72 



THF BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



The Kansas Bee Journal is a new IG-page 

 monthly at twenty-five cents per annum, 

 published at Topeka, Kansas, by Miller & 

 Dunham, and edited by Mrs. Edith Miller. 

 I believe this is the only bee journal having 

 a lady editor. The first two issues were so 

 poorly printed that I couldn't bring myself 

 to say anything about it, but the last nam- 

 ber was a very pleasant surprise typograph- 

 ically, which was all that was needed to make 

 of the journal a very creditable periodical. 



MB. PEINGLe's essay ON EDUCATION. 



At the recent Ontario Bee-Keepers' con- 

 vention held in Stratford, Mr. Allen Pringle 

 read a most able essay on "Education;" in 

 fact, it was the best of anything that I have 

 ever heard on that hackneyed subject, if not 

 the best of anything that I heard at that con- 

 vention, and I should have given it extended 

 notice had it not been that I believe such 

 things out of place in a bee journal, as I 

 have explained at some length in another 

 place in this issue. If I am drawing the 

 reins too tightly in this respect I wish that 

 my readers would say so. 



In justice to Mr. Pringle it should be ex- 

 plained that the essay was written only upon 

 repeated solicitations, and with the under- 

 standing that it was to be read at the even- 

 ing meeting, to which the general public 

 was invited, where its reading would be 

 more appropriate than in a bee convention ; 

 but from a lack of information on this point 

 by the committee that arranged the pro- 

 gramme for the printer, the paper was 

 placed in the list of topics to be taken up in 

 the day time. Probably no one was to 

 blame, it was simply a peculiar combination 

 of circumstances, and this explanation is 

 made simply because I have been criticised 

 for omitting to mention the essay in my re- 

 port of the meeting, and I wish the true 

 reason to be known. 



THE BEE-KEEPING OP THE FUTURE. 



I have been interested in the articles on 

 this subject, and at the same time I have 

 been a little encouraged. I have published 

 everything that came to hand on the subject, 

 except an article from Mr. Heddon. I would 

 have given this too, but something had to be 

 left out of this issue, or else the paper made 

 larger, and, as I am working hard to " catch 

 up," I didn't think it best to enlarge. Mr. 

 Heddon agreed with the ideas advanced in 



my leader on the subject, and his remedy 

 was to cut down the labor by using his hive. 

 I am ready to admit that cutting down 

 the labor helps to make a success of the 

 business, but if the flowers fail to yield nec- 

 tar, all of the short cuts in the world will not 

 save us. I was considerably impressed with 

 the remark of Mr. Dadantthat so long as we 

 can raise other crops we can raise honey. 

 This is probably true, but if all of the natur- 

 al honey resources are cut away, and the 

 crops that we raise are not honey producing, 

 then where are we ? Alsike clover and buck- 

 wheat are about the only cultivated crops 

 that we have that yield honey to any great 

 extent. I agree with my friend Aspinwall 

 that the prevention of swarming and the dis- 

 covery of some successful plan of out-door 

 wintering would do very much towards keep- 

 ing bee-keeping in the hands of specialists. 

 Let us hope — and, in the meantime, let us 

 not " lose our heads," but go carefully over 

 the ground, and then decide, as best we can, 

 what is the best thing to do, all things con- 

 sidered. 



M^H^int"*^^^ 



WHY CALL LOCAL MEETINGS " NOBTH AMEBI- 



CAN ? " 



My friend F. H. Richardson of LaClede, 

 Missouri, who proposed that the North 

 American hold four meetings annually, has 

 written me a letter taking issue on the point 

 that such meetings would be simply local — 

 that leading bee-keepers could not and would 

 not make four long journeys in a year. He 

 thinks that I am a trifle egotistical in "think- 

 ing that each section of the country could 

 not furnish sufficient talent to make a good 

 convention." Bro. Richardson I didn't say 

 or mean that. You don't understand me. I 

 will admit that the bee-keepers of Nebraska 

 can have a good convention using no mate- 

 rial outside of that to be found in their own 

 State. The same is true of Canada, or of 

 the State of New York, or of Missouri, or of 

 many other sections of the country, but such 

 gatherings are not North American in the 

 true and broad sense of the word as we are 

 in the habit of applying it. All of these 

 meetings would be North American in the 

 sense that they are held in North America, 

 but in a broader and truer sense they would 

 be local. Even if the members were unusu 

 ally bright, it would not be a meeting of the 

 North American, and to so call it would not 

 make it such in reality if it did in name. I 

 can only repeat what I have said before : if 



