times as much pain on each other, and even 

 on humans, with their horns on, than they suffer momentarily 

 in having them taken off. 



Again, we farmers are in the habit of using the knife on 

 young male colts, calves, pigs, and lambs, but this is all wrong, 

 too, for are we not mutilating these animals, and depriving 

 them of organs given them by an " infinitely wise Creator ?" 



Furthermore, an "infinitely wise Creator" knew what 



kind of stock (the " scrub") was best for man, and what kind 

 of apple (the "crab") was best for him, and hence we ought 

 to have continued to milk the one and eat the other, and be 

 content, without grumbling or making any wry faces. But 

 the wicked wretch (man) has not done so. He has been trying 

 to improve upon Nature, or the gods; and out of the "scrub," 

 in "a state of Nature," he has, by crossing, and intercrossing, 

 and " breeding up," evolved the splendid Durham, and Hol- 

 stein, and Jersey, to give him beef, and butter, and cheese; 

 and the Southdown, and Merino, and Cotswold, to give him 

 mutton, and bedding, and clothes. He is a great sinner to do 

 all this, and ought to be visited with suitable punishment. 

 Nevertheless, I fear we shall have to take our chances and 

 continue to use the scissors on the queen-bee, the knife on the 

 animals, and the brains in our heads on the development and 

 improvement of our stock. So much for the reductio, and 

 where it lands our good friend of " Beedom !" 



The fine point is this: He is trying to "serve two ?rias- 

 tc?'s" in his anti-clipping argument. He is astride two oppos- 

 ing philosophies — which are utterly irreconcilable. These two 

 philosophies are evolution and special creation. He may take 

 either one, and I shall not complain, but in trying to ride both 

 horns, he must have a fall. If he can prove by evolution 

 that queens ought not to be clipped, I am all attention ; and if 

 he can prove by the other theory that they ought not to be 

 clipped, some of his readers may stop clipping, but this de- 

 ponent will not be one of them. Allen Pbingle. 



Selby, Ont. 



—^m — ■ ^ 



Bce-Hivcs for Farmers —Kecds Verification. 



In ray gleanings outside the bee-papers, I have come 

 across the following paragraph in the Country Gentleman of 

 Oct. 31. It appears to be editorial, from the pen of the " bee- 

 master," whoever he may be, that runs the apiary department 

 of the journal named : 



" Bee-Hives fob Fak.\iers. — It is a little singular that 

 the late L. L. Langstroth, inventor of the movable-comb bee- 

 hive, should advise farmers not to use it. Several times, how- 

 ever, he has done so. In an article written in 1888, he said 

 he believed that to the mass of farmers who have tried them, 

 these hives have been an injury rather than a benefit. In 

 those parts of the country where they have been most largely 

 introduced, the number of farmers who keep bees has most 

 largely decreased. Most farmers would have better success 

 with bees if they used only the old straw or box hives. Bee- 

 keeping with the movable-frame hives is an art which few 

 care to learn ; the straw hive is a simple tool which any one 

 can use. Before the bee-moth became prevalent, nearly every 

 farmer kept bees in this simple way. The introduction of the 

 Italian bee has done away with this trouble. With the old- 

 fashioned hives, women and children can do most of the work, 

 and bee-keeping, like poultry-raising, can be their special 

 province and profit. Aside from learning to hive new swarms, 

 little knowledge is needed. This method would not only in- 

 crease the number of bees kept, but even the use of the mov- 

 able-frame hives, as bright boys and girls become interested 

 in bee-culture and desirous of pursuing it in the most skilled 

 manner." 



I have been a pretty close reader of the bee-journals for 

 many years, and think I am well up in Mr. Langstroth's writ- 

 ings on the subject of bee-keeping, but I cannot call to mind 

 any article of his advising " the mass of farmers '' not to use 

 the movable-frame he had invented. It would be very queer, 

 indeed, for an inventor who had made a discovery of great 

 value to the public, to advise that public not to use his inven- 

 tion. The reason given in the above paragraph for this queer 

 advice is not at all a cogent one. The straw hive is not a 

 simple tool which any one can use. The entire paragraph is 

 very misleading. We are told that asid? from learning to hive 

 new swarms, little knowledge is needed. It is no trick to hive 

 a swarm of bees. Mr. Langstroth was not the man to en- 

 courage ignorance in bee-keepers, or to make it easy for mere 

 smatterers to go into the business. It is the curse of farming 

 in all its departments that so many go into it ignorant of its 

 first principles, and yet expecting to make a success of it. 



The Alsike Clover Leaflet consists of 2 pages, 

 with illustrations, showing the value of Alsilce clover, and 

 telling how to grow it. This Leaflet is just the thing to hand 

 to every farmer in your neighborhood. Send to the Bee Jour- 

 nal office for a quantity of them, and see that they are dis- 

 tributed where they will do the most good. Prices, postpaid, 

 are as follows : 50 for 25 cents ; 100 for 40 cents ; or 200 

 for 70 cents. 



