1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



r39 



it looks that way. We shall all see, as we are 

 likely to have several years' trial. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



SOME HINTS ABOUT CONVENTIONS. 



DR. MIT.LER MAKES SOME EXCELLENT POINTS. 



The secretary of a bee-keepers' society has 

 asked me for some suggestions as to a program, 

 and I will comminice btnond the program. 



One of the worst things is to have too large a 

 place of meeting. In a large room it is difficult 

 to hear all that is said, and more difference 

 than might be supposed is caused by this. If 

 effort must be made to catch all that is said, 

 and even then some words be lost, the most 

 zealous seeker after bee-truth becomes weary, 

 and the meeting loses much of its interest. 

 Better have a room so small that it is some- 

 what crowded than to have it uncomfortably 

 large. And that word "uncomfortably" re- 

 minds me that a large room is likely to be un- 

 comfortably cool during the first session. More 

 than once I have entered the place of meet- 

 ing, waiting for the opening of the first session, 

 the room so cold that it was not even comfort- 

 able with an overcoat on, a score of peoi)le 

 perhaps scattered in different paits of the 

 room, looking at one another in a very foi'mal 

 manner, and I couldn't help feeling a littk^ 

 homesick. Put the same twenty people into a 

 room twelve feet square, with a good warm 

 tire, and how soon they would begin to talk and 

 get acquainted! Make sure that it is some- 

 body's business to have the room comfortable 

 at the first session. And that doesn't mean 

 merely that it shall be irayin enough. The av- 

 erage poller on a railway ear makes it hot for 

 you. but you wish he wouldn't. It is of equal 

 importance that the air be tit to breathe. A 

 close, stifling atmosphere will smother the in- 

 terest out of any convention. 



In the larger places it is often possible to have 

 the meetings in one of the rooms of a hotel. In- 

 deed. I think it might be a good plan, even in a 

 small place. It commends itself on the score of 

 economy, comfort, and convenience. 



There is a general tendency, in bee-keepers' 

 conventions, to get disorderly in a certain way. 

 A certain topic is up, perhaps the size of a hive, 

 and. first thing you know, some one is talking 

 about a new honey-plant. With the right one 

 in control. I am inclined to believe that this 

 sort of disorder is a good thing. Often very 

 valuable points are brought out. and the dis- 

 cussion becomes intensely interesting, when the 

 digression has gone so far as to leave entirely 

 out of sight the topic which, according to the 

 program, should be under discussion. It re- 

 quires no little wisdom on the part of the pre- 

 siding officer, however, to make the right kind 

 of steering so that the whole concern does not 

 becoiuf; hopelessly demoralized. I do not know 

 that it would be as safe with any other assem- 

 blage as with bee-keei)ers. But somehow they 

 are such a good-natured lot, and withal so un- 

 selfishly eager to leai'n the truth, in spite of 

 their general prejudices in favor of the things 

 of their own "git up," that, no matter how far 

 they are allowed to stray, whenever the lines 

 are drawn on them they will good naturedly 

 pull back into the track. 



The fact is, the best, the most useful meetings 

 are likely to be those where there is very little 

 formality; and instead of being a formal meet- 

 ing, it falls more into the character of a genei'al 

 conversation, only so that the line be strictly 

 drawn not to allow more than one to speak at a 

 time. It often helps greatly to have questions 

 asked of the one who has the floor, and it is a 



plan to allow any one in the room to in- 

 terrupt with a nui'sriou. whenever it will bring 

 out more clearly something that may be omit- 

 ted by the one who has the floor. And I would 

 not require the one asking such questions to 

 rise or to address the chair. But the president 

 must be closely on the watch; and whenever 

 there is appearance of straying that brings no 

 profit, he should bi-ing the speakers back to the 

 subject; and if there appears the least inclina- 

 tion to fall into off'ensive personalities, he 

 should bring every one up sharply into parlia- 

 mentary order. 



It often happens that private conversations 

 bring out items of interest— perhaps on the way 

 to the convention, perhaps between the ses- 

 sions. In this way facts may be had that would 

 never be sent to any paper for publication. 

 Possibly the one who has the facts does not 

 himself recognize their value, or possibly he 

 could not write them out so as to be understood. 

 Indeed, there are cases in which nothing less 

 than a series of questions will succeed. In such 

 cases it is evident that what is valuable to the 

 individual may be valuable to all. and it would 

 be foolish to pass such things by because they 

 had not been formally named on the program. 

 But how^ shall a private member, who has 

 picked up some item in the way I have indicat- 

 ed, manage to have it brought up before the 

 convention? Just here is where the query-box 

 comes in. A question can be asked about the 

 item, or the president may be requested to ask 

 Mr. Smith how it is that he managed his 125 

 colonies for comb honey without having a sin- 

 gle swarm. 



So you see there must be allowance made for 

 these things, about which you can know nothing 

 beforehand, and time left for them. Plenty of 

 time certainly should be left for the query-box. 

 One way in which the question-box is valuable 

 is in giving each one the opportunity to ask 

 specifically about the things he wants to know! 

 It is true, that some one may ask some such 

 question as, "Do the drones' ever lay eggs?" 

 but I have never seen any particular harm come 

 from it. and such questions need take very little 

 time for answer. But I have made my intro- 

 duction so long that T must leave the program 

 for another time. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, Illinois. 



[I indorse particularly what you say in re- 

 gard to conventions being held in a room 

 adapted to the number in attendence. Once or 

 twice our wState and National associations have 

 met in the chamber of the House of Represent- 

 atives in the State capitol at Columbus, Ohio. 

 The hundred or two hundred bee-keepers as- 

 sembled seemed like a small squad huddled to- 

 gether in this immense hall. It was very difficult 

 for certain speakers to be heard; and such 

 rooms, although elegant in their appointments, 

 are decidedly undesirable. I remember dis- 

 tinctly the difficulty I had in taking notes; and 

 the report of several important things had to 

 be omitted just because there was a word or 

 two I could not catch, thus marring the whole. 



I somewhat question whether it is wise to let, 

 here and there, bee-keepers digress from the 

 subject under discussion. Our presidents do 

 not always discriminate between that which is 

 valuable and that which is not: and again, we 

 do not all hold the right opinions on the useless 

 and useful. You say, have good presidents 

 who will discriminate. That is not always pos- 

 sible, considering the favoritism we have for 

 our special friends in electing them to the posi- 

 tion. A very successful bee-keei)er might make 

 a very poor president, and a very poor judge of 

 good matter for discussion. You see, if a presi- 

 dent discriminati'S in one case and not in an- 



