312 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



explains all. All the Centralvereine receive a grant 

 or allowance from the government yearly, and all 

 the members share alike in this grant. Whoever is 

 not in a Verein has no sliare in the money wliich the 

 government grauts yearly. Many of the Central- 

 vereine receive so large an allowance that they 

 deliver to their members one or more bee-journals 

 free. 



At the large conventions, where all the Central- 

 vereine come together, extra money comes from 

 the government, and even from private sources, 

 from which premiums are offered, transportation 

 paid orr objects for exhibition, and often free rail- 

 way passage, as well as payment for articles dam- 

 aged or lost in transit. In Vienna, at the conven- 

 tion which I reported in Gleanings, it went even 

 so far that the members had their common meals, 

 including wine, /ree. "There's the rub," says Ham- 

 let I Whoever is not a member of a Verein must 

 wipe his mouth— that is, he gets nothing of all this. 



I once traveled to a convention of this kind with a 

 man who admitted that he no longer kept bees, but 

 had himself enrolled in a Verein, and paid his dues 

 of 30 cents, for which he received the bee-journal 

 and the opportunity of visiting strange places. In 

 our deliberations at Kiel he took no part, but prob- 

 ably in all the favors, visit to the museum, man-of- 

 war, etc. 



Yes, friend Miller, you must set all sail to pro- 

 cure such a cement in your States, which will not 

 only secure many members, but also hold them to- 

 gether. Freundlich gruessend, 



C. J. H. Gbavenhorst. 



For one, I feel like giving a vote of thanks 

 for this information. Just the thing we needed. 

 Now, can any thing of the kind be done in this 

 country? The answer has always been that 

 distances are too great and bee-keepers too 

 scattered. Eight there is the rock on which 

 we have always split, depending for member- 

 ship solely on those who could attend the meet- 

 ing. You will readily see that not all the mem- 

 bers attend the German conventions; but the 

 inducements are sufficient to make a man keep 

 up his membership, even if he never attended 

 a single meeting. So while our great distances 

 may count against the largest attendance at 

 conventions, it counts for nothing whatever 

 against a large membership. 



The only thing needed, then, to bring us up 

 on a level with Germany, and, for that matter, 

 with Canada, is to get the grant from the pub- 

 lic treasury. I think I hear some one say, " Oh 1 

 there's no use. We can't get any thing of the 

 kind." How do you know we can't? I feel 

 quite sanguine that there's just as much enter- 

 prise here as abroad; and if we go at it in the 

 right way we can get all the help we need. In- 

 deed, something has already been done. The 

 bee-keepers of Illinois succeeded in getting, at 

 least for one year, an appropriation of S500. It 

 was given to the State society, with the ex- 

 press stipulation that it should be used to 

 spread information— in other words, to publish 

 their report. Good was done by it; but it had 

 very little effect in the direction of increasing 

 membership. Probably a large number had 



the benefit of the reports who were never mem- 

 bers of the society, and, under existing circum- 

 stances, never will be. With a large member- 

 ship it would be much easier to get an appro- 

 priation from the State legislature. 



Now, suppose the Illinois society receives an- 

 other grant of $^00\ how would it do for them 

 to profit by the example of their foreign breth- 

 ren? I think it could be so managed as to 

 make the society five or ten times as large, and 

 still keep within the restriction that the money 

 must be used for spreading information. Let's 

 figure. Suppose the society make arrange- 

 ments to furnish free to its members a bee- 

 journal, and on any one of them it could prob- 

 ably get special rates so that, at the highest, it 

 would pay not more than 80 cents per copy, the 

 journal publishing in full the society's report. 

 Now, suppose the membership-fee be placed at 

 2.5 or .50 cents. Does any one doubt that a large 

 number would be induced to join who are not 

 now members, and many who now take no bee- 

 paper would do so by paying to the society less 

 than the regular subscription price of the pa- 

 per, without saying any thing about the privi- 

 lege of membership ? Let's see how the thing 

 would come out if the annual fee be placed at 

 35 cents. Allow $hO to be reserved for expenses, 

 and we have $450 left. Each member pays in 

 •J5 cents, and the society takes that, and 55 

 cents more, to make out the 80 cents it must 

 pay for his paper. It seems clear that the so- 

 ciety can afford to do that just as many times 

 as 55 cents is contained in the $450. If I figure 

 straight, that would make 818 members. Could 

 not get 818? Well, then It could reduce the 

 fee, making it only 10 cents per member, and 

 take in 64:.' members. There's a power in num- 

 bers, and I believe the thing to work for lies in 

 that direction. The fact that such a thing is 

 done in one State will give strong leverage to 

 work upon the legislature of another State. 

 Don't you believe that, if bee-keepers push as 

 they might, in a few years there might be large 

 societies in each State? 

 Marengo, 111. 



[We are always glad to get anything from the 

 pen of that practical German bee-keeper and 

 bee-writer, C. J. H. Gravenhorst. If our read- 

 ers do not know him through his own most ex- 

 cellent journal, they surely do know him to 

 some extent from his writings in our journal. 



On account of the magnificent (geographical) 

 distances, I am afraid, as you suggest, we shall 

 never be able to see a complete realization of 

 such a plan as is now in vogue in Germany. 

 Our country is made of so many little countries, 

 and so much has to be done through State ap- 

 propriations, that it is very difficult to get any 

 thing from the national government to help all 

 bee-keepers alike. Instead of concentrating 

 any great effort on any particular State. I should 

 be more in favor of getting an appropriation, if 

 times ever do get better, from the powers that 

 be, at Washington. A State association, no 

 matter how flourishing, would never be more 

 than a Slate organization.— Ed.J 



