AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



B43 



from him on the matter will be read with 

 interest : 



We need money to pay the expense of 

 exhibits. No one will send honey and 

 beeswax just for the ''fun of the thing." 

 I would not send 500 or 1,000 pounds 

 of honey put up in glass, and pay all, or 

 any of the expense, and run the risk of 

 loss, for nothing but glory ; and no one 

 will put up, and care for, an exhibit by 

 a State, for seven or eight months for 

 nothing. Of course, whoever sends 

 honey will be out of the use of that 

 amount, and we must secure generous 

 appropriations in order to procure a dis- 

 play which will be creditable. A bill is 

 now pending, appropriating $100,000 

 for our. Ohio State exhibit.. The Michigan 

 bee-keepers expect to get an appropria- 

 tion also. 



I am not in favor of a separate build- 

 ing for the honey exhibit. We want it 

 to be located where everybody will be 

 obWjed to see it. Many are not enough 

 interested in honey to go out of their 

 way to see it. 



I wrote Mr. W. J. Buchanan, chief 

 of the Department of Agriculture, giving 

 my ideas in regard to the assignment, 

 and have now before me his reply. I 

 believe he understands his business. I 

 Intended to have written an article before 

 this, giving the substance of his first 

 letter and my reply, but my " indisposi- 

 tion " (which, by the way was not La 

 Grippe), and being so busy, has pre- 

 vented. I am just getting so that I can 

 walk off spry again. A. B. Mason. 



We are very glad that Dr. Mason is 

 getting over his indisposition, and hope 

 to have him at his best during the 

 World's Columbian Fair, and that in all 

 his coming years its memories may be 

 his "crown of glory.'" 



La Grippe is no respector of persons 

 or places. It seems. Quite a number of 

 our prominent apiarists have had it this 

 year. There Is one consolation, how- 

 ever, and that is it is milder In form 

 than it was last season. Many have it, 

 but there are only a few deaths now 

 attributable to it. It leads to pneumo- 

 nia and pleurisy, and these often prove 

 fatal. Some persons imagined that hav- 

 ing had it last year, they would not be 

 likely to have it this season; but such is 

 a mistaken Idea. 



Not Guilty.— Last July we stated, on 

 pages -14:] and 467, that Mr. N. N. 

 Betsinger, a prominent bee-keeper of 

 Marcellus, N. Y., had been tried for im- 

 morality, and was sentenced to tlie 

 penitentiary for 15 years. He asked for 

 a new trial because a conspiracy had been 

 formed against him, and protested his 

 Innocence of the charges. The new 

 trial was granted, and has just been 

 concluded, as we notice by the Syracuse 

 Herald of March 2, kindly sent to us by 

 Mr. F. A. Salisbury. The jury were out 

 four hours, and upon their return to the 

 court room, rendered a verdict of " not 

 guilty." The Herald says : 



For a moment, Mr. Betsinger seemed 

 as though he scarcely realized the full 

 meaning of the foreman's announce- 

 ments. Then, with bent head, and 

 hands clasped to his eyes, he broke forth 

 in a torrent of tears ; and a little later, 

 in a voice choked with sobs, he rose to 

 his feet, and uttered a fervent "God 

 bless you" to the jury, as they were 

 leaving their seats. He threw himself 

 at last on his mother-in-law's brsast, 

 and, with Ills arms clasped about her 

 neck, wept like a child, while the aged 

 woman joined her tears with his. 



Last year, after noting Mr. B.'s pro- 

 testation of innocence, we made this 

 statement : " If he is innocent, we hope 

 that it will be so proven— that the right 

 may prevail." It is a source of much 

 comfort to be able to state the fact, that 

 his innocence is now fully established. 

 The second trial was before the same 

 Judge (Northrup), and was conducted 

 by the same lawyers ; but a year had 

 cooled off an excited public opinion, 

 caused by the false statements of two 

 little girls, probably instigated by a 

 meddlesome neighbor, who was doubtless 

 prejudiced against him for some cause 

 or other. The ordeal has been a terrible 

 one for . Mr. Betsinger, but we are 

 pleased to be able to state that he is 

 completely vindicated. 



We are Sorry to state that Mr. Mac- 

 pherson, associate editor of the Canadian 

 Bee Journal, fell on the ice 2 weeks ago, 

 and severely Injured his head. 



