American ^ae Jonrnal 



ford to employ a man to look after 

 this work for them. One live inaii^ 

 / say a the man — devoting his whole 

 time to organizing the bee-keepers of 

 this country, could make the National 

 Association go forward by leaps and 

 bounds, and could in a very few years 

 place the whole bee-keeping industry on 

 a much safer footing tlian it occupies 

 today. It cannot be done, however, on 

 the small compensation offered at the 

 present time. The dues must be placed 

 at $1.00 a year and that would furnish 

 funds for accomplishing the work. 

 People are usually willing to pay what 

 it costs to be well served. You cannot, 

 for very long, e.xpect to get something 

 for nothing, as most men cannot afford 

 to engage in the philantliropist business. 

 It is true, we have had very unselfish 

 and generous work done in the interest 

 of tliis .A.ssociation, but its member- 

 ship sliould no longer e.xpect that any 

 man in these days can afford to devote 

 his time and talents to advancing their 

 interests without being paid for it, and 

 ■well paid, at that. Brains and business 

 ability cost money these days, and the 

 bee-keepers of this country can well 

 afford to pay for them. For wlien they 

 are set to work, they are going to re- 

 turn to the individual bee-keeper tens 

 of dollars for the $i.oo membership. 



It is true that some radical measures 

 will have to be adopted. No doubt the 

 Constitution of this Association will 

 have to be amended, so it will permit 

 the doing of things that need to be done 

 in the best interest of the members. If 

 what I have suggested meets with the 

 approval of the majority of those in 

 attendance at this meeting, I would rec- 

 ommend the appointment of a commit- 

 tee for the purpose of suggesting 

 amendments to tlie Constitution, and 

 that before adjourning we take such 

 action as will be necessary to bring 

 about the changes in the Constitution 

 that will permit the carrying out of 

 what the best thought of this conven- 

 tion feels should be done in the future. 



Without in any way suggesting a 

 threat, I would like to say right here, 

 that it has been intimated to me that 

 unless the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation takes an advanced step along 

 the lines I have indicated in the fore- 

 going, another organization is likely to 

 attempt to supersede the National. 

 This, of course, none of us want to see 

 done. The National should lead, as it 

 always has led ; but in order to con- 

 tinue doing tliis, it must adapt itself to 

 the demands of progress and advance- 

 ment that come with each succeeding 

 year. Let us consider carefully things 

 that will make for the greater suc- 

 cess of bee-culture, and let us not heji- 

 tate to go fonvard, or at least to do 

 what we can to advance a little the 

 larger interests of our constitucrtfy — 

 throughout tlic domain of our member- 

 ship. 



We are engaged in a wonderfully in 

 teresting vocation. Its methods and 

 main product appeal to almost every- 

 one. Where is the person who cannot 

 be interested in the marvelous habits 

 and occupation of the little, busy 

 bee? I have personally held an 

 audience of several hundred children 

 almost breathless while I tried to 



show them, through the stereopti- 

 con, the wonders and glories of the 

 hive. .\ny one can do that who knows 

 anything at all definitely about the hon- 

 ey-bee and its honey. I believe it 

 would pay this Association, when prop- 

 erly organized, if it can, at not too 

 great an expense, to keep a good lec- 

 turer on the road, telling the people 

 something about the the bee and its 

 work, and incidentally emphasizing the 

 high value of honey as a daily food. 



When this Association is running as it 

 can run, it will have ample funds for 

 advertising honey in various ways. No 

 doubt it can establish its own brand — 

 that can be used by all the Stale or 

 branch organizations throughout the 

 country. With tlie wide co-operation 

 that 1 have here suggested, who will 

 say that every pound of honey pro- 

 duced every year, will not bring a 

 higher price, and thus more profit to 

 the producer? .'\nd not only will bet- 

 ter methods of production be encour- 

 aged, but more honest grading and 

 packing will be compelled. The brand 

 of the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion placed upon any package of honey 

 sliould be a guaranty that it is absolute- 

 ly all right in every particular. It may 

 be that there will have to be various 

 centers in each State, where the crops 

 of its members will be sent for proper 

 grading and packing, and then be 

 shipped in car-lots to the larger cities 

 where a demand has been created in 

 advance. A more equal distribution of 

 the honey produced can be secured in 

 this way. 



If we can have one or two energetic, 

 up-to-date business men devoting their 

 whole time to the management of this 

 organization, there is no reason why 

 they should not know the condition of 

 every large honey market on this con- 

 tinent, and thus be in a position to sup- 

 ply the markets properly, and bring 

 about a more equal distribution of 

 honey than at the present time, when 

 often some of the markets are over- 

 loaded and others are unsupplied. This 

 should not be, and need not be, if there 

 is someone whose business it is to see 

 that the honey product is distributed as 

 the markets demand. This is done in 

 other lines of production, and I see no 

 reason why, with the proper co-opera- 

 tion and affiliation of local organiza- 

 tions, it cannot be done as successfully 

 for the honey-producers. 



But I must not go on longer. We 

 have the field in which to work, but 

 it 'needs proper cultivation. It needs 

 wise and business-like management, in 

 order to realize a just financial return 

 for all the labor that has been bestowed 

 in order to secure a large crop of fine 

 honey.- Bee-keepers are not selfish ; 

 they do not want more tlian their prod- 

 uct is worth, but I insist that they do 

 li'ant, and deserve, a fair price as com- 

 pared with other food-products, and 

 this they are not getting today. I be- 

 lieve it is their own fault. No one will 

 attend to our business for us; we must 

 do that ourselves, or take the conse- 

 quences. The consequences are often 

 rather serious. Why not plan for the 

 largest success, rather than be satisfied 

 with something small, or less than can 

 be obtained if properly done? While 



we are doing at all, we might as well 

 do things right. We may as well mag- 

 nify the business of honey-production. 

 1 Iielieve we can easily do this by a 

 system of co-operation and manage- 

 ment, and I think the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association is the one organi- 

 zation that should make the first moves 

 toward securing these important condi- 

 tions and results among the bee-keep- 

 ers of this continent. The questions to 

 be settled are : Will we do it ? Are we 

 big enough to undertake this great 

 work, or will we drift along as we 

 have been doing in the years just gone 

 by? I believe the time is opportune to 

 take an advanced step. I realize that it 

 cannot be done rapidly, as the best and 

 most lasting things of this world are of 

 slow growth, but I believe ive should 

 begin to move. And why not this be 

 "moving day" along these lines? 



Georgiv W. York, Pres. 

 Chicago, 111., Oct. lo, 1910. 



Action on President's Address 



After an interesting discussion of 

 the President's Address, on motion it 

 was referred to a committee composed 

 of Messrs. O. L. Hershiser. of New 

 York; Jas. A. Stone, of Illinois, and 

 Jacob Huffman, of Wisconsin, who at 

 a later session presented the following 

 resolutions which were unanimously 

 adopted by the convention: 



Whereas, The proceedinKs of tliis con- 

 vention have been especially enriched by 

 the able address of our President; there- 

 fore, be it 



A't-.u'h'eii. That the many wise suggestions 

 contained therein merit our most careful 

 consideration and attention, and th'ht it is 

 hoped that they will be considered by every 

 beie-keeper as especially addressed to him. 



Keso/Tcd. That it is the sense of this con- 

 vention that the Board of Directors of this 

 Association take immediate active measures 

 to the end that the points in the President's 

 Address be brought before all local affiliated 

 and non-affiliated bee-keepers' associations 

 in the United Stales and Canada, for discus- 

 sion. 



A'esoh'ccf. That it is the sense of the con- 

 vention that the Board of Directors of this 

 Association use its funds as far as possible 

 in the employment of an efficient person to 

 organize State and County associations of 

 bee-keepers, lo be aftilialed with this Asso- 

 ciation, and in all other ways to advance the 

 organization of bee-keepers 



Reso/vfti. That it is the sense of this con- 

 vention that such points in the President's 

 Address as look to 'amendments in the Con- 

 stitution be commended to the Board of 

 Directors for immediate action, and that 

 they be earnestly urged to use what power 

 they now have to carry out the recommen- 

 dations in the President's .■\ddress. 



O, L Hershiser. 

 jAs. A. Stone, 

 Jacob Huffman. 

 CommitUc. 



Field -Day of the Bee-Keepers of 

 Massachusetts 



BY WINTHROP PACKARD. 



There are 2100 bee-keepers in Massa- 

 chusetts. They were not all at the field- 

 day of the Massachusetts Bee-Keepers 

 Association, but enough were there to 

 fill a big pine grove on the estate of 

 one of their number, Mr. Henry Brit- 

 ton, of Stoughton, who is a banker by 

 profession and a bee-keeper because he 

 loves bees. Mr. Britton keeps bees in all 

 sorts of places on his Stoughton estate. 

 He has a "Bungalow Apis" in which 



