TSE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



•J 



first, and then what was called an 'In- 

 formal' ballot was taken! The In- 

 formal ballot, as we understand It, is 

 to take the place of public nomina- 

 tions. Then, afterward, the formal 

 ballot Is taken, which is to elect one 

 from the persons nominated by the 

 informal ballot. 



"We do not believe In public nom- 

 inations for office, nor in nominating 

 committees. Neither method is fair. 

 The informal ballot first Is the best 

 way, especially for Important offices." 



First allow me to say that I agree 

 entirely with Mr. Thompson and the 

 American Bee Journal in thinking that 

 by the informal ballot is the right and 

 proper way to make nominations. I al- 

 so agi.*ee with Bro. York as to the ridi- 

 culous feature of the Informal ballot 

 following a public nomination as was 

 the case at Denver. A little explana- 

 tion, however, will show how it was 

 brought about. First came the elec- 

 tion of President. Dr. Mason nomin- 

 ated myself for re-election. Mr. Ab- 

 bott followed with a nomination for 

 Mr. J. U. Harris. Now, If we had 

 gone on and balloted, as we have been 

 in the habit of doing, there would have 

 been nothing ridiculous about It But 

 right here a strong protest was raised 

 against that method of making nom- 

 inations. Of course, the President 

 might have ruled that the election 

 should be carried on under the old 

 plan, and carried the point, unless the 

 decision was reversed by a vote of the 

 members, but, as the President had 

 been nominated for re-election such 

 action on his part would have been 

 looked upon as decidedly unfair and 

 selflsh. There was only one thing to 

 do under the circumstances, and that 

 was to allow an Informal ballot, even 

 though it was a ridiculous farce. We 

 have learned our lesson, and it is like- 

 ly that, hereafter, nominations will 

 be made by means of the Informal 

 ballot 



NATIONAL COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION 



It can be best Accomplisiied by First Es- 

 tablishing Local Organizations. 



While on my way to the Chicago 

 convention, I stopped off one day at 

 Dowagiac, Michigan, and visited Mr. 

 Heddon. It had been some three or 

 four years since we had met, and 

 there were many things for us to talk 

 over. Mr. Heddon and his son, Char- 

 ley, run a daily and a weekly paper 

 and Job office, and are also engaged 

 in the manufacture of a fish-bait Mr. 

 Heddon still has his home-apiary, but 

 says that of late years he cannot se- 

 cure a good flow of honey. He has 

 been in the bee business about 32 

 years. For the first 16 years he ob- 

 tained good yields; for the last 16 the 

 surplus crop has been light. He has 

 tried different strains of bees without 

 getting any light on the subject— none 

 of them secure much honey. Mr. 

 Heddon had thought of the fanciful 

 theory that the bees had gathered the 

 honey from the blossoms so many 

 years In that vicinity, that possibly 

 the earth had been sucked dry of its 

 honey producing elements, but laid it 

 aside, because the change had been so 

 abrupt, and because others had kept 

 bees longer In one locality than he 

 had and still secured fair yields. He 

 admitted that he was puzzled, espec- 

 ially as there were still as many bass- 

 woods and fall flowers in his vicinity 

 as when he first began to keep bees. 

 Who can solve the puzzle? 



Last spring Mr. Heddon made 1,200 

 fish-baits, thinking that he possibly 

 might sell that many during the sea- 

 son. Before the season was over he 

 had sold 6,000. During the evening 

 that I was there, we had a call from 



