^4^ 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



little clusters at the outer opening, and 

 robbers would congregate there, and, to a 

 certain extent, the bees would work back, 

 down into the building, but not enough 

 to be a serious drawback. Whether 

 carrying the opening out away from the 

 building, as described in the foregoing 

 article, would make any diffdrence, I am 

 unable to say. At least, our friend seems 

 to find it satisfactory. — Ed. Review.] 



y-T -ttATIONAL QUEEN BREED- 

 NX] ERS' ASSOCIATION. BY 

 A \> J- ^- GRIMSLEY. 



The broad term of bee-keeper, 

 and the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, includes every phase of the busi- 

 ness — the novice, specialist, queen breeder, 

 supply dealer, 

 and the all im- 

 portant editor 

 and author. 

 Every feature of 

 the business is 

 represented, and 

 all enterprising 

 members should 

 be members of 

 the association. 

 For poultry- 

 keepers there is 

 the American Poultry Association, which 

 covers every class of poultry, and it num- 

 bers breeders of every class. Then, there 

 are clubs for each breed, and these clubs 

 in turn have the breeding in their hands, 

 and the standard conforms to their 

 wishes. 



Until 1897, we had among the bee- 

 keepers only the one kind of association, 

 looking in a general way after the inter- 

 ests of bee-keepers. Their work in pro- 

 tecting their members against the spiteful 

 work of envious non-bee-keepers, and 

 their earnest fight against honey adultera- 

 tion are features that commend the asso- 

 ciation to all. But, with all its vigilance, 

 it has never established a standard to 



which queens should be bred, having left 

 the business of breeding to the individual 

 notions of all who saw fit to launch out 

 in the business. Purchasers of queens 

 were therefore at the mercy of breeders, 

 and no one but the breeder himseif knows 

 to what extent that mercy is extended. 

 Seeing the necessity for a breeders' club 

 or association, the plans were laid for the 

 organization, which was perfected by 

 adopting a set of by-laws and electing 

 officers for a National Queen Breeders' 

 Union. The union was organized in 

 1S97, and early in 1898 the officers were 

 elected. G. W. Hufstedler of Beeville, 

 Texas, was elected president; J. B. Case, 

 Port Orange, Fla., vice-president; W. H. 

 Pridgen, Creek, N. C, general director, 

 and J. O. Grimslej', Byrdstown, Tenn., 

 secretary and treasurer. At present J. B. 

 Case is president; W. H. White, Blossom, 

 Texas, vice-president; E. R. Tones, Milano, 

 Texas, general director, and J. O. Grims- 

 ley, secretary. 



The union is looked upon by some as 

 an organized partnership, or company, 

 but such is not the case. It is the same 

 class of organization as an ordinary bee- 

 keepers' association, with restricted, defi- 

 nite objects in view. There is no refer- 

 ance to any branch of the bee-keeping 

 business except queen breeding. 



A careful reading of the by-laws will 

 convince the most skeptical that the 

 union will play an important part in bee- 

 keeping in the future. There is no re- 

 striction on prices, each member making 

 his own price, but he must, in all cases, 

 come up to the standard established by 

 our "descriptive list." We fix the same 

 for our yellow bees, and the standard 

 covers Italians, Golden Italians, Albinos 

 and Carniolans Standards will be fixed 

 for other races as they become established 

 sufficiently to justify. Should a member 

 send out queens which are not bred ac- 

 cording to the standard, his customers 

 must be made acquainted with the facts. 

 And, should a member not deal honestly 

 with his patrons the union makes good 

 all loss. On the other hand, there is oc- 



