THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



369 



Michigan State Bee-Keepers will 

 hold their annual convention Dec. 30 and 

 31, at the King Hotel in Reed City. Let 

 all come who can. 



The Ont.\rio Bee-Keepers' conven- 

 tion, from which I have recently retured, 

 was marked by peace and pleasantness; 

 and many are the little items of interest 

 and information that I picked up while 

 there; but there is not room to give them 

 in this issue. Next month the3^ will be- 

 gin to appear, and will continue to do so, 

 on fitting occasions, until all have been 

 held up to view. The next meeting will 

 be held at Toronto. 



When Renewing your subscription 

 *^'^V. rv-z r.bcut ^aurself, your family, your 

 bees, your crop of honey, your market, or 

 anything else about your surroundings 

 that you think may be of interest to me. 

 Tell me what you think of the Review 

 and its different departments. Tell me 

 what there is about it that you like and 

 what you dislike — be free with your sug- 

 gestions. The.se chatty letters, in which 

 I can catch glimpses of my subscribers, 

 are really of more help to nie in making 

 the Review bright and fresh than many of 

 vou mav think. 



THE KIND OF criticism THAT IS WANTED. 



Publishing a department of criticism 

 in a bee journal is something new, and it 

 is evident that time and a little patience 

 will be required before it can be so con- 

 ducted as to suit the greatest possible 

 number of readers. 



The criticising in regard to undesirable 

 language may have been needed, I am in- 

 clined to think it was, and that good will 

 result from the shaking up that some of 

 us have received, but I doubt if good will 

 come from continuing it much longer. I 

 am not writing this because Gleanings 

 has an editorial taking the same views, as 

 1 had arrived at that decision before I saw 

 the editorial in Gleanings. Bee-keepers 



subscribe for the bee journals for the in- 

 formation that they are supposed to con- 

 tain regarding the profitable management 

 of bees; and they are not particularly in- 

 terested in long-drawn-out discussions 

 regarding the language in which this in- 

 formation is given. 



Neither do they care for hypercriticisni; 

 especially upon unimportant points. For 

 instance, they don't care so verv much if 

 Bro. York did make a mistake in apply- 

 ing the rules for the new phonetic spell- 

 ing that he is trying to popularize. 

 What they care for is the sub- 

 stance, the idea, rather than the form or 

 style in which it comes clothed. I grant 

 that the latter is of some importance, but 

 not of so much as the former. 



The kind of criticism that is most need- 

 ed, is similar to that that pointed out the 

 fallacy of removing a queen from a colo- 

 ny'and allowing the bees to choose the 

 larvie from which to rear queens, think- 

 ing that larvie of the best age would be 

 chosen; or of using a two-story, eight- 

 frame, Langstroth brood chamber in at- 

 tempting to produce comb honey. Such 

 errors as these need pointing out; but 

 there is no necessity of being severe — one 

 can be outspoken and frank and yet be 

 kind. Bro. Taylor, pick out the errors 

 that, if believed in and put in practice, 

 will lead to undersirable results — let the 

 others go. If this should shorten up your 

 department, never mind; it will improve 

 it and place it above criticism. 



SUCCESS — IT COMES ONLY WITH HARD 



.STUDY, COUR.A.GE, THOROUGHNE.SS 



AND GENUINE ENTHUSIASM. 



AUeiiipt the end, and never stand to doubt; 

 Nothing's so hard, hut search will find it out. 



The most important point is to think, 

 think, THINK. Not in the ordinary, des- 

 ultory manner, but in a strong, clear, 

 steady, persistent manner, with some 



