THE iCMlIRICMFf BE® JOUMIfSILr. 



835 



KDITOK. 



Voiniy. Dec. 26,1888. No, 52. 



We W'i^ili all of our readers, both young 

 and old, a prosperous and 



" HAPPY NEW YEAR." 



Cliristnias has come and gone. Of all 

 holidays this is the most welcome, because 

 it is ushered in with friendship's pleasant 

 gifts, and ends with the pronunciation of 

 blessings on all. Its observance for so 

 many hundreds of years has given it a 

 character which appeals to all to promote 

 the joy and happiness of kindred and 

 friends. 



This week is the time for joyous parties 

 and gladsome greetings. Let every day be 

 bright and beautiful, and we hope all hearts 

 will rejiiice and be glad ! A. Happy New 

 Yeur to all our readers. 



.4coept Our Xliaulcs for the patron- 

 age of the past, and we cordially invite all 

 our readers to retain their places in the Bee 

 JouKNAL family for 1889. 



A Complete Index is presented this 

 week, not only to the subjects discussed 

 during the year, but also to the names of 

 correspondents. The latter one comprises 

 nearly all of the best and most thoroughly 

 successful apiarists of the present age. 



A Favorable Word from any of our 

 readers, who speak from experience, has 

 more weight with their friends than any- 

 thing we might say. Every one of our 

 readers can lend us a helping hand, in this 

 way, without much trouble, and at the same 

 time help to scatter apicultural knowledge 

 ^nd promote the welfare of our pursuit. 



Anollier Xirade of Abu»«e finds a 

 place in an Eastern publication, from the 

 pen of C. J. Robinson. This time the in- 

 vectives are aimed at our old and honored 

 friend— the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who it 

 seems, some eight years ago, wrote an arti- 

 cle correcting some mistakes made by Mr. 

 R. in an article on the first importation of 

 Italian bees. 



As usual the comments of Mr. Langstroth 

 were a mere statement of facts, without the 

 slightest unkind remark. This exasperated 

 Mr. Robinson, and he has, at every oppor- 

 tunity, dipped his pen in gall and hurled 

 forth abuse at the devoted head of our es- 

 teemed friend Langstroth. 



It is to be regretted that any paper— much 

 less a bee periodical— could be found that 

 would publish an article which contained 

 such epithets applied to such a good man as 

 Mr. Langstroth. Here are some of them : 

 "Robber," an "outrage," "foul," "land- 

 pirate," "rob a dead man," "robbed so 

 ruthlessly," etc., winding up with the fol- 

 lowing : 



Mr. Langstroth's motto, on paper, has 

 been: "Give honor to whom honor is 

 due." but he has signally failed to practice 

 what he has preached. 



No excuse can be given for such vile 

 charges. The insignificant matter of who 

 was the first to import Italian bees is hardly 

 worth discussion, much less the maligning 

 of a man of such prominence and character 

 as Mr. Lanestroth. 



It only shows the tendency ot the times, 

 to follow with a dagger the greatest and best 

 men of the age, and exhibits the perversity 

 of shallow minds. To such we would 

 recommend the study of the following noble 

 thought and language of the great Rnfus 

 Choate, which is worthy of being enshrined 

 in the hearts of all high minded Americans. 

 " National Hatred " was the topic of one of 

 his orations. In it he said : 



No. sir, we are above all this. Let the 

 Highland "lansman, half-naked, half-civi- 

 lized, half blinded by the peat-smoke of his 

 cavern, have the hereditary enemy and his 

 hereditary enmity, and keep the keen, deep 

 and precious hatred, set on fire of evil, alive 

 if he can. 



Let the North American Indian have his, 

 and hand it down trom father to son, by 

 heaven knows what symbols of alligators 

 and rattlesnakes and war clubs, smeared 

 with Vermillion and entwined with scarlet. 



Let such a country as Poland, cloven to 

 the earth, the armed heel on the radiant 

 forehead, her body dead, her soul incapable 

 to die— let her remember the wrongs of 

 days long past. 



Let the lost and wandering tribes of 

 Israel remember theirs— the manliness and 

 the sympathy of the world may allow or 

 pardon this to them. 



But shall America, young, free and pros- 

 peious, just setting out on the highway of 

 heaven, decorating and cheering the ele- 

 vated sphere slie just begins to move in, 

 glittering like the morning star, full of life 

 and joy— shall she be supposed to be pol- 

 luting and corroding her noble and happy 

 heart by moping over old stories of stamp 

 act and tea tax, and the firing of the Leop- 

 ard on the Chesapeake in the time of 

 peace ? 



Every true man— every high-minded 

 American will join in saying, "No, Sir; 



we are above all this" mud-throwing! 

 There shall be no maligning of the men we 

 delight to honor ! No abuse of our honored 

 and honorable fathers in apiculture ! No 

 polluting of their garments with the slime 

 of invective, railing or abuse ! 



Xlie Xwenty Fourth Volume of 



the Amehican Bee Journ^al ends with 

 this number, making another valuable 

 "book of reference" for the apicultural 

 world. Its record, character and usefulness 

 in the past is its guarantee for the future. 

 As heretofore it will lose no opportunity to 

 further the interests of honey-producers by 

 booming the product and faithfully defend- 

 ing the pursuit of apiculture on every occa- 

 sion requiring it. For Fifteen Years 

 we have labored to publish a bee-periodical 

 which should be a credit to the pursuit, and 

 a medium of communication between the 

 bee-keepers of America and the world gen- 

 erally. How well that task has been done 

 we leave our readers to say. At first it was 

 a monthly containing about the same 

 amount of reading matter as is now issued 

 weekly. Then the price of subscription for 

 the monthly was two dollars ; now the 

 weekly is issued at one dollar— tour times 

 as much matter for one-half the price. 



In order to be of the greatest advantage to 

 our pursuit, we must have the largest con- 

 stituency of wide-awake, progressive apiar- 

 ists, and we request that if our patrons 

 think we have labored for their interest in 

 the past, that they will give us " the vote of 

 confidence " in the shape of continued ex- 

 ertions for the prosperity of the American 

 Bee Jouhxal. 



It is only fair to expect you to work for 

 the Bee JoriixAi.'s interest, for it is work- 

 ing for your interest every day in the year. 



I)o !Vot Forfi-et to send a dollar for a 

 membership fee to the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Union for 1889. It merits your ap- 

 proval, and needs your assistance. 



By Using the Hinder made ex- 

 pressly for this Bee Journal, all can have 

 them bound and ready for reference and 

 examiuation every day in the year. Price 

 60 cents, postpaid. Subscription for one 

 year and the binder for J1.50. 



Do not send to us for sample copies of 

 of any other papers. Send for such to the 

 publishers of the papers you want. 



Always mention your Post-Offlce, 

 County and State when writing to this 

 office. No matter where you may happen 

 to be for the hour when actually writing— 

 never mention anything but your perma- 

 nent address. To do otherwise leads to 

 confusion, unless you desire your address 

 changed. In that case state the old as well 

 as the new address. 



