THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



45 



said if some one else had made that re- 

 mark. I fancy it would have been some- 

 thing like this: "If those queens can be 

 relied on to lay only five months, then 

 they can be relied on to stop at 5 months, 

 and in that case how can it be possible 

 for them to average 5 '4 months?"') 



There's a good deal of difference be- 

 tween an average of 5 >^ and an average 

 of 8 months, and as my knowledge as to 

 the length of time is acquired mostly sec- 

 ond-hand, there is a possibility that I may 

 be mistaken. If your statement had been 

 made a year ago, Bro. Taj'lor, I should 

 have felt pretty certain I was wrong in 

 my answer; for I had such entire faith in 

 your judgement and reliabilitj- that I 

 would have taken your word as against 

 the combined testimony of several others. 

 I'm sorry to say I haven't that same faith 

 now; indeed, have so little faith that I 

 may be excused for some doubt as to the 

 correctness of your statement about your 

 own bees. My loss of faith comes from 

 the fact that since you began the Depart- 

 ment of Criticism you have committed so 

 many errors that the Review, in order to 

 keep upitscharacter for reliability, should 

 have had another department pointing out 

 the errors in the Department of Criticism. 



Let me give you an instance. On page 

 376 is an item headed "An error in the 

 Reformed spelling," in which you refer 

 to the word " mealy-moutht " in the 

 American Bee Journal, and say, "I am 

 not a competent judge of the reformed 

 spelling, and so would inquire whether 

 its rules permit the changing of final 'ed' 

 into 't' when the sound to be indicated is 

 that of 'd' in the word quoted." That 

 is practically an unfjualified assertion that 

 the sound "d" is the final sound in the 

 word "mouthed." If there is a single 

 reputable dictionary that authorizes the 

 sound of "t," then in all fairness you 

 had no right to make that statement. 

 People in general are not supposed to 

 have more than one dictionary, and if I 

 have a Webster and you have a Worces- 

 ter, you have no right to hold up as an 

 error anything of mine that does not 



agree with Worcester unless you know 

 that it isn't sanctioned by any reputable 

 up-to-date dictionary. One good diction- 

 ary is enough for a writer, but not enough 

 for any one who poses as a critic in sucli 

 matters. 



As to the last sound in the word 

 "mouthed," Web.sterand Worcester agree 

 on "d" as the correct thing. Centurj' 

 and Standard agree on "t." 



Let me give another instance. You 

 quoted me as using the phrase "bring it 

 to a boil" (referring to foul-brood honey) 

 and put the word "sic" after it, meaning, 

 as I learned from j^ou afterward, that you 

 questioned the correctness of the word 

 "boil." That was ignorance on your 

 part, for "boil" in the sense in which I 

 used it is a good English word, not given 

 in an old edition of Webster that I have, 

 but given as a straight English word in 

 one of the best up-to-date dictionaries, 

 the Standard. Not feeling sure to what 

 you referred, I asked, and instead of say- 

 ing to what you referred, thus exposing 

 your ignorance, you evaded the matter by 

 saying that I asked for the definition of 

 "sic," and referred me to the dictionary. 

 Review 342. I don't like to say that was 

 dishonest, but if you desire to label it so 

 I'll promise not to condradict you. 



These are by no means the only in- 

 stances, so I should like some further 

 testimony before saying queens lay less 

 than 7 to 9 months in the year. Mind 

 you, I don't say for sure I'm right, but 

 I'm not yet sure I'm wrong. Possibly 

 you did not take into view that in answer- 

 ing the question it was for all the readers 

 of the American Bee Journal; and not 

 merely for the locality of either Lapeer 

 or Marengo. Moreover it was for bees in 

 general, and not for the minority that are 

 cellared. I think it is not an uncommon 

 thing for queens to begin laying in Feb- 

 TWiry. Dadant's Langstroth, page 511, 

 says strong colonies begin to breed slight- 

 ly in February. I think it is nothing so 

 very remarkable to find queens laying in 

 November, 9 months after February. My 

 average of 8 months is probably nearer 



