368 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



who are members, where they live, how 

 many bees they keep and how much 

 honey they produced this year. If you 

 are not a member, better send $1.00 

 to N. E. France, Platteville, Wis., and 

 become a member. Then you will re- 

 ceive a copy of the report, and a neat 

 button, the emblem of the order, to 

 wear on your coat. 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION SHOULD 

 DEVOTE MORE OF ITS MONEY AND EN- 

 ERGIES TO ADVERTISING HONEY, 

 PROSECUTING ADULTERATORS 

 AND KILLING DAMAGING 

 STORIES. 



The Bee-Keepers' Union was org'an- 

 ized, years ag"o, with the sole object of 

 protecting its members who got into 

 trouble with their neighbors regarding 

 their bees. The Union was finally 

 merged into the National, but the "de- 

 fense" idea has still been kept upper- 

 most. But times change, and it is 

 rapidly becoming apparent that there 

 are other things of more importance 

 than that of spending mone}' on what 

 are often little more than neig^hbor- 

 hood squabbles in which the bees are 

 made an excuse for a lawsuit. Too 

 many are not careful with their bees 

 to avoid trouble; not so careful as they 

 would be were they not members of 

 the Association; as they expect to be 

 helped if they get into trouble. The 

 helping of a man out of trouble does 

 not, as a rule, greatly benefit the mem- 

 bership. I would not say that no 

 member should be helped when suit is 

 brought against him in regard to his 

 bees, as there will probably arise 

 cases in which it will be highly impor- 

 tant that help be given, but it is very 

 important that, in some way, the reins 

 be drawn tighter upon the using of 

 money for this class of work. Not only 

 does it use monev, but these little 

 wrangles take the time and energies of 

 the Manager, and they can be used to 

 better advantage in other ways. For 



instance, the advertising and popular- 

 izing of honey would be of value to the 

 entire membership. The same might 

 be said of the prosecution of adulter- 

 ators of honey, and of some of the edi- 

 tors who so persistently repeat the 

 silly stories about artificial comb 

 honey. The gathering of statistics, 

 the advertising of honey, the pun- 

 ishing of adulterators, and also of 

 the defamers of our product, the secur- 

 ing of needed legislation, the scatter- 

 ing of educational leaflets and other 

 educational literature, these, and simi- 

 lar things, are more desirable for ac- 

 complishment than the defending of 

 some man who has got into a quarrel 

 with his neighbor, in many cases a 

 quarrel that he might have avoided. 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 



Quite a number of the editorials in 

 this issue refer to the National Asso- 

 ciation matters. The same might he 

 said of some of the other issues of the 

 Review for this year. I think, how- 

 ever, that too much cannot be said or 

 done to up-build the Association — to 

 remove objectionable features, and en- 

 courage the ones that are desirable. 

 The Association is rapidly becoming 

 an apicultural power. It isn't a dozen 

 years ago when it was simply the hold- 

 ing of a convention in one part of the 

 country, then in another part the next 

 year. The attendance was about 

 three-fonrths local, and these local 

 members dropped out the next year. 

 See how it has broadened, and branched 

 out, and taken up new features, and 

 now holds its members year after year, 

 besides adding new ones, until it now 

 numbers 2,000. Lack of experience 

 upon the part of the officers and mem- 

 bers has caused some friction, but, 

 gradually, the rough places are becom- 

 ing smooth, and the Association is 

 rapidly becoming a real help to bee- 

 keepers. I have faith that it will yet 

 help them directly in the marketing 

 of their honey and the buying of their 



