THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW" 



125 



into book form and sent to these same 

 members, to whom it is a twice told 

 tale, seems to me like very poor man- 

 agement on the part of the Association. 

 It seems that the other directors have, 

 of late, arrived at the same conclusion, 

 as, when this was proposed two years 

 ago, it was voted down with an over- 

 whelming majority. Last year it was 

 proposed that the Association buy 

 copies of the American Bee Journal, 

 that contained the report, and give 

 them to those members who were not 

 subscribers, thus furnishing every 

 member with a report, but this, too, 

 was voted down; only one or two 

 directors favoring it. If this plan had 

 been carried out it would have been an 

 injustice to those members who were 

 already subscribers to the American 

 Bee Journal. All members ought to 

 be treated alike, and, because I had 

 already paid $1.00 and become a sub- 

 scriber to the American Bee Journ^il, 

 there is no reason why I should help 

 pay for copies to give to some man who 

 was not a subscriber. 



My opinion is that the time has 

 come when the National should em- 

 ploy its own stenographer, and get 

 out its own report of the annual con- 

 vention. In the same cover, and bound 

 in with it, should be the report of the 

 General Manager. Arrangements 

 should be made with some reliable 

 stenographer, and specifications should 

 be drawn up regarding the report, the 

 size of the pages, the size of the type, 

 the kind of paper that shall be used, 

 the kind of cover, etc., and then bids 

 should be solicited from printers, ask- 

 ing how much per page they will get 

 out such a report, and then the job let 

 to the lowest reputable bidder. These 

 things should all be settled before the 

 coming convention; and, within one 

 month, at the outside, after the close 

 of the convention, the report should be 

 in the hands of the members. 



Probably not more than 10 per cent, 

 of the members will usually attend an 



annual convention. Those who can 

 not go would like to know exactly what 

 was said and done, and one great in- 

 ducement for a man to become a mem- 

 ber, as I have already said, is that he 

 would receive a copj^ of the report of 

 the proceedings. 



Unless some one forestalls me I 

 shall, within the next two or three 

 months, make a motion that the 

 National, at its next convention, em- 

 ploy a stenographer to take a verbatim 

 report, and that the Association pub- 

 lish the report, awarding the work to 

 the lowest reputable bidder. My 

 reason for publishing these views is to 

 call out discussion, and learn the 

 wishes of the members. I shall be 

 glad to hear from any one upon either 

 side of the question. 



(HlK^M it •'«•'* 



OVERSTOCKING. 



The question of overstocking, of 

 deciding how many bees can be profit- 

 abl3^ kept in one locality, is one of the 

 most elusive that comes before the bee- 

 keeper. The publication, lastmonth, of 

 the radical views of Mr. E. W. Alex- 

 ander has brought me a lot of corres- 

 pondence on the subject, both pro and 

 con. As samples, I will give extracts 

 from letters received from two well- 

 known and practical men; one from 

 Harrj' Lathrop, of Wisconsin, and one 

 from the editor of the Rocky Mountain 

 Bee Journal. The former says: 



The article on overstocking, by 

 Alexander, I feel, should never have 

 been published; because it is likely to 

 do untold injury to bee-keepers in 

 thousands of locations. There is 

 scarcel)^ a successful bee-keeper who 

 is not envied by some nearby persons 

 who would be only too glad of this 

 pretext to start in on an already oc- 

 cupied field. The moral restraints 

 that have, heretofore, to some extent, 

 protected priority- of rights, will melt 

 away like fog in summer. Then far- 

 ther, the theorj' that Mr. Alexander 

 has promulgated has been proven false 

 in a thousand cases on fields that are 



