54 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



inside the fanii]}- — but when my daugh- 

 ter Nora, who has set my type so many 

 years, married, it became absolutely nec- 

 essary to hire somebody; and as good 

 fortune would have it, her husband, Mr. 

 Hartshorn, has had some experience in a 

 printing office, and I soon made arrange- 

 ments with him to come into the office 

 and become my right hand man. Vou 

 see, the work will still be left inside the 

 famil}'. 



There are hundreds of things that he 

 can do exactly as well as I can; after I 

 have shown him how I wish them done. 

 During the last two 3-ears, I have worked 

 most of the time with a feeling that there 

 was something else that I ought to be do- 

 ing. There certainly was enough else 

 that <3«i^/// to have been done. It is'nt 

 advisable for an editor, or proprietor of 

 any business, to burden himself with de- 

 tails that can be turned over to efficient 

 help. Better results may be attained if 

 his time and energies are left free for 

 studying and planning. I shall exoect 

 the Review to improve, as the result of 

 its editor being able to unload some of 

 his present burdens upon other and 

 younger shoulders. 



«»it»*^«mrf*^» 



THK TRUTH .\BOUT HONEY. 



One of the officials in the Illinois Pure 

 Food Commissioner's office was so foolish 

 as to state that the nicely finished 

 white combs of honey on the market 

 must be viewe<l with suspicion. If you 

 w'ish for pure honey, get the dark, soiled, 

 uneven looking combs, so said this man. 

 A Chicago paper took it up, as something 

 sensational, and gave a cartoon showing 

 the old farmer filling the sections with 

 the sprinkling pot, or something of the 

 kind. Such things as these always ''take" 

 and go the rounds. A great many farm- 

 papers that ought to have known better, 

 copied this foolish stuff. It was on a par 

 with the Wiley pleasantry of years ago, 

 and bid fair to prove as injurious to tiie 

 bee keeping industry. Much credit is 

 due to some of the bee journals, especially 

 to Gleanings and the American Bee Jour- 



nal, for the vigor with which thev have 

 fought this canard, compelling nearly all 

 of the papers to retract or exolain. 

 Gleanings even went so far as to threaten 

 to bring suit for libel, and to send its at- 

 torney to bring suit unless a retraction 

 was made. These journals have also 

 urged their readers to write to any paper 

 in which they saw this injurious state- 

 ment, and ask to have it corrected. k\\ 

 this is having its effect. Now-a-davs, I 

 frequently pick up a p ler and see an 

 item headed "The Tru \bont Honey," 

 anil this item goes on i ay that this fool- 

 ish statement of the Pure Foof^. man was all 

 a mistake. The point is this: When you 

 see anj' foolish, detrimental statement in 

 a paper about honey or bees, write to the 

 editor and correct it. Don't be abusive, 

 simply point out the error and give the 

 reason why. You may think you are 

 only one, and one does not amount to 

 ver\' much. True, but large numbers are 

 made up of units. Some of the journals, 

 in their retractions, expressed surprise at 

 the numbers of bee keepers who wrote — 

 they did not suppose there were that 

 many in the whole country. Defend 

 your occupation upju all suitable occa- 

 sions. 



THK MINNESOT.\ BEK-KEEPERS' 

 .ASSOCI.\TION. 



Minnes )ta is one of the States having 

 a bee-keepers association which is push- 

 ing rapidly to the front. The meeting 

 held in December was the best attended, 

 and considered the most successful of any 

 in its history. This was largely the result 

 of push and advertising; then the meet- 

 ing was held at the same time as the hor- 

 ticulturists held their meeting, thereby 

 securing reduced railroad rates; without 

 which no convention can be a success. 

 Some special features, such as stereopti- 

 con lectures showing views of prominent 

 bee-keepers' apiaries, etc., probably help- 

 ed to swell the attendance. Bagpipe 

 selections, by William Russell, dressed in 

 his Scotch kilts, and some Scotch dances 

 executed by his daughter Maggie, were 



