772 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 4, 1902. 



Messrs. Hasty, Doolittle, and Miller to fight out the case on 

 its merits, suggesting that each bee-keeper be allowed to 

 try a few thousand queens each way, and then pursue the 

 plan that gave him the smallest number of amputations. 



" Two Defects of Bee-Literature" is the caption of a 

 thoughtful article in the Progressive Bee-Keeper, written 

 by F. L. Thompson. One of the defects is the lack in bee- 

 papers of an index sufficiently full and of a character to 

 allow the reader easily to find that for which he is seeking. 

 The other is the lack of a digest of the things of value to be 

 found in other bee-papers. Mr. Thompson gives pretty full 

 instruction as to how this should be done, and, indeed, does 

 this so well that one is led to think, "Well, Mr. Thompson 

 is just the man to do this work," when Mr. Thompson 

 dashes all hope in that direction by saying : 



" I should not care to undertake it unless I were an edi- 

 tor myself, for the pay would be sure to be inadequate ; and 

 if I were an editor myself, I would not care to hire it done, 

 for then it would be almost certain to bedoneinadequately." 



But excellent editorial work is done on our dailies and 

 other periodicals by editors who are employed to do special 

 editorial work, and if a man were employed to edit a depart- 

 ment giving a digest of matters contained in other papers, 

 why would he not be the editor of that department ? 



The task, however, that Mr. Thompson sets for the one 

 undertaking such a compilation is a dif35cult one. He says : 



" Absolutely everything that is of any value to bee- 

 keepers at large must be included, and fairly set forth 

 whether the compiler thinks it of any value or not ; he 

 must, for the time being, see things from everybody's point 

 of view." 



He must include everything of value, whether he thinks 

 it of value or not. How is he to know it is of value, if he 

 does not think it of value ? How can he "see things from 

 everybody's point of view ?" A hard task, indeed. 



* The >Veekly Budget. ^ \ 



ern convention this week. He was secretary of the Col- 

 orado State Bee-Keepers' Association for nearly two years, 

 his term of office expiring last September. 



J^ 



Mr. F. a. SnelL, of Carroll Co., 111., gave us a brief 

 call when in Chicago, last week. Mr. Snell is one of the 

 oldest readers of the American Bee Journal, having begun 

 in 1866, and is still at it. And he seems to be as much in- 

 terested as ever, too. 



John M. Rankin resigned his position as foul brood 

 inspector of Michigan, to accept a more lucrative position 

 in a sugar-factory. It is a great pity that a young man of 

 such fine ability should be lost to the interests of bee-keep- 

 ing. "• Very likely, however, he may be found drifting bee- 

 ward again. 



Mr. Frank K. White, our capable advertising' mana- 

 ger, we notice is on the program of, the Minnesota State 

 Horticultural Meeting, which meets Dec. 2, 3, 4 and S, in 

 Plymouth Church, corner 8th and Nicollet Aves., Minne- 

 apolis. Mr. White's subject is, " Practical Advertising for 

 the Fruit-Grower." He will give his hearers something 

 good. He always does. 



Mr. D. W. Working, of Denver, Colo., who did so much 

 toward making the last National convention a success, 

 spent a few days in Chicago recently. It is a pleasure to 

 know Mr. W. But you can't get acquainted with him all at 

 once. It takes time, and several times, at that. We re- 

 gretted that he could not be here at the Chicago-Northwest- 



Ilunois State Association. — The officers elected at 

 the 12th annual meeting of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, held at Springfield, Nov. 18 and 19, are as 

 follows ; 



President, J. Q. Smith. Vice-Presidents : 1st, Miss Ir. 

 C. Kennedy : 2d, S. N. Black : 3d, S. T. Crim ; 4th, Geo. 

 Poindexter ; 5th. P. J. England. Secretary, Jas. A. Stone, 

 Route 4, Springfield. Treasurer, Chas. Becker. 



Secretary Stone reports the usual attendance and good 

 time. 



^ Bio^raohical. ^ \ 



T^'^*'^-^*'^*''*r^'^*^ww^^^*"r*'^fr^^^*^vr^'^*^^[? 

 DR. A. B. MASON. 



Nov. 20 we announced the sad news of the death of 

 of Dr. A. B. Mason by an explosion of natural gas that had 

 escaped from the stove in the kitchen, whither he had gone, 

 on Oct. 30, with a lighted lamp. The burns and shock to 

 his nervous system resulted in his death on Nov. 12, and he 

 was buried on Nov. 14. 



We had known Dr. Mason for nearly 20 years, and 

 quite intimately for over 10 years. While the writer was 

 for two years President of the National Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation Dr. Mason was Secretary, and we planned the two 

 annual programs together without a ripple. And when we 

 were elected as his successor at Denver, in September, he 

 referred very kindly to our work together in those other 

 years. 



Dr. Mason was born in Erie Co., N. Y., in 1833, and was 

 raised on a farm. When 17 years old he taught school, and 

 then attended Beloit College, Wis., for several terms. He 

 then began the study of medicine, and attended lectures at 

 the University of Michigan in 1857 and 1858. But the prac- 

 tice of medicine was not to his taste, and having studied it 

 in connection with medicine, he adopted denistry as his 

 profession, and continued to practice it throughout his 

 whole life. 



In 1862 he moved to Waterloo, Iowa, and was president 

 of the Northern Iowa Dental Association for two years. 



Dr. Mason was prominently active in religious work. 

 He united with the Baptist church when 18 years of age, 

 and was active in filling different offices in the church. At 

 one time he was a church clerk, a trusted, and clerk of the 

 board of trustees, besides being a Sunday-school superin- 

 tendent. In Sunday-school work he was prominent, his 

 activity extending to neighboring counties. 



He was pronounced in his temperance principles and 

 efforts, and held tobacco in much the same contempt as 

 alcoholic liquor. His temperance creed extended to the use 

 of tea and coffee, and neither he nor his children used either. 



His interest in bee-keeping began in 1869, at which 

 time a brother left in his care two colonies of bees till con- 

 venient to move them. Increase of interest and increase in 

 number of colonies continued until in 1873 he made his bees 

 an important source of revenue, severe attacks of rheuma- 

 tism making close confinement to office-work objectionable. 



He was well known as prominent in apicultural matters 

 in Ohio, to which State he moved in 1874, locating in the 

 vicinity of Toledo. In 1882 his apiary was infected with 



