Tilh; BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



327 



{jiven Nos. 1 and ',\ Hveraged much heavier 

 thati those given Nos. '_' ;iud 4. Can it be 

 then that the much greater proportionate 

 amount of cappings of the honey to be done 

 in the one case calls for the production of 

 wax for use in the capi)ing as to account for 

 the apparent discrepancy ? It may in some 

 measure, antl. besides, some colonies may 

 practice putting more wax into a given ex- 

 tent of comb so as lo make it stronger and 

 safer. It is plain there are abundant sub- 

 jects yet for investigation in bee culture. 

 Figures may he made in different ways to 

 determine the amount of profit there is in 

 feeding back. I consider the value of the 

 untinished sections as about equal to that 

 of the extracted honey, say six cents. This 

 would make value of these two articles en- 

 tering into this experiment S.W.HS cents. I 

 compute the value of the iu\)% pounds of 

 comb honey produced, at VI cents per pound 

 which gives a total value of !|i;si.r)7, or a {)ro- 

 tit of nearly (>'_' per cent. 

 Lapekr, Mich., Nov. iT., ISitC, 



%r^4^!^<^ 



A Reply to Mr. R. Me Knight. 



S. T. PETTIT. 



T7IRST of all, I beg to say, I think these 

 1^ letters from Canadians are no credit to 

 us, nor to our Association. It seems to me 

 that it is enough that we have unpleasantness 

 at our meetings. What good can come 

 from publishing the matter to the world in 

 this fashion ? But it is no fault of mine; 

 I am not the aggressor ; I was dragged, 

 against my will, into the controversy, in 

 self-defense. But, after all, it may be un- 

 wise in me to notice such bitter and mis- 

 leading productions, for we know that men 

 sometimes, when they find themselves 

 worsted in a struggle, will vent their feel- 

 ings in just that way. Doubtless Mr. Prin- 

 gle was urged to it. 



Mr. Mc Knight says " This is the last time 

 1 shall reply to any of his effusions " \'ery 

 likely that is a sensible conclusion, but I 

 don't care whether he does or not. He 

 says I am " Not a pleasant opponent. " Well, 

 be that as it may, I'll give some quotations 

 from his letter to show that he is most de- 

 cidedly " a pleasant oppiment. " Here they 

 are: ''Another attack upon your humble 

 servant; " " lying and misrepresentation ; " 

 " he is not impressive either, once he gets 

 an idea into his head ( right or wrong ) a 



battering ram would not dislodge it ; " 

 "The general tenor of this man's letter is 

 local and personal ; " " llatly contradicts 

 him : " " 1 was right and he was wrong : " 

 " Mr. I'ettit came into the world too late, 

 he ought to have been born when old de- 

 crei)it women were burned as witches and 

 men were gibbetted for clipping coin ; " 

 " bug juice ; " " he sat as mute as a mum- 

 my and ate the leek in silence : " " dragged 

 his aged mother from her fireside;" "his 

 henchman ; " " both gentleman were hound- 

 ed to the very brink of the grave;" "let 

 Mr. Pettit mind his own business and let us 

 alone. " 



It seems that a glance over these quotations 

 will show that he is not only " a pleasant 

 opponent" but the possesor of a beautiful 

 spirit ; no condescending to things " local 

 and personal " but we cannot all be 

 McKnights, you know. But there are some 

 things in his letter that claim my attention 

 and need a little straightening out. 



Mr. Mc Knight says " If Mr. Fringle was 

 living I should allow him and Mr. Pettit to 

 have it out." Brave man, that he is: he 

 claims that my letter was " another attack 

 on him. " Why not fight his own battles 

 like a man. If anybody "hounded" the 

 late Mr. Pringle to the grave it was no other 

 than Mr. Mc knight. We who have wit- 

 nessed it know how tired Mr. Pringle 

 would look, when, at our conventions, he 

 wonld rise to make special pleadings for 

 Mr. Mc Knight, but it would seem that he 

 had to do it. All the private correspon- 

 dence that ever passed between myself and 

 Mr. Pringle was of the most cordial nature. 

 No facts behind Mr. McKnight's statements 

 about hounding people will apply to me. 



Proceeding, he says : " I object to the 

 penalties being extreme and out of har- 

 mony with the spirit of justice and mod- 

 ern legislation against crime, " What con- 

 sumate nonsense I Does not Mr. McKnight 

 know that the i)eualties against the pro- 

 duction and sale of spurious butter in Can- 

 ada are from *L'0() to $400 dollars, and that 

 the maxium penalty to prohibit the produc- 

 tion of spurious or tilled cheese is !<;r>00 1 

 That is the talk of that miserabie gang of 

 mixers that infect the country. Bee-keep- 

 ers must get out of their company or take 

 the consequences. But when a bee-keeper 

 sides with them it makes the light a hard 

 one. But, if 1 understand the spirit of bee- 

 keepers, they will light it to the bitter end . 



