THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[October. 



would not touch such measly work 

 he went on and divided them himself 

 and he did not get $i per hive in one 

 of the best seasons. If the bees are 

 handled right there will seldom be 

 any over-stocking because, scientific 

 management demands too close at- 

 tention and too much attention to 

 work on this spread-eagle fashion. 

 This going in and dropping out and 

 swooping down here or there is hawk 

 like. There is no safety for anyone 

 in market or in production. There is 

 no profit in it and there never has 

 been except in rare instances where 

 the operator had a "pull" from some 

 other quarter. There are too many 

 who would sooner sell a car-load at 

 a profit of ten dollars than to clear 

 several hundred dollars from 50 colo- 

 nies. 



The honey resources of a locality 

 belong to the people who occupy 

 that locality and if there are outside 

 locations there are plenty of young 

 stock to eni'igrate there to found a 

 home for themselves. Give the con- 

 sumer the product of his own locality 

 and it is an implement of friendship 

 at once but anything from abroad is 

 regarded with suspicion. And right- 

 ly it may be because this changeable- 

 ness is what distracts persons from 

 their better judgments which experi- 

 ence has formed. By it we are led 

 away from "home" and robbed. 



'Yes the boys should but they can- 

 not stay on the farm. Those who say 

 so talk for hire. The bee business of 

 the neighborhood gobbled up; the 

 fruit business gobbled up; the stock 

 business gobbled up and the avenues 

 of exchange manipulated by a gang 

 of grabbers as soon as the boy begins 

 to move, and, touch one of the lusty 

 vultures if you dare! If there were 

 a thousand good chances opened up 

 there would be a sudden swooping 

 down upon them by persons of means 

 and influence, even though they were 

 obliged to let their home farm stand 

 idle in order to hold the outlying in- 

 terests. "Stay on the farm?" As a 

 general thing a boy is not very wel- 

 come on the farm unless he will be 

 satisfied to put in many years of toil 

 and drubbery as a hired hand for the 

 old man, and the old man gloating 

 over his ability to produce commodi- 

 ties by the carload while the same 

 may actually fail to pay expenses; as 



I have seen many carloads of honey 

 do here in California. 

 Chatsworth, California. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS MEET- 

 ING. 



The Second Annual Convention and 

 Exhibition of the Worcester County 

 (Mass.)Bee-Keepers' Society although 

 a thing of the past will long be re- 

 membered by those who participated, 

 for its real enthusiasm and advanced 

 thought. One gentleman who has at- 

 tended many bee-keepers' assemblies 

 both local and National remarked; 

 "This is the best I ever attended. The 

 stamp of the men is so different from 

 what you find at most of such gath- 

 erings, they're brainy and progressive 

 and the biased advice of the supply 

 man is so well forced into the back- 

 ground. I wouldn't have missed this 

 for many times what it cost me to 

 get here." And similar comments 

 were to be heard on all sides. 



The exhibits of bee products were 

 not as large as last year but consider- 

 ing the season the results were com- 

 mendable. It is hoped that another 

 3'ear sufficient funds will be raised to 

 enable the society to offer premiums 

 sufficient to at least partially reim- 

 burse exhibitors for the outlay neces- 

 snry in preparing and transporting 

 i.ialerial. Already some offerings 

 liave been made. 



.Among the notable persons present 

 were Hon. J. Lewis Ellsworth, Secy. 

 Massachusetts State Board of Agri- 

 culture, Prof. Brooks of Amherst, Mr. 

 Crane, Mr. Alley, Mr. Latham, Mr. 

 Jeffrey, Mr. Herbert Cary and Mr 

 Ferry. Over fifty persons sat down 

 to the banquet Saturday noon an^ 

 the attendance at the various meetings 

 tested the capacity of the hall. The 

 addresses were notable for their pre- 

 sentation of new views of old subjects 

 and for an almost entire absence of 

 anything which savored of commer- 

 cialism. The forenoons and inter- 

 missions were devoted to social talks 

 and many an animated discussion 

 could be heard. It was royal fun and 

 not infrequently a liberal education 

 to listen to a pair of veteran experts 

 go at it; one would make an assertion, 

 the other would controvert it. then 

 the music began. Red hot would be- 

 come the argument, facts in ava- 

 lanches would be poured out to the 



