768 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. L 



PliES. E. T. ABBOTT. 



If any president ever worked hard for the 

 success of a convention of the North American, 

 it is Pros. Abbott. If real genuine enthusiasm 

 and hard work mean any thing, there will be a 

 big convention west of the Mississippi. As but 

 few of our readers will have a chance of meet- 

 ing Mr. Abbott at the convention, I take plea- 

 sure in introducing him to you. 



PRES. E. T. ABBOTT. 



Mr. Abbott was born in Brown Co., O., March 

 19, 1847, his mother dying when he was six years 

 old. His father traveled most of the time, his 

 son seeing him but seldom. At the age of 11 he 

 moved to Clermont Co., O. During his stay 

 there he joined the Christian church— that 

 branch sometimes falsely called New Lights. 

 He was an enthusiastic worker in the church 

 and in the cause of temperance, joining the 

 Good Templars in 1868. Resolving to enter the 

 Christian ministry he attended the Western 

 Indiana Conference of the Christian church. 

 Here he met Rev. Thomas Holmes, who urged 

 him to prepare further for the ministry. Before 

 finishing his course he had a call to preach at 

 Enon, O. He afterward moved to Eddytown, 

 N. Y., to preach. Here he was married to Miss 

 Emma Ingoldsby. His next charge was Knox- 

 ville, Pa. Here, during the Murphy move, he 

 was attacked by a druggist, knocked down 

 three times in the street, and two teeth knock- 

 ed out. The druggist paid him $300 to settle 

 without prosecution. While preaching at 

 Schultzville, N. Y., he fell under Unitarian in- 

 fluence. His next charge was an independent 

 church at Union Springs, N. Y. Here his 

 health broke down, and his voice failed entire- 



ly. At this time he and his brother became in- 

 terested in the subject of bees. He spent one 

 winter in Georgia. His brother, who was now 

 a preacher in St. Joseph, urged him to go there, 

 which he did in the fall of 1883. conducting the 

 subscription-book business for Harper Brothers. 

 He and some friends bought 200 colonies of bees. 

 In two years more he bought out his partners, 

 and now owns what is known as the St. Joseph 

 Apiary Co. Since that time Mr. Abbott has 

 been an extensive writer on bees, and has also 

 delivered lectures on apiculture. Politically he 

 is a Cleveland Democrat. 



AN IMPORTANT MATTER FOR THE ST. JOSEPH 

 CONVENTION TO CONSIDER. 



Now that it is definitely settled that I shall 

 not be present at the St. Joseph convention, I 

 wish to call the attention of the association to 

 the advisability of so amending the present 

 constitution that the articles which are now a 

 dead letter, and therefore a reproach to the 

 association, may be either stricken out or some- 

 thing put in their place. This subject has 

 been brought up before, and especially by Pres, 

 Abbott on page 680. 



Art. Y., on affiliation, requires an annual 

 payment of f.5.00 from any society, district, or 

 province desiring to be affiliated with the 

 North American. The payment of this $5.00 

 is supposed to secure to the affiliated society 

 something in return; but in actual practice it 

 fails to do this. Art. IX. of the by-laws specifies 

 certain benefits that are an actual dead letter in 

 nearly all of its features. It provides, among 

 other things, that the affiliated society shall be 

 entitled to receive two silver medals, to be offer- 

 ed as prizes for honey. Nothin^r better than 

 bronze medals has ever been offered, and, so 

 far as I know, there has scarcely been any call 

 for them. Again, the members of affiliated 

 societies are said to be entitled to the facilities 

 which may be provided from time to time by 

 the Honey Company— something that never 

 materialized. Again, each affiliated society is 

 entitled to the services of a judge; but, so far 

 as I am aware, the services of this judge were 

 never called for, for the reason that his rail- 

 road expenses and hotel bills would have to be 

 paid by the society calling for him. Art. VIII. 

 of the by-laws specifies that a committee of five 

 may be elected, who shall have power to organ- 

 ize itself into a honey-company. This company 

 was never organized; and those of the same 

 character that were put into existence in Eng- 

 land proved to be big failures; in fact, I do not 

 believe that any such company can exist under 

 the wing of any organization. 



The other articles of the constitution are 

 right as they stand; and I sincerely hope that, 

 if the next convention does not actually amend, 

 it will appoint a committee of one to report at 

 the next annual meeting. I say one. because, 

 on account of the great geographical distances, 



