AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



527 



The English language has been built 

 up from a number of sources, with the 

 result that some words have two totally 

 different meanings: e.g., "raze," to 

 level down, and "raise," to lift up; 

 "air," part of the atmosphere, and 

 "air," a tune, etc. "Blanket" is 

 named after its inventor, Thos. Blanket. 

 An India rubber water-proof coat is 

 called a " Macintosh," and so on. Thus, 

 the word "stock" has a number of 

 meanings, regarding some of which Mr. 

 S. Cornell (Bee Jglurnal, June 11, 1884, 

 page 371) is wrong. Village stocks are 

 probably so named after the originator — 

 one Stocks — or they may have gotten this 

 name from two pieces of wood being 

 used, as " stock " means a thick, or the 

 thicker, piece of wood, and "stick" a 

 thin piece. "Stuck" and "stick" 

 quoted by Mr. Cornell, do not apply, as 

 these words mean fixedness, as " I will 

 stick this bill on that wall," and "I stuck 

 that bill there." 



The "stock "of a gun simply means 

 the wooden part ; the " stock " of a tree, 

 the thickest; a "stock" (of wood) a 

 thick piece. "Stock" also means the 

 bulk, i. €., something to draw a portion 

 from ; thus a merchant will give a 

 " stock order " — that is, he wants the 

 things on hand, in case they are wanted 

 — and he will quote, "I have them in 

 stock," or "they are not in stock," and 

 so on, to his customers. He does not 

 put such goods on the shelves, to remain 

 fixed there; the shelves themselves, 

 fixed machinery, etc., are called "stock 

 in trade," but the goods he has to sell 

 are calle(L" stock." 



The wOTd has also the meaning of 

 something fixed, to yield a profit, such as 

 the capital in a railway is called 

 "stock" — that, is a profit is expected 

 every year, without reducing the origi- 

 nal ; this meaning is universal wherever 

 the English language is attempted .to be 

 spoken ; it certainly is universal all over 

 the British Isles, and has been so for 

 hundreds of years. 



Thus, a farmer will speak of the 

 money he has sunk as his " stock ;" the 

 seeds, etc., which he wants for sowing 

 or planting, over and above what are for 

 sale or use as "stock," and it is entirely 

 in this connection that " stock," is used 

 to mean a hive of bees — that is a hive of 

 bees for "seed" or profit — and being 

 universally used all over the British 

 Isles, and by all our best writers, ancient 

 and modern, and endorsed by both 

 Oxford and Cambridge, as being correct, 

 shall any one in America say it is not? 



In order to better understand the word, 

 let me explain that up to a short time 



ago — and in many districts it still is so — 

 bees were "took up" for their honey 

 (that is, all hives not wanted for stock 

 were suffocated with brimstone, and 

 their honey appropriated), hence such 

 reserved hives are called "stocks," be- 

 cause on them depended further swarms, 

 the year following, to suffocate. Let 

 this be borne in mind, and all will be 

 clear. . The stand which they were 

 "stuck" or "fixed" on, has nothing 

 whatever to do with it. (See your reply 

 to Mr. Cornell, Bee Journal, for June 

 11, 1884, page 371. )t 



The following year, the first swarm is 

 called a "swarm;" a second swarm, 

 a cast ;" a third swarm, a "colt." A 

 swarm from a swarm,, is called a "virgin 

 swarm ;" but the old stock hives are still 

 called " stocks" up to taking up time; 

 so that when a man tells me he keeps 10 

 stocks of bees, I know instantly that 

 .this is the number he winters. 



Contrast the beautiful simplicity of 

 this with the language of an American 

 who wants to convey the same idea, 

 which will be something like this : "I 

 commenced the season with 6 colonies, 

 they have increased to 18, being an in- 

 crease of 200 per cent.," etc. Some- 

 times,he will let out, somewhere, that 

 he lost a certain number in the Winter ; 

 but seldom does he say how many 

 "stocks" he commenced the season 

 with — i. €., the Winter. 



A Briton counts from the Fall, and 

 we know instantly how many were his 

 loss, or how much his fate of profit on 

 his stock. An American counts his 

 " colonies " in the Spring, and his in- 

 crease or profits on these only. 



"Swarm" may be applied with a pre- 

 fix of "second," "third," etc., to any 

 swarm, but the first swarm from a stock 

 is only entitled to this name ; thus, hives 

 of bees are called stocks, swarms, casts, 

 colts, virgin swarms, etc., until taking- 

 up time, and who shall say that this is 

 not better, in these days, when so much 

 has to be paid per word for telegrams 

 and advertisements, than "parent col- 

 ony," "full colony," "an established 

 colony," "a 10-frame colony," "an 

 established second swarm," etc., for 

 bear in mind the word "stock " means a 

 well established family of bees in normal 

 condition, well found in every respect. 

 When the apiarist selects such of those 

 as will safely Winter, to the number he 

 wants for stock, the rest are called 

 " condemned hives " — i. e., either for the 

 brimstone pit, or that modern institu- 

 tion, called "a bee-driver" (a man who 

 goes around and takes or drives the bees 

 out of their hives, taking them with him 



