326 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 2; 



the reception. I am sorry they have allowed this convention, 

 which stands for so much, which is made up of so much in- 

 telligence, to go by without knowing how much it stands for 

 In our great country. But I do not know as I should com- 

 plain of non-attendance of those who have no financial inter- 

 est in the industry when there are bee-keepers in and near 

 this city who have not shown their faces in this hall during 

 these meetings. I am sure, however, that they have made a 

 mistake by not attending. Why do they do this ? It is simply 

 because they are not alive to the importance of the industry ; 

 or at least that is the way it seems to me. Men often say to 

 me, " What is your business?" If they ask me in a certain 

 tone of voice, I tell them it is none of their business, or at 

 least I feel like doing so, if I do not do it. It depends upon 

 the tone of voice whether I deem it proper to give them a 

 direct answer. When I tell some of them that I am a bee- 

 keeper, and deal in bee-keepers' supplies, they say, "Bee- 

 keepers' supplies ! Do people buy enough of them so that a 

 man can make a living out of that business ? I thought bee- 

 keeping a little business." The looks on such people's faces 

 indicate that they do not know that there has been a thousand 

 pounds of honey gathered in a 3 ear in the United States. 

 " Can a man make a living out of this business?" I should 

 say : There is a man in Ohio who employs a hundred people 

 In this business. There is a firm in Missouri that reports hav- 

 ing sold .$13,000 worth of bee-goods in one year, and they 

 are only two of a large number who are in the business. 

 When I tell them these things, and show them that this in- 

 dustry stands for something, they say, " Well I did not know 

 that; I never heard of it before." Of course they had not, or 

 they would not have talkt in the way they did. 



Here I think is a point for the beekeepers, and I want to 

 bring it out clearly. We should not hold these meetings en- 

 tirely with a view of educating the bee-keepers, but we should 

 have the general public in mind as well. Because it is just as 

 Important that the general public understand what this Asso- 

 ciation stands for, as it is that the people who have bees un- 

 derstand it. We depend upon the patronage of the public for 

 our living ; and, if we do not make them feel that we are of 

 some importance, that we represent the best and purest food 

 on God's green earth, we cannot e.^cpect to have them inter- 

 ested in our work, or to buy our goods. 



I have met heads of families in this city who had never 

 had a pound of honey in their homes until a few years ago. 

 When I said to them, " Look here ; do you know you are feed- 

 ing your children glucose? Do you know that the sweets 

 which they are eating will rot their teeth and injure their 

 digestion? They said, "No; I did not know it." But when 

 I gave them the scientific reasons for it, and made them un- 

 derstand how it is, they would say, " Look here ; have you 

 any good, pure honey ?" When I said, "Yes," they said: 

 '■ Well, bring me down some." Many such people have be- 

 come regular customers. This is the way it is all over the 

 country. If we will educate the people along these lines we 

 will create a demand for our honey, and all of the bee-keepers 

 In the business will have all they can do; because you will 

 Increase the consumption of the article which they produce, 

 and that means business. 



I have tried to advertise this meeting everywhere, and 

 have tried to fill this community full of this business. I told 

 them that we would have some big men here — that we would 

 have Dr. Miller here with his songs and his fun, and that 

 they could not afford to stay away. 



I am told that the Associated Press telegrapht here, and 

 said that they wanted to have a good report of the North 

 American every day, and I trust that a report has been sent 

 out through all the various papers in the country. If we keep 

 the general public in mind all the timo, it cannot fail to do 

 good. 



Just a word now about my ollicial relations to this Asso- 

 ciation : It is a very dilBcult matter to preside over a body of 

 men and women who come from various parts of the country 

 with different temperaments, many of them not having any 

 experience with parliamentary rules, and not understanding 

 the courtesies of a parliamentary meeting. I say, it is a very 

 difficult position to be placed in. It is very hard for the pre- 

 siding ollicer to be fair at all times, and yet preserve order 

 and common decency, and at the same time do business. All 

 of these things have to be taken into consideration. I have 

 tried to deal as I should wish to be dealt by. I have tried to 

 treat all people alike. I have not been any more disposed to 

 recognize Mr. Root than the most obscure bee-keeper in this 

 country. I have been just as willing to "sit down" on Dr. 

 Miller as on any one else. If I have made mistakes, they 

 have been mistakes of the head rather than the heart. I 

 have never had occasion to study parliamentary rules very 

 much before, but I put a book on the subject in my pocket, 



and have studied it carefully for the last three months. I 

 did this so that I might do things with decency and in order. 

 If I have failed to do this it was because I had not brains 

 enough to understand the business. There are limitations to 

 all people's capacity. If a man is only four feet tall, and he 

 can't reach six, he is not to be blamed for it. A great big, tall 

 man ought not to be kicking Dr. Peiro because he is short and 

 fat. It would not be proper. 



But, to be serious, there are many things that I might 

 say, but it seems useless. AU I have said you have heard be- 

 fore. We don't talk so much to tell people what they don't 

 know, as we do to tell them what they do know. This is the 

 way I talk at Farmers' Institutes. I say, " It is not because 

 you do not know, but because you have fallen into a stagnant 

 condition, and you need somebody to throw stones into the 

 water and splash it about." It gets the scum off from it and 

 kills the wigglers. That is what you want to do with people's 

 brains. They move in certain fixt channels, and the scum 

 gets over them, and you want to throw in a little stone and 

 make a splash now and then, and get them moving. That Is 

 what these conventions do. 



I want to thank the members for the courtesy they have 

 shown me, and for the disposition they have manifested to 

 observe the rules, and for the kindness of spirit they have 

 displayed while in this city. I want, also, to thank you for 

 the co-operation you have given the chairman, and I trust that 

 we may go home feeling that this meeting has been a profit- 

 able one. If anything has seemed to jar on our feelings, or 

 grate on our nerves, just let the jar and rattle of the cars 

 shake it out of us, and we will forget it when we get home, 

 and be just as we were when we started from home, except 

 that we have gotten increast determination to do the right 

 thing, and make a success of any undertaking in which we 

 may engage. It is a theory of mine that a man who breaks 

 stone on a rock-pile the best he possibly can — makes the neat- 

 est piles, and the most uniform work — so that the rock is bet- 

 ter fitted for the purpose for which it is designed, is doing all 

 he possibly can to make the most out of his opportunities. I 

 believe every iian should do that. I do not care where he is, 

 on the rock-pile, in a bank, or the Governor of the Stata; I 

 don't care what position he occupies in life, if he does the best 

 he knows how, and makes all he possibly can out of his oppor- 

 tunities, that man deserves great credit. 



Let us go home, then, determined that we will make the 

 best of all our privileges, and tho disappointments may come, 

 let us rise above them, and in the end victory will be ours. 



Emerson T. Abbott. 

 IContinued next week] 



^^W/wMW 



:^^\ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER, MARENGO, ILL, 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



TransTcrriiis from a Bu.\-Hivc. 



I have an old box-hive containing a very strong colony of 

 bees; the top of the hive will come off easily, but the bottom 

 is nailed tight. When I transfer them, can I drum them out 

 from the top, or will I have to invert the hive and pry off the 

 bottom to drum them out that way? H. W. L. 



Answer. — They will come up at the top just as well, and 

 probably a little better. 



A Well Droned Colony — §lrange <tiiccn Tor a 

 §\varni. 



I have 21 colonies, commencing two years ago with S. 



1. I have one colony that had drones all winter. Whep 

 the bees had a Might the drones from this hive would fly, too. 

 Not long ago I opened the hive to look for the queen, for I 

 thought they were quoonless. But to my surprise they had a 

 very nice, plujup Queeu, worker-brood in all stages, and 

 drones — fully as many as they have in swarming time, and 



