Published Wookly at 9I.OO a Year by Oeorgre W^. York Ac Co., 334 Ikearborn St. 



Eolered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Mailer. 



QBORQE W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOV. 24, 1904, 



VoL XLIV— No. 47. 



(fbttortal Hotes anb (Comments 



The Chicago-Northwestern Convention. 



Don't forget to attend this convention at the Revere 

 House, southeast corner of North Clark and Michigan 

 Streets, Chicago, next Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 30 

 and Dec. 1. It promises to be one of the most largely at- 

 tended conventions held in the United States in along time. 

 Many prominent bee-keepers have indicated their expecta- 

 tion of being present. As this Association covers such a 

 large territory surrounding Chicago, it should have even a 

 larger attendance than some of the National meetings. 

 Low railroad rates will also be in force at the time of the 

 meeting, on account of the International Live Stock Expo- 

 sition, which is held here the same week. 



One of the greatest attractions at the coming meeting 

 of the Chicago-Northwestern will be a stereopticon lecture 

 by Mr. E. R. Root. In connection with this, swarming and 

 methods of hiving will be shown by the kinetoscope. As 

 most of our readers know, this will be a moving picture 

 show. The panorama presents in turn the hive of bees, 

 the bees pouring out of the hive in perfect swarms, circling 

 in the air, clustering on a limb, which is then sawed off and 

 carried to a new hive, dumped on the ground, and the bees 

 scooped up by the handful. It takes 10 or IS minutes to 

 run this picture through, for there are over 450 feet of it all 

 told, making in all about 4000 pictures. Mr. Root expects 

 to exhibit this also at the Minnesota convention in Min- 

 neapolis, Dec. 7 and 8, and at the next meeting of the Cin- 

 cinnati association. Surely, it ought to help to draw a large 

 attendance of bee-keepers to all these meetings. 



There is a good prospect of having in attendance at the 

 Chicago-Northwestern convention the following, some of 

 whom are sure to come : Dr. C. C. Miller, N. E. France, C. 

 P. Dadant, Gus Dittmer, J. O. Smith, Chas. Becker, and 

 many others whose names are well known to the bee-keepers 

 of this part of the country. 



Let all the bee-keepers come who can possibly do so. 

 And don't forget to bring along, or send to this office, any 

 apiarian questions that you'd like to have presented. 



Nominations for Officers of the National. 



A recent Stray Straw by Dr. C. C. Miller, in Gleanings 

 in Bee-Culture, runs thus : 



"General Manager France, in giving that lot of names 

 as candidates, has followed his own notion, not the rule of 

 the directors. The rule is that " the two men receiving the 



greatest number of votes for each respective office are to be 

 candidates for such office ". The spirit and intent of that 

 rule is that those two shall be candidates, and no others. If 

 the intent had been that all were to be considered on equal 

 footing, what sense was there in saying anything about 

 the two highest ? When that rule was submitted, I sent an 

 earnest protest to the chairman, but there was no chance 

 for discussion. A little wire-pulling might succeed in giv- 

 ing the highest preliminary vote to two men not the choice 

 of the whole, and the best man for the place entirely shut 

 out of the race. If there had been any chance for discus- 

 sion, I don't believe the directors would have passed any 

 such rule." 



The saying, "Any fool can find fault, but the remedy, 

 that's the thing ", may possibly apply here. It seemed 

 high time that something should be done to prevent the 

 continuance in the directors' office year after year of the 

 same men, without any chance for change. Not that there 

 is any wrong in continuing a man in office, if he be the best 

 man for the place, but as the thing has been heretofore for 

 many years, there was little chance for any change, what- 

 ever the qualifications. The rule adopted by the Board of 

 Directors was at least an effort in the direction of some- 

 thing done by way of nomination before taking the vote. 

 That there are objections to the rule can not be denied. But 

 while finding fault with the present rule, why doesn't Dr. 

 Miller say what is better ? Very likely he may say, " I don't 

 know ". 



At any rate, it can do no harm to discuss the matter, so 

 as to be ready for something else another year, and the 

 columns of this paper are open to such discussion. No 

 doubt the directors will be glad of any suggestions that 

 may be made. 



Uniform Size of Sections for Honey. 



There are advantages in having as much uniformity as 

 possible in the different implements and supplies used by 

 bee-keepers. It would be less matter if each bee-keeper was 

 his own manufacturer, but the manufacturers from whom 

 supplies are bought can of course do better to make in large 

 quantities, and the less supplies cost manufacturers the 

 better ought to be the market for bee-keepers. 



Differences in localities may account for necessary dif- 

 ference in such things as hives, but it hardly seems that 

 ^reat difiference in sections is needed. Speaking of this, 

 the editor of the American Bee-Keeper says : 



" The two-pound, and the half-pound sizes of section, 

 which used to strive for a place in the honey market, have 



