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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ion society. Our Provincial societies may 

 be regarded as tantamount to your State so- 

 cieties, and both may be considered along 

 the same lines. These are, I think, the or- 

 ganizations, on both sides, in which the main 

 responsibility, force, and work ought to be 

 concentrated. This is what we aim at here, 

 and I would suggest a similar course for our 

 cousins over the way. Our county societies 

 are affiliated with our Provinical (the Onta- 

 rio Bee-Keepers' Association) and would not 

 amount to much of themselves independent 

 of the central society from which they re- 

 ceive an annual money grant and other 

 privileges. Of course the Provincial society 

 receives an annual grant of money from the 

 Provincial government which is the financial 

 back-bone of the society, enabling it to ac- 

 complish the splendid work it does ; while 

 without that grant the Association could do 

 but little if it could exist at all. The grant 

 enables the society to hold out to bee-keep- 

 ers substantial inducements to join and re- 

 main members. Each member gets an an- 

 nual premium of some kind nearly if not 

 quite equal to his membership fee of one 

 dollar. He al*=o gets the annual official re- 

 port, including the papers in full and discus- 

 sions, of the annual meeting. Besides these 

 substantial inducements the society presents 

 others less substantial to stimulate the sub- 

 sidiary motives referred to above. Tribute 

 is paid to the social element in the public, 

 popular evening meetings held in connec- 

 tion with the annual conventions which oc- 

 cupy three days each year ; and tribute is 

 paid to the vanity (that is too strong, I will 

 say approbativeness) of human nature by 

 printing in the annual official reports what- 

 ever any member has to say in the discus- 

 sions on matters apicultural. This is com 

 passed by the society securing the services 

 of a stenographer to take a verbatim report 

 of the proceedings of the annual meetings. 

 A committee of revision takes the short 

 hand report and prepares it for publication, 

 pruning away the excrescences. The mem- 

 ber who cannot reach the annual meetings 

 thus gets the benefit of the papers and dis- 

 cussions and has the satisfaction of seeing 

 his name printed in the annual report in the 

 membership list. What with that and his 

 premium, and the valuable report, he comes 

 out away ahead of his annual investment in 

 dollars and cents. 



Conducted on these lines it need not, there- 

 fore, he a matter of surprise that the Lnta- 



rio Bee-Keepers^ Association is a flourishing 

 and useful organization ; and that the sub- 

 ordinate societies in affiliation therewith are 

 of the same character. I would advise our 

 American friends to go and do likewise. The 

 first thing to do is to get the " sinews of 

 war" from ''the powers that be." Get 

 some of your own money back, for it is your 

 own money. Apiculture is an important 

 branch of agriculture and agriculture pays 

 the largest tribute of taxes to government — 

 yes, indeed, and to monopolies and com- 

 bines which have no legitimate claims upon 

 it for special tribute. But you say " we can- 

 not get the money from our legislatures — we 

 cannot get the necessary grants." Yes you 

 can if you go about it the right way. It is 

 true that bee-keepers have not the "pull" 

 on the powers that less worthy men and 

 classes have ; but they have votes and in- 

 fluence and they may get a legitimate "pull" 

 on their legislators if they only pull together 

 and pull right. I have an idea that the bee- 

 keepers of Ontario could get anything in 

 reason from the Ontario government which 

 they unitedly asked for. I have an idea, too, 

 that the bee-keepers of Michigan, Illinois, 

 Ohio, New York and other States, under the 

 guidance and leadership of such men as 

 Hutchinson, Heddon, Secor, Miller, Mason, 

 Root, York and many others, could get a 

 good annual grant of money from their re- 

 spective State legislatures to sustain State 

 organizations of bee-keepers. Get the State 

 society legally incorporated and then, with 

 an annual grant, it will be in a position to 

 foster the county or subordinate societies, 

 and will be bound to flourish. The bee- 

 keepers have the riglit to ask and demand 

 that much from the State. If the legisla- 

 tures will not perform this obvious duty 

 without special pressure then apply the pres- 

 sure. This may be done in various ways. 

 Ill addition to the general advocacy of the 

 matter at thy critical junction by the bee 

 journals, which ought at the time to be sent 

 to the legislators, I would suggest the follow- 

 ing course which would probably be more 

 effective than anything else which could be 

 done in securing legislation and grants : 

 In every constituency or electoral riding in 

 the State there would doubtless be more or 

 less bee-keepers. Let the State society get 

 the n 'mes of the best and most prominent 

 of these in t very constituency and have them 

 write simultaneously to their respective 

 members during the session when the legis- 



