THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



205 



while other yards with not so many 

 bees easily hold their own. 



Native apiaries, when they increase 

 up to several hundreds of colonies, 

 soon drop back, losing' from 50 to 80 

 per cent, from starvation — not during 

 the honey-flow, of course, but after- 

 wards, from lack of stores." 



«-»«»*»jlH«Hl^ 



SPECIALIST AND AMATEUR. 



I have always believed in, and plead 

 for speciality. I think a man makes 

 the greatest success by following- one 

 line of business. I do not mean by 

 this that he shall never turn his hand 

 to anything else. A man can confine 

 himself so closely to one thing as to 

 become narrow-minded. He should 

 know something of many things. As 

 a rule it is also well if a man has 

 some kind of recreation — something 

 that he does simply from the love of it, 

 the same as a child plays, and not 

 simply for the money he may make. 

 There is certainly room for amateur 

 bee-keepers. 



Right here let me say a word or two 

 about the meaning of the word "ama- 

 teur." Too man3' use it it in the same 

 sense that they use "novice," or "be- 

 ginner. ' ' So many bee-keepers in writ- 

 ing me, or when talking with me, will 

 say that they have only commenced to 

 keep bees, that they have only a few 

 colonies, etc., and then they end by 

 saying "I am only an amateur." The 

 man who uses this expression on such 

 occasions usually means that he is 

 only a "novice." The dictionary says 

 that an amateur is "one who cultivates 

 any study or art, from taste or attach- 

 ment, without pursuing it profession- 

 ally. " Now, an amateur may also be 

 a novice and a bungler, or he may be 

 as skillful, yes, more skillful, than a 

 professional. As I have already said, 

 we need th^ amateur. As a rule, he 

 is more given to thought and experi- 

 ment than is the case with his profes- 

 sional brother. If I mistake not, 

 some of the best inventions have come 



from amateurs. I recently had the 

 pleasure of making the acquaintance 

 of Mr. David Cook, one of the Profes- 

 sors in the Illinois college of photog- 

 raphy, and he told me that there is a 

 class of amateur photographers who 

 are decidedly the leaders, as compar- 

 ed with the great mass of profession- 

 als. They are the ones who try the 

 new plates, and new papers, and new 

 processes. The professionals are too 

 busy to bother with these things; be- 

 sides, many of them are quite inclined 

 to get into ruts. The amateurs take 

 up new things, and demonstrate their 

 superiority until the professionals are 

 compelled to adopt them. 



<^M^^nir»«n^i» 



HOW SHALL OFFICERS FOR THE NA- 

 TIONAL ASSOCIATION BE NOMI- 

 NATED? 



The National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion has been prospering of late in a 

 way that it has never prospered be- 

 fore. It is rapidly increasing in num- 

 bers and in wealth. It is to be hoped 

 that the end is not yet; that it will go 

 on and on, and not only increase in 

 numbers and wealth, but do more and 

 more good for bee-keepers. The suc- 

 cess of an organization is largely de- 

 pendent upon the men who manage its 

 affairs, and the rules and regulations 

 for their election should be such that 

 the officers are really and truly the 

 free and unhampered choice of the 

 members. Since the organization of 

 this Association, I believe every officer 

 elected by a vote of the members, at 

 the annual election held in December, 

 has succeeded himself. So far as I 

 know, no harm has resulted from this 

 practice, but there is no knowing how 

 soon we might wish to elect a successor 

 to some one of the officers. Because we 

 have never seen the necessity for elect- 

 ing a successor to a Director, or a 

 General Manager, is no sign that we 

 never will. It may become apparent, 

 sometime, that a rnan is not fit for the 



