214 



TH© MMERICaif BBS JOWKlfMSr. 



CONSTITUTION. 



Some Suggestions on the fiew 

 Constitution and By-Liaws. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DU. A. B. MASON. 



When at the meeting of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society at Chi- 

 cago, in November, 1887, I listened to 

 tlie reading of the report of the com- 

 mitte on a New Constitution, etc., for 

 the Society. I was very favorablj' im- 

 pressed with its completeness ; and I 

 must confess that to see the editor of 

 the American Bee Jodrnal standing 

 . there, but the shadow of himself, and 

 scarcely able to stand, or talk, through 

 weakness, the result of a recent severe 

 illness, it elicited my sympathy for the 

 production. 



When he stated, before making the 

 report, that most of the work had been 

 done on a .sick bed, when rest would 

 have been a boon to the fevered, tired 

 brain, I realized th.at but few would 

 have made any report ; but, with char- 

 acteristic energy and vim,M.r. Newman 

 was " on deck," ready to report. 



When the committee, to which the 

 report was referred for consideration, 

 simply recommended that the matter 

 be laid over until the next meeting, I 

 felt indignant, and had I not felt that 

 the members of the committee were 

 incapable of such ungentlemanly con- 

 duct, I .should have taken their action 

 as a direct insult to Mr. Newman, and 

 I fully agree with Dr. Miller's state- 

 ment when he says, that " Mr. Newman 

 is entitled to a hearty vote of thanks, 

 and the committee appointed to report 



upon the matter deserve a no less 



hearty vote of— censure, for their neg- 

 lect to consider and report ;" and I 

 then and there decided that if the op- 

 portunity were presented, somebody 

 about my size would see what could be 

 done about it. 



The subject came up on the morning 

 of the second day's session at Colum- 

 bus, O., last October, and but little 

 was said about it, and my being in the 

 chair, and not just in the "spirit" to 

 stir matters up, the subject was 

 dropped. During the evening session, 

 Mr. Newman will remember that I 

 called him to the chair, and I " took 

 the floor" for the constitution, and he 

 knows the result. Secretary Holter- 

 mann s.ays, " President Mason brought 

 the matter up so (to me) unexpectedly, 

 that it took my breath away." Thatit 

 is "perfection itself," no one has 

 claimed, and I think that suggestions 

 " are in order ;" and for one, I hope 



that the suggestions will be made, but 

 do not "suggest" that certain portions 

 are not right, unless suggesting what 

 is thought to be better. 



I also think that Dr. Miller's sugges- 

 tion on the change of name from "In- 

 ternational American Bee-Association" 

 to "American Bee-Society" a verj' 

 good one ; but I should prefer to have 

 it "North American Bee-Society." I 

 woukl erase the words, " its officers," 

 from Sec. 1, Art. Ill, and I would in- 

 sert the words, " and life " in the same 

 article. See. 4, between the words 

 " annual members." This section al- 

 lows no one but members to partici- 

 pate in discussions, which, I think, is 

 right. 



In order to do away with the possi- 

 bility of a tie vote in the executive 

 committee, would it not be desirable 

 to so change the last clause of Sec. 1, 

 Art. IV, so as to read, "the President, 

 Secretary and Treasurer shall consti- 

 tute the executive committee ?" 



It seems to me that the last cliiuse 

 of Art. V should be so changed as to 

 make the dues from affiliated societies 

 payable on or before the first day of 

 the annuiil meeting. My reason for 

 this change is, that a goodly number 

 of bee-keepers' societies do not meet 

 until after the first of January, and 

 some have meetings in the summer, 

 and some in the fall or early winter 

 just before the meeting of the Inter- 

 national. 



In the first clause of Art. VI, leave 

 out the words " time and ;" and change 

 the last word of the article to "time." 

 Leave out Art. VII entirely, and 

 change the luimbering of Art. VIII 

 and IX to VII and VIII. 



I am decidedly in favor of so chang- 

 ing the last clause of Art. II, of the 

 By-Laws, as to not have it operative in 

 regard to the present President, or 

 that the address be delivered at such 

 time during the sessions of the con- 

 vention, as Dr. Miller may be absent, 

 or " caught napping," or if such 

 change is not made, and the Doctor 

 cannot be caught off duty, he had bet- 

 ter make ample preparation for the 

 President's defense. (See page 711, 

 near the bottom of the middle col- 

 umn, of the American Bee Journal 

 for 1888.) It seems a little unfair for 

 the Doctor to so emphatically, meta- 

 phorically, sit down on the rising am- 

 bition of the present and future Presi- 

 dents, after he has " passed the chair," 

 and had an opportunity to show off his 

 ability. 



In Art. IV, after the word " treas- 

 urer," leave out the word " .after." 



As regards Art. VIII, it may be 

 possible that the committee of five 

 that may be elected (Dr. Miller is 

 wrong in saying, on page 151, "A 

 committee of five shall be elected") will 



inaugurate the proper plans for a 

 " Hone}' Company " — at least it can be 

 tried. 



For the present would it not be ad- 

 visable to repeal Sub-Sec. 2 of Sec. 2, 

 in Art. IX, and also Art. XI ? 



Section 2 of Art. XII seems to rather 

 " tie the hands" of the executive com- 

 mittee, and confines its selections of 

 essayists and speakers to members of 

 of the Association. A majority of 

 those considered by the executive com- 

 mittee as desirable essayists for the 

 next convention are not members of 

 the Association. 



The committee may also think best 

 not to carry out Sec. 1 of the same 

 Article, till after the next meeting of 

 the Association. 



It seems to me desirable to add to 

 the first clause of Sec. 3, Art. Ill, " ex- 

 cept persons alread}' members, who 

 may retain their membership by the 

 payment of one dollar, unless objec- 

 tion be made by a member, when the 

 membership shall not continue unless 

 the applicant receives a majority of 

 all the votes cast, as in the case of new 

 members." 



I wonder why no apieultural society 

 has yet elected a delegate to the next 

 meeting at Brantford. Does the $5.00 

 affiliation fee stand in the way ? I 

 understand that was the reason why 

 the Michigan State Societj' refused to 

 affliliate at its last meeting. 



If our State (Ohio) Society meets 

 before the meeting at Brantford, I feel 

 confident that there will be at least one 

 State Society affiliated with the luter- 

 ternational. 



Auburndale, O. 



[For editorial remarks, see page 211. 

 —Ed.] 



DESTROYING ANTS. 



Report for !§$§ — Coffee-Bean 

 Honey. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY WALTER B. DOWNING. 



My bees are in good condition, ex- 

 cept some are short of stores. I have 

 been feeding a little already. I com- 

 menced the season of 1888 with 39 

 colonies, more than half of which were 

 hybrids. The pure Italians did very 

 well, the best colonj' storing 80 pounds 

 of honey in the one-pound sections, 

 while some of the hybrids hardlj' made 

 a living. 



There was too much rain and cold 

 for the bees to work on the locust. I 

 got some of them started in the sec- 

 tions a little before the locust quit 

 blooming ; then came the raspberries, 

 coffee-beans and white clover. I took 

 about 1,200 pounds of white honey, 



