

GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



3] 



EDITORIAL 



TO ATTEND CONVENTIONS costs the 

 average beekeeper anywhere from $10 to 

 $25, to cover rail- 

 Wasting Val- road fare and hotel 

 uable Time bills. Most beelveep- 



at Bee ers will not attend 



Conventions. a se ond time un- 

 less they feel tha\ 

 they can get back enough valuable informa- 

 tion to cover the cost of the trip. There- 

 fore it comes about that the hours and min- 

 utes of convention time are exceedingly val- 

 uable. If the average amount paid to attend a 

 convention is $10.00 and there are fifty pires- 

 ent, the cost per hour will run something like 

 $60.00, estimating that there are two ses- 

 sions of four hours each. When, therefore, 

 a few beekeepers will get to haggling on 

 parliamentary technicalities, or when a lot 

 of valuable time is taken up in the election 

 of officers and appointment of committees 

 in v.'hich the whole convention unnecessarily 

 takes a hand, many beekeepers become sour- 

 ed and vow they will never go to a conven- 

 tion ^gain. 



Every Qne who attends these meets is en- 

 titled to hear discussions bearing on vital 

 topics. Many beekeepers go to leain how to 

 sohe a certain problem. Others go because 

 they wish to know the price at which they 

 should sell their honey. When, therefore, 

 some of them see that practically all the 

 time of a session is taken up in the election 

 of its officers and useless parliamentary 

 wrangling, they are disgusted. 



But the question may be asked: " How 

 can the matter be expedited?" In the first 

 jilace, we would not have any constitution 

 to wrangle about. Let the will of the ma- 

 jority at that particular meeting ]u-evail, 

 and that right speedily. In the second place, 

 have a nominating committee appointed by 

 the chair to select officers. Such a commit- 

 tee can pick out the right men better than 

 a whole convention going thru the long and 

 tedious process of a ballot. If the nominat- 

 ing committee is favorable to certain in- 

 terests, then the convention can accept the 

 report of the committee or else reject it and 

 proceed to elect officers in the usual way. 

 As a general rule the best interests of the 

 convention will be subserved by accepting 

 the report of the nominating committee. 



All other routine business should be ar- 



'•anged by committees appointed by the 

 chair. We would eliminate the addr'es.T oi 

 welcome by the mayor and other town func- 

 tionaries, and the response. We would con- 

 fine the pjogiam down to the discussion of 

 vital bee and honey questions, so that when 

 the beekeepers go home they can feel that 

 they have obtained something for their 

 n'oney. 



There is another part of this convention- 

 going that is valuable, and that is the social 

 time between sessions; for it is then that 

 one beekeeper can approach another and dig 

 out the information he is after. These be- 

 tween-sessions are often more valuable than 

 the regular set-program discussions. 

 ^ In every program we would have a ques- 

 tion-bor. There should be a committee to re- 

 vise and sort out the questions, because 

 there are some questions that should not ab- 

 sorb the time of the whole convention — ques- 

 tions, for example, that can be found answer- 

 ed in any text-book on bees. 



THE DAY of the honey adulterator has 

 passed. The modern chemist and the Unit- 

 ed States food au- 

 Honey Adul- t h o r i t i e s have 

 terators Caught made it impossible 

 and Punished. for him to ply his 

 evil trade. As an 

 evidence of the truth of this statement, we 

 quote the following news item printed in 

 one of the leading New York dailies of Oct. 

 6. 



"The Federal Food Board announced yes- 

 terday that the license of the Standard Ee- 

 fining Company, No. 217 West Street, has 

 been suspended for four weeks because of 

 the sale of adulterated honey. The company 

 has contributed $2,919, representing the ex- 

 cess in price, to the Red Cross. The Board 

 says: 'Since about May 1, 1918, the com- 

 pany has sold large quantities of a mixture 

 of honey and corn syrup without informing 

 purchasers that, it was adulterated honey. 

 The amount of corn syrup added to the hon- 

 ey ranged from 15 to 26 per cent, whereas 

 the labels on the containers and the invoices 

 described the contents as 'pure honey' or 

 'honey.' " 



This adulterating firm will do no business 



