192 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REV IE /c . 



those who would show plainly that they have 

 never read a book on bee keeping in their 

 lives, and know nothing in regard to dis- 

 puted points in the higher realms of apicul- 

 ture. Capt. Hetherington attended once, as 

 I have said, at Cleveland ; Manum and Doo- 

 little once at Detroit; Heddon twice when 

 the meetings were so near him that he could 

 hardly help going. I could name many who 

 did not care to go when the meetings were 

 near them. In any effort to lift the organ- 

 ization out of its present rut, there must be 

 included a dropping of this feature of pri- 

 mary instruction, an abolition of the ques- 

 tion box, a suppression of the supply busi- 

 ness, and an elevation of the annual meeting 

 to a far higher plane" generally. If this 

 were done the North American should have 

 something to give in return to local societies 

 for sending delegates. 



Bee-keepers as a class have always lacked 

 what the French call Esprit-de-corps, a 

 phrase for which we have no English equiva- 

 lent. There has been, I think, though some 

 deny it, a sort of mutual admiration society 

 among them, but very little of the enthusi- 

 asm of a pursuit, regardless of its doUar- 

 and-cent features. I could name a score of 

 bee-keepers on the continent of North 

 America with whom I would gladly meet in 

 convention for three days or a week at my 

 own cost. For that matter 1 have always 

 paid my own expenses except at the Keokuk 

 meeting when the Ontario Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation paid my expenses. I have never 

 pursued bee-keeping for the money there is 

 iu it, and herein, some tliink, I have been 

 greatly to blame and have proved myself of 

 no great account in connection with the 

 business. Well, I look at nothing in this 

 world merely through a money medium. 

 You may hold up a silver dollar to your eye 

 and shut out all the glories of the sun. Bee- 

 keeping lias paid me in other ways far more 

 than all it has cost, and I firmly believe the 

 North American will never be what it might 

 be to bee-keeping while the sordid, dollar- 

 and-cent view of the pursuit is in the ascen- 

 dent. 



All the same, I cannot for the life of me 

 see why the system of having delegates from 

 county societies to State and provincial so- 

 cieties, and from the latter to the North 

 American is not possible on account of the 

 expense. If so, the more's the pity. If so, 

 we may as well '"hang up de fiddle an' de 

 bow !" 



Every State organization should have in- 

 fluence enough to secure a grant from the 

 public treasury, part of which may be most 

 legitimately and usefully expended in pay- 

 ing the expense of sending the delegates to 

 the North American. When the Ontario 

 Bee- Keepers' Association first got its gov- 

 ernment grant of $.'">00 a year, one of the 

 thoughts of those who were then at the head 

 of its affairs was that of sending a delega- 

 tion to the North American. But " a change 

 came o'er the spirit of its dream." There is 

 a management now that prefers to spend the 

 funds on absurd legislation. 



But I have written at greater length than 

 I intended and will only add that I agree 

 with the Review in regard to amalgamating 

 the Bee-Keepers' Union with the North 

 American, provided always, that the latter 

 can be uplifted and put on a proper footing. 



GuELPH, Ont. 



June 18, ISil.'-). 



The Class of Bee-Keepers Needed in Perfect- 

 ing Organization.— B. Taylor and the 

 Heddon Hive. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



^^yHE WORLD 

 1' moves at a 

 1 ace - horse speed, 

 ijowadays, time 

 and space are both 

 valuable. Conse- 

 <inently I will pass 

 the points made in 

 ><)ur introductory 

 111 last issue, and 

 touch only the few 

 that I think have 

 been left out. 

 Basic priuciples must be understood, to the 

 end that we may succeed in anything. 

 These are always taught first, in all systema- 

 tized professions and trades. Sometimes I 

 think that bee-keepers are deplorably igno- 

 rant of first principles ; of the foundation 

 principles connected with their work. It 

 seems that Mr. Case has been uncommonly 

 unfortunate in losing bills for honey. He 

 may he imbued with the false doctrine that 

 people who talk out plain, and call things by 

 their right name, are bad people. If this is 



