1068 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



ago; and since the Department of AgTicul- 

 lure in Washington has established a bureau 

 of bee culture, and a country-wide extension 

 service, one state after another has added 

 beekeeping to the curriculum of its univer- 

 sity instruction and extension work. The 

 undertaking has been a great success. Yes ! 

 the beekeepers are willing to learn if they 

 are made to see the necessity. We only need 

 to refer to the crowds which turn up at 

 conventions the country over to hear lec- 

 tures of the Government extension men and 

 other prominent beekeepers, or to the de- 

 mand made upon our universities to send 

 out men to speak on beekeeping, or to the 

 number of students taking the beekeeping 

 courses; but for such work money is 

 needed — State and Government money — 

 money collected from taxes which we pay, 

 and for which we have a right to ask these 

 things in return, and which we shall ob- 

 tain by showing them that our demands are 

 reasonable. 



A few years ago some beekeepers attend- 

 ing the National Beekeepers' Association of 

 Nortli America were gathered in a hotel in 

 Minneapolis in the small hours of the 

 morning, talking about bee problems as 

 usual. One of them made a remark at that 

 time, that our States and Government have 

 plenty of money to spend on experiments 

 with every imaginable bug and weed, and 

 that we ought to go after them in the in- 

 terests of the bee and honey industry. 

 " Yes," said another one, " put the stress 

 on 'go after them.' " This " go after them " 

 stuck in the mind of some of our Minnesota 

 beekeepers. They talked and planned how 

 to " go after it." and this is the way they 

 did it. At the next Minnesota Beekeepers' 

 Association meeting a legislative commit- 

 tee was organized. One or more beekeep- 

 ers in every county of the state were put 

 on the trail of candidates for the legisla- 

 ture, and they talked to these candidates 

 bees and honey, and the necessity of appro- 

 IDriations for bee inspection, bee instruction, 

 and bee exhibits. Wlien the legislature 

 assembled the committee found the legis- 

 lature not only well posted on bees, but 

 found quite a number of warm friends and 

 influential supporters in both houses. Why, 

 our difticulties and obstacles that looked 

 like mountains were really only mole-hills. 

 We secured a bee-inspection law with $2000 

 aiDpropriation, a division of bee culture at 

 the University of Minnesota with $6500, 

 and premiums for honey exhibits at our 

 big State Fair building, amounting to near- 

 ly^$lG00. 



What did it? A strong state organiza- 



tion with competent officers and committees. 

 When you talk to legislators you must talk 

 convincingly and with an organization to 

 back you. Alone — as an individual — you 

 liave as much show to obtain results as a 

 solitary queen in a hive would have to start, 

 a colony. 



To give you another instance, at the last 

 National convention in Chicago it became 

 apparent that the demand for service made 

 on the Bureau of Bee Culture at Washing- 

 ton was so great the continent over that 

 Dr. Phillips and his small staft' could not 

 even begin to do justice to the demand made 

 on them. The southern states especially 

 clamored for instructors and organizers. 

 The matter was brought before the National 

 convention, and at its instance Mr. Root and 

 Mr. Pellett went to Washington to put their 

 request before the Senate Finance Commit- 

 tee. Representative beekeepers of many 

 states sent in their letters of request at the 

 same time to their representatives. Jn a 

 fcAv days letters from New York, Ohio, 

 Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wiscon- 

 sin, Minnesota, Dakota, Colorado, Missouri, 

 Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, California, 

 practical!}' the whole country, began to 

 pour into the Department of Agriculture 

 and the Senate Committee. I can well 

 imagine senators and representatives from 

 all parts of the States going in and coming 

 out of the committee rooms like bees from 

 the hive, all asking for an appropriation 

 for Dr. Phillips in the name of their con- 

 stituents, backing ujd the request made by 

 our committee. But my imagination may 

 be wrong. The fact, however, that the sum 

 of $5000 was allowed to put two more men 

 in the field is not imagination. 



This shows how easily great results may 

 be obtained by organization in behalf of a 

 worthy cause. Do not say, '' I don't get 

 any benefit from the dollar I pay for my 

 annual dues in the State or National or- 

 ganization." Such a view is narrow and 

 wrong. The train of beekeeping is mov- 

 ing ahead, and you are necessarily moving 

 Avith it whether yoii act as engineer or are 

 paying your fare as a passenger, or are 

 just taking a ride on the trucks. 



By the way. Dr. Erie IMillen, East Lan- 

 sing, Michigan, is the Secretary of the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association, and he is 

 selling' tickets at $1.50 to those who wish 

 to ride in a Pullman coach. He would like 

 to see the train run in several sections with 

 enough paying ))assengers to put a fund in 

 the hands of the National Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation of at least $25,000. 

 St. Paul, Minn. 



