Tmrn MMERICSN BEE JOtJRlSffil<. 



151 



and the one to whom is due in l;u'<rest 

 measnie the raajjniflcent success tliat 

 waited upon its initial Fair last season. 

 Hut Mr. Socor is not only a man of 

 keen business perception, but is happih' 

 versatile in a literary' direction, and 

 by the fluenc}' of his pen in both the 

 S|>heres of prose and poetry, he has 

 won no little distinction. Mr. Secor is 

 firmly intrenched in Republican prin- 

 ciples, and in a word, is a citizen shar- 

 inj^ the good-will and esteem of all, 

 and an invaluable member of society. 



Mr. Secor is mentioned in the above 

 as an enthusiastic fruit-grower, and as 

 having "the largest apiary in the 

 county." To know .something of his 

 apicnltural experience then will be in- 

 teresting to our readers. For their 

 benefit we have gleaned the following : 



His bee-keeping experience began 

 in 1870, when he paid $10.00 for a 

 prime swarm of black l)ees, having 

 paid $3.00 to a carpenter, who was 

 also a bee-keeper, for a frame hive 

 to put them in. He knew nothing of 

 bees, and could not tell a comb filled 

 with sealed brood, from one with 

 sealed honey. He secured a copy of 

 "Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-Keeping 

 Ex|)lained," and soon became a sul)- 

 scriber to the American Bee Journal 

 anil O leanings. All of the books on 

 the subject published in America have 

 been added since, and all the bee- 

 periodicals. 



Like all enthusiasts in the business, 

 he tried to improve the frame-hives 

 already in use, by one of his own in- 

 vention, and various contrivances were 

 experimented with. Owing to the 

 various other duties that take so large 

 a .share of his time, he has now given 

 up the idea that the bee-world will all 

 go to smash if he does not put a new 

 hive on the market, nor write a bee- 

 book, nor start a new periodical. 



The number of colonies of bees he 

 has kept, has never exceeded 50. His 

 aim has been to keep the number so 

 small that he could manage them with- 

 out hired help, and at the same time 

 attend to more profital)le business. 

 But while bee-keeping has l)een pur- 

 sued for the pleasure and education it 

 aflorded, he has alwajs ma(b> it pay. 

 When he says he has 50 colonies, he 

 does not mean that he has that many 

 hives tcith been in, but expects every 

 one to yield a profit. He endeavors 

 to keep down increase, and keep u^) 

 the production of tlie colonies. 



He was a member of the late North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society, and 

 Vice-President for Iowa for two years. 

 He is a member of the Iowa State Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, and only avoided 

 being its President for the current 

 year by a vigorous protest on his part. 



CONVENTIONS. 



The IXcw Con§liliition and By 

 LiiAi's — Essays. 



Written for the Aiii^ricaii Dee Mmnml 

 BY 1)U. C. C. MILLER. 



I am very glad that at this early day 

 there is interest taken in what I hojjc 

 maj' be a very profitable meeting at 

 Brantford, Out. On jiage 747 of the 

 American Bee Journal for 1888, Sec- 

 retarj- Holtermann takes up with 

 earnestness some points especially i-e- 

 latiug to the change in the Constitu- 

 tion, and does it so good-naturedly 

 tliat it will be an easy matter to talk 

 over any points on which we disagree. 

 I objected to the name, "The Inter- 

 national American Bee-Association," 

 because it seemed to me rather cum- 

 bersome, and although "American 

 Bee-Society," as Mr. Newman says, " is 

 short, expressive, and appropriate," 

 still there ma_y be other names equally 

 good. Is the proposed striking out of 

 the word "American," however, from 

 the original name, that which will give 

 us what we want ? 



"International Bee-Association" is 

 a more comjirehensive term than the 

 original name, and is on that account 

 objectionable. To have a society that 

 takes in the United States and Canada 

 sounds pretty big, but when you drop 

 out the " American " and take in the 

 whole world, is it not a misnomer ? 

 Mind yon, I do not object to getting 

 representatives from across the water 

 — I admire tlie grit of Bro. Holtermann 

 in thinking tliat a number of the lead- 

 ing men from other nations can be got 

 to Brantfiu'd, and I should veri/ much 

 like to meet them there, but it would 

 hardly- be an International society un- 

 less we could confidentially count on 

 their attending regularly our annual 

 meetings. If we are to use the name 

 "International" with no limiting 

 word before it, the German, English 

 and other societies may with greater 

 reason use the same name, for they 

 have larger meetings, and are, no 

 doubt, just as willing to receive repre- 

 sentatives from abroad. 



I agree witli Mr. H., that life mem- 

 bers .should equal annual members in 

 privileges. 



I do not know enough to say whether 

 it is better to have " time and jilace " 

 fixed at a previous meeting, or to leave 

 the Executive to decide later. I sus- 

 pect there are dilliculties on both sides. 

 The Executive Committee consists of 

 the President and Secretary, and it is 

 barely possible that there might be a 



tie vote between the two, or that their 

 decision might not be so generally 

 satisfactory as that of a larger nuihber, 

 or tliat they might be a little tardy 

 about making their decision. On the 

 other hand, there are often reasons 

 that come up later for a different de- 

 cision, and it is not always easy to 

 know a year ahead what is best. How 

 would it do to have time and place 

 fixed " at the previous annual meet- 

 ing," and at the same time give the 

 Executive Committee power to change 

 within a given time, if they saw suffi- 

 cient reason for doing so ? 



Article VIII of the By-Laws, Bro. H. 



saj's "is optional Dr. Miller is 



wrong ; he sjij's is to be formed." I 

 have read that article over several 

 times, and I cannot make out anything 

 optional. It says, " A committee of 

 five sh(tU be elected, who shall have 

 power to organize itself into a ' Honey 

 Company,' etc." It seems to me that 

 moans the Honej' Company is to be 

 formed. If not, then all the ai-ticles 

 seems to me optional, for none of them 

 have anything stronger than "shall.". 



EiiisayM at ConTentions. 



And now a word upon the remarks 

 of Prof. Cook, on page 740 of the 

 American Bee Journal for 1888. He 

 tliinks that the Society will do the 

 most good, among other things, by 

 "securing essays for each meeting 

 from representative men from all sec- 

 tions." From this expression, and 

 more especiall}- from expressions 1 

 have heard the Professor make pub- 

 licly, I understand him to think that 

 men who are not present should be 

 represented bj' essays. It may not be 

 entirel}- fair to reason from extremes, 

 but there is a good bit of fairness in it, 

 and we might trj- it. Suppose we have 

 all the representations by essa}"S. 

 Then, as in the great majority of cases, 

 the Professor would get more satisfac- 

 tion from reading an essa}' himself, 

 than fi-om hearing it read l)j- an ordi- 

 nary" reader, it would be better for him 

 if all the essays were printed in a 

 pamphlet together, and sent for him to 

 read in the quiet of his pleasant home. 

 In short, a bee-paper filled with good 

 articles would make a good conven- 

 tion. 



Commenting upon the Professor's 

 remarks, the editor sajs : " We agree 

 with the Professor in regard to ob- 

 taining essays. The other plan has 

 been 'tried and found wanting.'" 

 " Et tu, Brute !" Do you not recall 

 several meetings we have had in Chi- 

 cago, friend Newman, chock-full of in- 

 terest, and those meetings free from 

 essays ? I fancy I see the astute 

 editor of the Amerio\n Bee Journal, 

 as he turns his head slightlj* to one 

 side, looks through his glasses for a 



