THE BEE-KEEFERS' REVIEW, 



173 



discussion regardiuy tluit class of issues 

 with which the Uiiiou has to deal. I think 

 that it would be well to retain the name, 

 North American Bee- Keepers' Association. 

 I would also suggest that there be a Presi- 

 dent, 1st and 2ud Vice Presidents, a Secre- 

 tary and a Treasurer, and that these officers 

 constitute the executive board. In addition 

 to the duties that now devolve upon the 

 Secretary of the North American I would 

 have him take up also those now performed 

 by the General Manager of the Union. That 

 IS, if the two organizations were coml)iued, 

 I would have the combined duties of both 

 executive officers performed by one man, 

 and the society should have sufficient mem- 

 bers so that the Secretary- Manager could 

 devote a large share, if not the whole, of his 

 time to the performance of these duties. It 

 would seem that all of the bee-keepers in 

 this great and glorious country could keep 

 one man profitably employed in thus look- 

 ing after their interests. 



There are many things, aside from those 

 already done by the Union and North Ameri- 

 can, that might be done by such an organ- 

 ization with an efficient executive officer at 

 its head and money in its treasury. The 

 feature mentioned by Mr. Case is a case in 

 point, viz., that of looking after and report- 

 ing swindlers. I don't know as the constitu- 

 tion of the present Union would need any 

 change to allow of such work being done. 

 Two or three times the Review has exposed 

 some swindler, but this was not done until 

 numerous complaints had been received, 

 and considerable time had elapses. To call 

 a man a swindler because one man said so 

 would often lead to unjust accusations. 

 When an apparently just complaint is made, 

 the Union could make a thorough investiga- 

 tion, more thorough than one man could af- 

 ford to make. As Mr. Case says, a man 

 woull "brace up," and do the fair thing by 

 his customers when he found that his unsat- 

 isfactory methods were likely to be pub- 

 lished t J the members of the North Ameri- 

 can. I frequently receive complaints of 

 fraud, unfairness and unsatisfactory meth- 

 ods of conducting business, but before pub- 

 lishing anything of this character, a publish- 

 er must have absolute proof of the correct- 

 ness of such statements. To secure sucii 

 proof is often too much trouble and expense 

 for one man to bear. 



Perhaps something might be done in the 

 way of helping bee-keepers to secure better 



prices for their honey, or to market it in a 

 more satisfactory manner. Fruit exchanges 

 have helped the peach growers of New Jer- 

 sey and the orange growers of California, 

 and it is possible that something in this line 

 might be done by honey producers if they 

 were sufficiently organized. All such ques- 

 tions as these would, of course, come up in 

 convention. 



There is much more that might be said on 

 this subject, l)ut the foregoing is sufficient 

 to start the discussion, and we will make of 

 it a special topic for the .July Review. 



EXXRT^CXED. 



Size of Hives and Frolificness in Quoens. 

 Last month I copied from the American 

 Bee Journal an article written by Mr. C, 

 Davenport, of Minn. In that article he 

 showed the advantages to be derived from 

 small hives and the feeding of bees. In 

 Gleanings he has an article on a kindred 

 subject, and from this article I make the 

 following quotation : 



" I believe the majority of bee-keepers, 

 though, keep bees as a side issue only, and 

 many of these do not wish or have no time 

 to do much feeding in the spring and early 

 summer, if necessary. For this class as a 

 general thing, I think the ten-frame hive 

 the best ; for the honey those two extra 

 combs will contain, will, in a poor season, 

 enable brood rearing to be kept up much 

 better than it would be with only eight. If 

 no feeding were done, and if a How did come, 

 the colony on ten frames would have a much 

 larger force of workers to secure it ; but 

 when I have gone beyond ten frames, in gen- 

 eral I have sot just that much less surplus — 

 that is, with a twelve-frame hive I do not 

 get as much surplus within 14 or 1(> pounds'; 

 and, besides, such a hive costs more, and it 

 is much harder work to handle them I do 

 not think the locality mnkes much difference 

 to the specialist about the right size of hive. 

 Of course, it might make a difference as to 

 the time, and amount to be fed. 1 believe 1 

 can make more in any locality with frames 

 in the eight-frame hive than I can with the 

 same number of frames in larger ones ; for 

 my experience has been that, as a general 

 thing, eight frames are enouah for the best 

 queens we can get at the present time. In 

 saying "the best queens" I do not mean 

 those that are the most prolific. I have had 

 queens that would keej) ten and in a few 

 cases even twelve frames full of brood , but 

 these queens needed to be prolific, for their 

 bees were so short lived that these colonies 

 could not store as much surplus as others 

 whose queens did not keep eight frames 

 full. 



