State Bee-Keepers' Association. 27 



to the interests of the fruit growers," and was "one industry arraying itself 

 against another;" and as some of the representatives would say, "the fruit 

 grower has a right to do what he pleases upon his own premises, and if the 

 bees are caught stealing away from home, let the owner thereof keep them 

 upon his own premises, or bear the consequences." To the first objection, 

 I will say that as to the bill being antagonistic to the fruit-growing interests, 

 I was able to prove quite the reverse, and had the testimony of such men as 

 Prof. Cook, of the Agricultural College, Mich., and our own State Entomol- 

 ogist to back me, besides the offic:ers of the State Horticultural Society were 

 all friendly to the measure, and Prof. Hammond, Secretary of that honor- 

 able Society, came before the committee to which the bill was referred, and 

 helped to secure a favorable report and passage from that committee. It is 

 becoming a recognized fact among the intelligent fruit growers that the insect 

 kingdom is an absolute necessity for the cross fertilization of the fruit bloom, 

 and that the honey bee is the most conspicuous and beneficial of all others 

 in this direction, and without the aid of which our fruit industry would be 

 greatly damaged; hence, the mutual feelings of welfare and friendship that 

 exist between the two societies . One is highly essential to the success of 

 the other. The wide awake aparis desires his bees to be in close proximity 

 to the apple orchard in order to obtain the first nectar of the season for 

 stimulating purposes, and the horticulturist desirous of as perfect cross fer- 

 tilization as possible, desires that the bees should literally swarm upon the 

 bloom, and the more bees the better for this important feature. As to the 

 objection that the bees are libertines, and should be confined upon certain 

 specified grounds, etc., it is exceedingly shallow logic and can only emanate 

 frorti a shallow mind and is hardly worthy of notice. 



"The designer of all good, when he created ihe honeybee, evidently 

 designed him as a benefactor to mankind in a more general <way than as a 

 private benefit to the beekeeper alone. In fact the primary object of their 

 creation is the fertilizing of the bloom of the fruits and gra.sses, while the 

 honey produced is but secondary consideration and importance. These 

 facts have long been recognized by our scientists and which form a kindred 

 link between the apiarist and horticulturist, to the extent that their interests 

 go hand in hand, so much so that what is to the interest of one is to the 

 interest of the other, and hence their mutual affinity and good will . A rep- 

 resentative in the Representative Hall one day said to me: 'Hambaugh, if 

 it does no good to spray the trees while the same are in bloom, the fruit 

 growers will soon learn it, and the law would be useless upon our statutes.' 

 I replied: 'Very good, but at the same time evil disposed parties who, for 

 some imaginary cause or spite can wreak his vengeance upon the bee-keeper, 

 doing him great injury and injustice, and with no such law upon our statutes, 

 it leaves him without recourse, and I believe our law-makers owe it to the 

 bee-keepers for self-protection. You are all doubtless aware that many a 

 bee-keeper has had his prospects blighted and incalculable injury done him 

 by this more that useless practice. ' 



