TMU MMEKICSr* BEE: JOVWmRI^. 



745 



Dr. Miller said that Mr. llutrliinson 

 bad some jfood iduas, l)ut he could not 

 endorse all that are advanced in the 

 essay. He did not believe that all 

 other advertisers than apiarists should 

 be excluded. We want buggies and 

 other usefid things, and there is no 

 reason in excluding any useful article 

 from the advertising columns of our 

 apicultural periodicals. Advertise- 

 ments help to support the periodical, 

 and 1 am glad to see all clean adver- 

 tisements in our bee-papers. 



Thomas G. Newman said that advei'- 

 tisements of useful articles are the life 

 of the periodical, and a bee-paper can- 

 not be supported without them. There 

 are not enough to come from apiarists 

 alone, to support a good periodical, and 

 all should welcome such as a help in 

 supporting our bee-papers. 



Dr. Ma.son said he wanted a good 

 periodical, and did not object to the 

 advertisements if they could be taken 

 oft' when binding the volume. With 

 the Revievj this was impossible, as the 

 first few pages were all reading mat- 

 ter, and the last ones, on the corres- 

 ponding leaves, were advertising, and 

 these could not be taken off. The 

 Review is a good paper, but is not what 

 its name implies — a review. The 

 American Bee Journal is what its 

 name implies — the bee-periodical of 

 America. Oleanings is what its name 

 implies — gleanings in bee-culture ; but 

 the Review is a topical paper — not a 

 review at all. 



S. A. Shuck said we need buggies 

 and agricultural tools, and he made 

 no objections to advertisements of use- 

 ful articles in our bee-periodicals. 



W. F. Clarke said that good apicul- 

 tural literature costs something. You 

 cannot have first-elass literature with- 

 out paying well for it. Some cheap, 

 new papers are offered at 25 cents a 

 year, and arc dear at that. Bee-papers 

 cannot be published as cheaply as 

 metropolitan dailies. Special lines 

 cost more, because the patrons are 

 limited. Let our special periodicals 

 be high-class in a literarj' point of 

 view. Let them discuss the live issues 

 of the pui'suit, in the present day, that 

 are of interest to all the practical bee- 

 keepers. 



A. N. Draper did not want a paper 

 filled with one idea merely ; he wanted 

 it to cover all the live issues, and api- 

 cultural news of the day. 



A. I. Root said he was sorry that 

 friend Hutchinson was not here. He 

 was detained by illness. We want 

 more charity in regard to advertise- 

 ments. We need buggies, saws, and 

 all other useful articles that bee-keep- 

 ers use. and advertisements of all good 

 articles are of value to them. W^hy 

 should we not tell them where such 

 can be obtained at a reasonable price ? 



Careful and efticient editing would save 

 all this siftinf,' on the part of readers. 

 The i|nestl(iii tluit each editor ()u«-|it to 

 ask himself, when decidirifj ii|ioii what 

 shall appear upon the pa<-;i'S of his jour- 

 nal is, will the matter admitted be of 

 real benelit to the readers? If it will 

 not, why publish it? It may not be 

 ))0ssible nor advisable to adherer strictly 

 to this rule, but it ouglit to be always 

 kept in view. 



We wish to (ii)pose one idea that somi' 

 of our editorial brethren have, with 

 much labor, tried to pound intotln^ heads 

 iif their I'orrespondents. and that is that 

 they must write short artieles in order 

 that nil iiutu be hcnrd fruin. Why sho\ild 

 ••all " be heard from, unless they have 

 something i)t value to (•ommunieat<^ ? Of 

 course, we jirefer to have ideas expressed 

 in the fewest words possible, but a long 

 arti('le is just as wcle<mie as a short one, 

 provided it contains valual)le information 

 in proportion to its length. The idea is 

 just here. A journal ought to be tilled 

 with the most valuable information that 

 can ijossibly be packed into it, irrespec- 

 tive of whether that information is 

 furnished by two or three correspondents, 

 or by a dozen, 



[This being an editorial written for the "Review" 

 for November, such parHgraphs as were siraply 

 -personal chats" with its sxibscribers, and as such 

 unsuitable lor discussion at a Convention, are, of 

 course, omitted here.J 



We think that, as much as possible, 

 advertisements ought to pertain to bee- 

 culture. But few others should be 

 admitted, and they should be strictly 

 tirst-class. Perhaps some will say that 

 this is a matter that concerns the pub- 

 lisher alone. Possibly, But when' is 

 the advertiser of apiarian goods that 

 likes to have his advertisi'ment buried 

 among those of guns, buggies, watches, 

 sewing machines, lamps, books, tobacco, 

 trusses, patent medicines, corn remedies, 

 pile remedies, etc. ? We believe that the 

 admission of such trasli into the adver- 

 tising columns of a be(^-paper displeases 

 the bee-keeping advertisers, that it is an 

 actual detriment to them, and tliat it 

 lowers the journal in the estimation of 

 its readers. Let us keep our advertising 

 columns pure and clean, and as nearly 

 apiarian as possible. 



In closing, please allow us to quote 

 from Allan Forman, editor of The Jinir- 

 luilist. In th(! August issue he said : 

 •' The handsome paper is the successful 

 paper of the future. Readers and adver- 

 tisers are being influenced more and 

 more by the appearance of the paper, its 

 typographical attractiveness, and the 

 taste displayed in the make-up. A taste- 

 ful and pleasing appearance is accepted 

 as the visible and outward evidence of 

 linancial prosperity. People who (fould 

 not make-up a paper, and who do not 

 know one type from another, are quick 

 to discriminate against the slovenly 

 sheet, in favor of the neat and handsome 

 one." 



Upon this subject we shall be glad to 

 hear not only from our regular corres- 

 pondents, but from our editorial brethren 

 as well ; and if the faults of the Bevieiv 

 are Most clearly brought to light in the 

 discussion that follows, no one will be 

 jnore pleased than 



W. Z. IICTCniN.SON. 



The President's Address. 



IIoij. It. L. Taylor, of l>apei'r, Mirh., 

 President of the Association, read Ids 

 annual address, which was listened to 

 with close and undivided attention, as 

 follows : 



We meet iiiiiler tin' disiidvantages at- 

 tending a season the most uniiropitioiis 

 jirobably witlnn the memory of tin; great 

 majority of living bee-keepers. The 

 worst iihase of ill-fortune may be avoid- 

 ed by facing it with cheerfulness, and 

 this trait may he cidtivated liy remem- 

 bering that such a season is not without 

 its advantages. 



In tin; first place, there has been such 

 an advance in the prices of our product 

 as not only to bring comfort to those 

 wlio are so fortunate as to have obtained 

 a crop, but also to leave a more or less 

 permanent effect upon future markets. 



This is so in the nature of things ; but 

 it will be so al.so because an adverse sea- 

 son gives nuire and betti'r data for a 

 sound lietter judgment as to tin; cost of 

 the production of honey. Ajjiarists will 

 learn that tlie years must b(^ averaged, 

 and they will not be in such haste to dis- 

 pose of their croi) in a favorable year on 

 the first oftiu- of a price that would bring 

 a fair prolit for the labor and expense of 

 that year, liy itself considered. Past 

 and future rainy days must also be pro- 

 vided for. 



Then such adverse seasons arc discour- 

 aging and weeding out to those who have 

 undertaken the bussuess on account of 

 the supposed supreme ease with whicli 

 money is made in it. When such learn 

 that there is out-go as well as income — 

 that tliere is liable to b(^ much unpro- 

 ductive labor and expense — their feelings 

 undergo a revulsion, and the business is 

 dropped. 



This is the class that breaks down the 

 home markets, and we can spare them 

 with great advantage to the industry. 

 Consumers, too, will learn, when they see 

 the empty markets, that honey is not 

 made to order. They will have less fear 

 of adulteration, and be more alive to the 

 necessity of securing a supply seasona- 

 bly. 



May we not hope also that the atten- 

 tion of bee-keepers will be more effect- 

 ually called to the fact that their pro- 

 duct may be kept in perfect condition 

 from a year of abundance and low prices 

 to a time of scarcity and profitable prices. 



Total failures are expensive, and 

 bristle with other unpleasant features: 

 but we do well to consider compensating 

 aspects, and indulge the hope that we 

 are not paying too high a price for the 

 benefits that are to follow. 



One of the chief objects of the sessions 

 of this Association is. presumably, by 

 the exchange of thought and experience, 

 and by discussion, to increase the sum of 

 our knowledge of the business in which 

 we arc engaged. It goes without saying 

 tliat we ought to make the most of our 

 meeting in this respect. Let us have 

 the fullest and freest discussion, without 

 jiersonal feeling or anger, on any side. 

 I think there has been sometimes a sens- 

 itiveness evinced on the part of some — a 

 disposition to require our speakers to be- 



