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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 3, 



Georg-o 11'. YorU, - - Editor. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 66 Ftrtb Avenue, - CHICAGO, ILL. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 [Entered at the Post-OSBce at Chicago as Second-Class Ilall-Matter.l 



Vol. niV. CEICA&O, ILL, OCT. 3, 1895. No, 



Editorial Budget. 



R. F. Holterniann, I regret to learn, has been sick 

 with typhoid fever in Montreal, Canada, since the North 

 American convention. A postal card received Sept. 23 said 

 he expected to be at home in Brantford very soon. The con- 

 vention was probably too great a strain upon Bro. H. It cer- 

 tainly was no fun to preside over the last session. 



Hon. Geo. E. Hilton, oi Fremont, Mich., has re- 

 cently been cont;'ibuting some exceedingly interesting and 

 practical illustrated articles on bees, to the Michigan Farmer. 

 In last Gleanings, Mr. Hilton and his two bright-faced chil- 

 dren are shown, in connection with a biographical sketch 

 principally about Mr. H.'s political career. He is one of the 

 most prominent " bee-keeper legislators " in this country, and 

 has done some excellent work in the Michigan legislature. 



Bees-wax seems to be in great demand these days. I 

 do not remember the time when there appeared in the Bee 

 Journal so many calls for it as there are just now. It will pay 

 to save up all the cappings, old comb, etc., in the apiary, and 

 turn them into wax. These are " economical times " in which 

 we live, and it behooves every would-be successful bee-keeper 

 or farmer, to see that twlhinq is wasted. Do you know that 

 three or four pounds of good beeswax will about pay a year's 

 subscription to any one of the best bee-papers, nowadays ? 



Father Langfstroth is again able to use his pen, 

 and on page 631 of this number of the Bee Journal will be 

 found a short article written by him. He expects to continue 

 his interesting reminiscences in Gleanings for October 1, and 

 they will also appear in the American Bee Journal. He had 

 begun them several years ago, but was suddenly prevented 

 from completing them on account of the return of his severe 

 head trouble, which afllicted him until about two mouths ago. 

 He is now quite well again, and is overflowing with reminis- 

 cent facts and incidents. 



For the New^ Xorth American.— Suggestions 

 are always in order, I believe. 



On my return trip from the Toronto convention I fell to 

 thinking about the new society to be formed by uniting the 

 North American and the Bee-Keepers' Union. As I gazed out 

 of the car window while speeding along in the beautiful early 

 morning, two ideas came to me, which, if adopted, I believe 



would contribute a good deal to the future success of the 

 amalgamation. The first was this : 



Hold the annual meeting at the same time and place the 

 Grand Army of the Republic holds their yearly gathering. 

 This year they met at Louisville, Ky. Next year they go to 

 St. Paul, Minn. 



Right here some one may ask : " Thought the bee-conven- 

 tion for 1896 was to be held in Nebraska?" Yes, sir, that 

 was the "thought," but there's no use in concealing the fact 

 that unless reduced railroad rates are assured before the meet- 

 ing, there isn't going to be much of a gathering. By not be- 

 ing able to secure the lower rates on the return trip from the 

 Toronto meeting, some one told me it meant a loss of $300 to 

 those present. Now the G. A. R. always succeed in getting 

 the reduced rates — there's no question about it with them — 

 they get it. I believe this year it was only one cent per mile 

 each way. Think of it! That means that the rate from Chi- 

 cago to Toronto (.500 miles) and return would be only SIO, 

 while the regular rate is $22.40 for the round trip. 



Another may say, "Oh, there's always such a crowd 

 where the G. A. R. meets !" True, but we would stand just 

 as good a chance as they. We could arrange in advance for 

 hotel accommodations and hall, just as we did for the Toronto 

 meeting. 



Again, many of our bee-keepers are old soldiers, and they 

 could thus " kill two birds with one stone" — could take in both 

 meetings on the one trip. 



Somehow, I feel that the North American can't afford not 

 to take advantage of this suggestion, if it is ever going to get 

 the attendance it ought to have at Its annual meetings. 



Suggestion number two is this : It seems to be the desire 

 that membership in the amalgamated society be secured the 

 same as it now is in the Bee-Keepers' Union — a permanent 

 membership ; and that voting, etc., be done by mail. It has 

 also been the dream and hope of some of the leaders in the old 

 North American, that it become a representative body. But 

 nothing very satisfactory has ever been attained along that 

 line. Now my way of making the North American a repre- 

 sentative society is this : 



For every (say) 50 members in any one State or Province 

 let the society pay the actual railroad expenses of one dele- 

 gate. If a State or Province has 100 members, then two 

 delegates could be selected from their number, and their car- 

 fare be paid by the society. Delegates to conventions would 

 be selected by the membership in each State or Province, a 

 printed list of all the members being mailed to every member 

 of the society at the time of the annual election, and all dele- 

 gates and alternates to be voted for at the same time. Proper 

 voting blanks should be furnished, the same as the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Union does now. 



It might be that for every 35 members in a State or Prov- 

 ince, the society could afford to pay the milage for one dele- 

 gate. I merely mention this. Possibly it would be better to 

 say 50 at first, and then later to drop to 25, if it is thought 

 advisable. Or, if a State or Province had only 25 members in 

 the society, then pay half the milage expense of one delegate. 

 If 75 members, then pay all the milage of one delegate, and 

 half of that of a second. 



I think there would be quite a good deal of rivalry worked 

 up among the States and Provinces if this plan were started. 

 And I firmly believe that very soon nearly every State or 

 Province would be entitled to at least one delegate. Then 

 you'd have the representative society so long hoped for. Of 

 course, the delegates would represent Suites or Provinces, but 

 I've no doubt they'd soon work up State and Provincial organ- 

 izations, and possibly county. But suppose there would be an 

 average of only one delegate from each State or Province, 

 why, that would assure a convention of about 50 of the very 

 best and brightest bee-keepers in the land ! They, with 



