596 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. l.T. 



is being made equally happy in receiving 

 names and dollars for the Union. 



Congratulations and good wishes for the 

 "kid,'' and offers of more money if needed, 

 frequently accompany remittances. One bee- 

 keeper, in sending his membership fee, says, 

 " I'm a poor man; but if you want more mon- 

 ey, call on me and I'll hil'p all I can; " and 

 others come with offers of more money if 

 needed. If each one whose interest is in- 

 volved in the success of the Union's work 

 would send his name and dollar there would 

 be no lack of funds. 



I got a letter from a Canadian this week 

 that kind o' riles me. He says: " I am pleas- 

 ed to see that you are making every effort to 

 have a grand convention at Buffalo, N. Y. 

 From what I can judge you will succeed. I 

 have every reason to believe that there will be 

 a good attendance of Canadians as well." 

 . . . Here's what makes me " bile." "I 

 may give you a hint — I expect to see as man}- 

 Canadian as United States bee-keepers at the 

 convention; and if there are, we may vote it 

 a Canadian instead of a United States organ- 

 ization. Ha, ha! " 



Now, Mr. Editor, isn't that "galling"? 

 We've licked " Johnny Bull " twice, and now 

 some of his offspring propose to drop in on us 

 unawares at Buffalo, and ' ' lick ' ' us out of 

 our boots on our own soil. "To arms! to 

 arms! " Turn out, Yankee bee-keepers, and 

 meet the enemy (?) and they'll be ours. Stir 

 up your readers Mr. Editor, let us not be van- 

 quished. 



I've already written to the Bce-kcrpets" AV- 

 viezv to give the note of warning, and shall 

 write the editor of the Auicrican Bee Journal 

 in the same strain, and woiild also send to the 

 American Bee-keeper, The Progressive Bee- 

 keeper, The Busy Bee, and the Southland 

 Queen, were it not too late. Oh that I had 

 received this hint before! The Canucks have 

 imbibed some of our Yankee vim, and they 

 may give us a good ' ' tiissle ; ' ' but let us not 

 get left. Transportation is cheap, so let every 

 one who can be on hand with arms and rations 

 for a three-days' tussle. It would be too bad 

 to let the Canadians kidnap our healthy 

 growing " kid." 



I shall take Mrs. M. with me to take care 

 of me, and no one but a coward will attack a 

 woman, and the Canadians are not cowards; 

 so I am safe; but woe betide those without 

 women to hide behind. 



[No, no; we can't afford to let the Canadians 

 kidnap our growing kid. My better half ex- 

 pects to be present. Yes, bring on the women. 

 We may need their help. — Ed.] 



BRODBECK'S "one thing lacking " IN THE 

 CONSTITUTION OF THE NEW UNION. 



[After the above was in type we received 

 the following additional matter. — Ed.] 



I have just received a letter from Mr. Geo. 

 W. Brodbeck, of Los Angeles, Cal., in which 

 he says, " If time and circumstances permit I 

 may forward a few suggestions in connection 

 vrith a revision of the constitution of the U. S. 

 B. K. U. The one mistake made at Lincoln 



was in not making the U. S. B. K. U. a distinc- 

 tive national organization ; for if this had 

 taken place the old Union would have been 

 forced to surrender and you would have en- 

 listed the interest of several thousand bee- 

 keepers in the United States who now stand 

 aloof. It is an evident fact, that two like or- 

 ganizations can not exist ; and, if I am not 

 mistaken, unless there is a compromise be- 

 tween the two the B. K. U. will revise their 

 work and follow in the line of the U. S., and 

 the result then will be a mere question of time. 

 I should like to see o>!e good organization do 

 all the work required ; and, as a member of 

 both, I am willing to aid, as far as lies in my 

 power, to accomplish this purpose. 



" Controversies, as a rule, act as a wedge 

 when opposite results are desired ; but a set- 

 tled puqjose to compromise differences ends 

 in brotherly love. I have no desire, doctor, 

 to pose as a critic, as my sole interest is in see- 

 ing one grand union of bee-keepers in the 

 United States. ' ' 



I don't remember that I have anywhere re- 

 ferred to the spirit that actuated the formation 

 of the constitution of the U. S. B. K. U.; but 

 I want to say that a desire to serve the inter- 

 ests of honey producers, consumers, and deal- 

 ers, was at the bottom of the whole matter ; 

 no selfish interest happened into it. You 

 know, and so does every other reader of your 

 journal who has read my articles, and what I 

 have said at conventions, that I was a firm op- 

 ponent to the amalgamation of the N. B. K. U. 

 and the N. A. B. K. A. unless it could be ac- 

 complished without in the least interfereing 

 with the efficient work of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union." I have repeated this many 

 times, and I knoiu that ^-ou and those engaged 

 in trying to bring about the union of the two, 

 and enlarging the scope of their usefulness to 

 the pursuit, thought just as I did about the 

 matter. 



After a good deal of correspondence by the 

 members of the Amalgamation Committee, 

 and all hope of accomdlishing any thing had 

 fled, I drafted what, after some alterations, is 

 now the Constitution of the U. S. B. K. U. 

 My original draft was submitted to several 

 leading bee-keepers for criticism; and after all 

 this was done you were so well pleased with it 

 that, without consulting any one, you had it 

 put in tj-pe and printed, and sent me fifty 

 copies to do with as I saw fit, and I sent about 

 twenty of them to our best -known bee-keepers 

 for criticism and suggestions, such as Mr. 

 Newman, Prof. Cook, Mr. Brodbeck, Mr. Se- 

 cor. Dr. Miller, Mr. Hutchinson, Hon. R. L. 

 Taylor, R. F. Holterman, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. 

 Elwood, and Mr. Manum. Nearly all replied. 

 Most were satisfied with it as it was. Mr. 

 Newman and Prof. Cook each made one sug- 

 gestion, if I remember correctly. 



The whole matter, with all the suggestions 

 offered, was submitted to the Lincoln conven- 

 tion, and by it referred to a coninuttee of 

 three, all members of the National Bee-keep- 

 ers' Union, to be put in shape for its adoption 

 or rejection by the convention. The commit- 

 tee met in Dr. Miller's room at the hotel 

 (although he was not a member of the com- 



