692 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



less courteous if they do not receive the ex- 

 pected fee. They are often quite ready to re- 

 mind you of the fee in an ad oit way. 



DO bee-keepers' conventions pay? 



" Good evening, Mr. Dooltttle. I ran in a 

 little while lo-night as I had a little spare 

 time, to have a chat with you. Will you at- 

 tend the National Bee keepers' Convention at 

 Chicago the last of this month? " 



"I shall not. My mother, nearly 85 years 

 old, is apparently just about to pass to the be- 

 yond, the better land for all those who have 

 trusted in Christ, as she has done for over 

 threescore years, and my duty is plainly at 

 home." 



"Sorry to hear of your mother's low con- 

 dition. But do you really think that it pajs 

 to attend bee-keepers' conventions? " 



" That depends very much upon the spirit 

 in which they are conducted." 



" What do you mean by that? " 



" If they are simply for the purpose of get- 

 ting a crowd of bee-keepers together, the ma- 

 jority of whom are obliged to listen to the 

 dissatisfaction of a few who wish to discuss 

 the faults of other bee-men, to ' get even ' with 

 some one who has got the start of them at 

 some former convention, or for the express 

 purpose of puffing the wares a few have for 

 sale, then such conventions are neither bene- 

 ficial nor profitable." 



' ' I have heard something about a conven- 

 tion once held in this State that was some- 

 thing along the line you speak of." 



" Yes. We have not only had county and 

 State conventions conducted thus, but such 

 things have even touched the national organi- 

 zation also. But of late yeai-s there seems to 

 be a spirit of reform in this matter, for which 

 I am very glad." 



" But do conventions pay at best? " 



" If one convenes wholly for the purpose of 

 discussing subjects connected with the practi- 

 cal part of bee-keeping, each one freely im- 

 parting knowledge on any subject to which 

 he can add his mite, so that all are willing to 

 give an equivalent for the knowledge gained, 

 then I say bee conventions pay." 



' ' Will you tell me more explicitly about the 

 paying part ? " 



' ' There are three prominent points to be 

 kept in mind in attending conventions, if we 

 would make them pay. The one I consider 

 first in importance is this : We should forget 

 all of the cares and duties which have pressed 

 on us during the year, and go to the conven- 

 tion like " a boy let loose from school," to re- 

 cuperate our health and life, while on the 

 journey to and fro, and by a free and social 

 intercourse outside of convention hours. By 

 this latter we often learn more of value than 



we do during the hours the convention is in 

 session." 



" But I can go over and see Mr. C. and chat 

 with him on bees, and save the expense of 

 attending the convention at some distant 

 place, can I not? " 



"Yes; but you can not see A, B, D, and 

 E there, besides a host of others with whose 

 names you are not familiar, many of whom 

 you could not see except at a cost several times 

 that of going to a convention. I fear we do 

 not prize these social privileges highly enough. 

 There are things that pay better than working 

 for honey constantly, that said honey may be 

 turned into money, and the social part of life 

 is one of them." 



" Money-getting seems to be the main part 

 of the program in the world at the present 

 time." 



" I fear you are too nearly right in this mat- 

 ter. But each of us who sees that the world 

 is going in the wrong direction in this matter 

 of worshiping money should do all we can to 

 bring about a reform along this line, and a 

 bee convention is a good place to start the ball 

 to rolling among bee-keepers." 



" But what about the second point? " 



" Our second object should be to secure all 

 the information we can, so that we can put it 

 in practice in the apiary, and, if of value, im- 

 part that value to others ; to a neighbor, 

 through the bee-papers, or at some future con- 

 vention." 



" But I should think you would forget much 

 that was said and done before it came time to 

 put it in practice, especially where the con- 

 vention was held in the winter." 



" This is quite liable to be the case where 

 one depends entirely upon the memory. But 

 where a person makes a sort of reporter of 

 himself, and jots down in a small book the 

 leading thoughts of each speaker, very briefly, 

 he can, after getting home, look the matter 

 over so as to bring the whole fresh to memory. 

 The matter which is considered the more im- 

 portant can now be written out in another 

 book, the same having four or five pages 

 for each month in the year, writing the im- 

 portant matter under the month to which it 

 will apply. So when the month of June ar- 

 rives, with this book before me I can put in 

 practice what A, B, or C told the convention 

 about the day before Christmas, the year be- 

 fore. Suppose A told us that bees would do 

 better work where the hive was raised an 

 inch from the bottom-board, when the white 

 clover commenced to bloom — better not only 

 as to surplus honey, but better to keep the 

 bees from swarming. This is jotted down for 

 June, for this is the time the white clover 

 blooms. Upon opening our book our eyes fall 

 on this matter, and immediately we put the 

 thing in operation on about one-fourth of our 

 colonies, when the end of the season will give 

 us the results. If the results are in favor of 

 thus raising, we will tell at the next conven- 

 tion just how we did it, and just what and 

 how much benefit there was derived from it." 



" But why tell of it ? Why not keep it to 

 ourselves as part pay for the expense of at- 

 tending the convention ■* " 



