532 



Lady Bee-Keepers. 



We have received a letter from a 

 prominent lady bee-keeper, who at- 

 tended the National Convention in this 

 city in October, in which she criticises 

 the action of the male members, as 

 follows : 



I do not think women had as good an op- 

 portunity of accquiring knowledge at the 

 late meeting as men. When I entered the 

 roll of bee-keepers, I determined to learn 

 everything that there was to be known 

 about bees ; to this end I have bought books 

 and subscribed for periodicals. 



I came to learn all that I could, and put up 

 at the hotel, in order to converse with bee- 

 keepers ; but 1 was expected to go up into 

 the parlor, and the men remained below in 

 the office, where it would not have been 

 considered proper for me to remain. I tried 

 to be seated at the table with bee-keepers, 

 in order to hear them converse, but only 

 succeeded in doing so once or twice. 



I do not want any favors in a bee meeting 

 on account of sex. I know Dr. Parmly did 

 not consider ladies as members of the Asso- 

 ciation, for he did not call their names until 

 his attention was called to it. He did not 

 ask any of us to join, till we insisted on do- 

 ing so. I heard him say that he wanted to 

 take the names of the ladies present, but he 

 did not say as members. There were ladies 

 present, who cared nothing about apiculture 

 and said that they came with their husbands 

 to see the city. Practical apiarists, that 

 were women were classed with those who 

 came for amusement and to occupy an idle 

 hour. 



The idea of ladies voting as members of 

 the Association, that hardly know a bee 

 from a hornet. Let practical apiarists who 

 are women, join the Association, and ladies 

 who are visitors be known as such ; then 

 our bee brothers would not be afraid if they 

 sought our society in the parlor and accom- 

 panied us to the hotel table, that we ex- 

 pected them to foot our bills. 



That night that we were at the Journal 

 office, as a lady we were expected to sit in a 

 chair ; but we wanted to hear the talk ; so 

 we stood on tip-toe, with men about five deep 

 between us and those who spoke in order to 

 hear what they had to say. 



There is a great deal said now about 

 employment for women, and they will be 

 crowding into the ranks of bee-keepers, and 

 do let them have a chance. 



Some of the matters complained of 

 can only be corrected by the advancing 

 sentiment of the age, snch as hotel 

 etiquette for ladies, &c. 



We were in favor of changing the 

 Constitution to admit of the female 

 members, paying the same as the males, 

 and we think our fair correspondent is 

 quite right in her distinction between 

 apiarists and visitors among her sex. 



At the meeting held at the Journal 

 office, we had not chairs enough to give 

 all a seat, and out of courtesy only we 

 offered the ladies the chairs, but if any 

 desired to stand and hear the talk, of 

 course they were at liberty to do so. 



Dollar Queens.— Not only is it 

 detrimental to the interests of apiarists 

 at large to have cheap Queens sent all 

 over the Country, but we learn that it 

 is also detrimental to the breeders. 

 One of those extensively engaged in 

 this business has written to us as fol- 

 lows : "I find myself $150.00 poorer 

 now than I was in the spring. Unfavor- 

 able weather for queen breeding has 

 nearly ruined me. I had to raise 2000 

 queens to get 1000. I never saw such 

 bad weather for young queens to fly. 

 Other queen breeders are in the same 

 boat." We are exceedingly sorry to 

 hear that any one should be thus an- 

 noyed and perplexed in business, but it 

 is quite time to consider the question — 

 " Does it pay to have such stock either 

 raised or sold?" Another queen 

 breeder said to us a few weeks ago : 

 " In putting up an order for dollar 

 queens sometime since, I looked through 

 the yard and gathered up all the poorest 

 queens I had, such as I should not con- 

 sent to have remain in my yard, and 

 sent them. I could not afford to sell 

 any queen that I would keep in my own 

 yard for one dollar." This gives both 

 sides. It neither pays to breed such, 

 nor does it pay to buy cheap queens. 

 The true way is to buy the best, and pay 

 a reasonable price for good stock ! 



^Mr.W.fl. Hoge, of London, has 

 been commissioned by the United 

 States Government to investigate and 

 report Upon the foreign outlet for 

 American honey. 



igif As a result of the exposure of 

 the fearful extent to which the adul- 

 teration of syrups is carried, we are 

 creditably informed that Minnesota has 

 decreased her orders for syrups to less 

 than one-half of what it formerly was. 



