THE BEB-KBEPERS' REVIEW 



179 



does not equally apply to the bee. 

 But these are academic questions 

 hardly within my province to dis- 

 cuss. 



For the keeping of bees, the 

 Ohio Valley is neither the best nor 

 the worst. It is not so good as it 

 was, in that buckwheat has been 

 definitely abandoned, and that was 

 the only plant that yielded a large 

 flow of inferior honey, but of pre- 

 eminent value as a winter store. 

 You need not solace yourselves 

 with the hope that any honey 

 yielding plant will ever be generally 

 grown in the Ohio Valley except it 

 has value other than for your pur- 

 pose. The climate of this internal 

 basin may be adverse, in that white 

 clover, your only dependable source 

 of commercial honey, will not se- 

 crete nectar when the weather is 

 so hot and dry as it frequently is. 

 The plant itself is sensitive to au- 

 tumnal heat ard drouth, and your 

 prospect for next year is sadly 

 shadowed through the conditions 

 that prevailed last fall. /^.Isike which 

 was so thoroughly tried out forty 

 years ago is valuable under the 

 same conditions. The sowing of 

 1913 is dead and farmers are aban- 

 doning it now for the same reasons 

 that they did then. Scarlet clover 

 is a grand intermediate between the 

 blooming of the fruit trees, the 

 locust and the white clover, but 

 fall humidity is the one thing 

 needed to success and this we 

 rarely have at that season. Alfalfa 

 has been the illusive dream of 

 Kentucky farmers for these many 

 years, and success with it seems so 

 near and is yet so far. In the arid 

 but irrigated West, it is the fixed 

 star of the apiarian's hope but here 

 in Kentucky aside from the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining a stand it is my 

 observaticn that it secretes nectar 

 only under the conditions applying 

 to white clover, and we camiot irri- 

 gate. Mellilotus, held in contempt 

 by every self respecting cow may 

 infest the waysides to your advan- 

 tage but hardly attract the farmer 

 where better clovers thrive. 



I am by no means a pessimist, 

 but a lover of honey and bees. The 

 vibration of their tireless wings 

 makes sweeter music to my ear than 

 that of any key or chord. As fruit 

 growers they have been friends and 

 allies ever true and trusted. In 



their tireless search for the nectar 

 or pollen of every flower, they have 

 kept virile and strong the pulses 

 and arteric s of the great insentient 

 domain of life, by infusing into 

 every seed, pregnant with the germ 

 of continued life,, the possibilities 

 cf a higher development. The rud- 

 dier glow of the apple, the warm- 

 er blush of the peach, the deeper 

 sweet within the heart of the em- 

 purpled cluster, and the continuing 

 uniformity of all these tytes of life 

 that bloom, are largely due to the 

 work of these tireless evolutionists. 



No earthly king has ever ruled 

 with equal wisdcm, nor over sub- 

 jects so devoted to the common 

 good. In defense of home and coun- 

 try men offer the rich red cur- 

 rents of their heart. Attack the 

 home of the bee or offer violence 

 and every sturdy denizen therein 

 at once enters the conflict of de- 

 fense not only ready but with a 

 purpose of yielding life therefor. To 

 voluntarily lay down life for an- 

 other is in man the supreme measure 

 of devotion, but to yield it for the 

 c;mmon good is a higher and nobler 

 impulse and attribute. The bee is an 

 architect of supreme skill. The 

 structure of a honey comb in 

 strength, in economy of space and 

 material is a marvel of mechanical 

 construction just as is its filling in 

 contravention of the law that li- 

 quids at once seek their level. The 

 order, system, harmony, and unity 

 of purpose in government within 

 the hive are wonderful, and well 

 may v/e turn to the bee to learn 

 wisdom. To man, proud and imper- 

 ious with his wonderful intellect 

 but with full knowledge of his 

 limitation was it once said: 

 "Eat. but of this bread and 

 you shall not die." He doubted 

 or disbelieved. When a proud queen 

 by some vicissitude is swept aside, 

 leaving filled no regal cell but only 

 the capability of drone and worker, 

 within the spirit of that servile 

 eunuch born to toil or serve, lives 

 there the abiding faith that through 

 a special bread will develop the 

 power to live, notwithstanding the 

 seeming certainty of doom and ox- 

 termination, and of such is the 

 faith that moves mountains. 



In conclusion, let me wish you 

 well in the following of your noble 

 art. May your hope be, not so much 



