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AMERICAN BKE JOURNAL. 



and leaving the honey, combs and hives 

 behind for their owners). 



I think I have made it clear that 

 "stock " is correct, when referring to a 

 well-established hive of bees in normal 

 condition, capable of yielding a profit ; 

 and swarm for one that is a first swarm, 

 but is not established, though it may be 

 so, and correctly called a "stock" as 

 soon as it is. 



A very small lot with a queen may 

 well still be called a "nucleus," but 

 colony, can have only a general applica- 

 -tien, like using the word "individual" 

 for all varieties of the genus homo. How 

 would it look to say, "A 6-year-old 

 female individual," instead of a " girl," 

 etc., for girl, boy, man, youth, woman, 

 matron, etc.? Yet to use "colony" 

 always is just as bad. 



The mistake heretofore has been in. 

 trying to substitute some other word 

 for "colony." What I contend for is. 

 when a stock is referred to, say a 

 "stock," when a swarm, to say a swarm, 

 etc., and leave "colony " for a general 

 application, but here I prefer to say 

 "family of bees," or "hive of bees," as 

 more proper. Still applied generally 

 only there cannot be much objection. 



I am not giving all this as my ideas, 

 but what is understood and used as cor- 

 rect English all over the British Isles, 

 and while English is the national lan- 

 guage of the North American Continent, 

 I think it ought to be used there, too. 



Sheffield, England. 



[*Mr. Hewitt is entirely mistaken 

 when he defines the word colony as "a 

 queenless or broodless lot." We admit 

 that when applied to humanity the word 

 colony means " a company of people 

 transplanted from their mother coun- 

 try," etc., but we were discusing its use 

 when applied to bees, and there that 

 definition is totally inappropriate ! 



When a lot of human beings leave a 

 parent country to establish a colony in 

 another land, it leaves the reigning 

 family behind, and sometimes accepts a 

 viceroy to govern them. But in some 

 cases, as the "American Colony in 

 Paris," for instance, it has no one, in 

 particular, to rule, and each individual 

 is amenable to the laws of the country 

 where the colony is planted. We have 

 many such colonies in America. 



When a " swarm of bees" leaves the 

 old hive, it takes the old queen along 



and organizes a "colony" with the 

 same old mother (not a viceroy) at the 

 head, allowing the old colony to care for 

 the new queen. There is no parallel 

 between the two cases, as to the queen ! 

 No fitness in the argument ! 



fThis unkind fling at Americans is 

 ungentlemanly and unjust. Some 

 Americans, on account of catarrhal 

 affliction, speak with a nasal twang, 

 but it is very far from a general com- 

 plaint. 



tWe all know that the word "stock " 

 has numerous meanings, and hence the 

 long explanations are totally unneces- 

 sary. Whatever may have been the 

 result of the article quoted by Mr. 

 Hewitt, we now hear no more of the 

 "fixed" foolishness ! 



Mr. Hewitt hints that only an English- 

 man could be expected to correctly 

 define the English language. In this we 

 do not agree ; but if that should be a 

 sine qua non, it would not debar the 

 editor of the American Bee Journal, 

 for he was born, reared, educated, mar- 

 ried, and for years actively and success- 

 fully engaged in mercantile business in 

 England. 



Nearly 40 years ago he migrated to 

 America with an English queen, and 

 successfully established a *' colony " 

 here, which has also sent out 3 flour- 

 ishing "swarms" and founded 3 more 

 "homes," gathering honey, rearing 

 young, and storing surplus for coming 

 years. He may thus be able at least 

 to stand on a level with Mr. Hewitt 

 in this. 



The philology of the word "colony" 

 is against Mr. Hewitt's argument. It is 

 derived from the Latin word colonus, 

 which signifies "a farmer," and it is 

 from colere, which means to cultivate, 

 TO DWELL. Taking this, in connec- 

 tion with its definition as given in 

 Webster's Dictionary, under the heading 

 of natural history, the word colony 

 means: ^^ A number of animals dwell- 

 ing together'''' — such as a colony of honey 

 bees. — Ed.] 



