18S 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



We have often tried to imagine how some of 

 them looked, now we shall knoiv.'" All sum- 

 mer long we have looked forward with a 

 feeling that the three days passed at this 

 meeting would be the most enjoyable of the 

 year. Now we can^t go. We are now able 

 to be up and al)Out the house, and to attend 

 to our correspondence, but we gain strength 

 very slowly. We had worked hard all sum- 

 mer, went away to the fairs about tired out, 

 and when we reached home we were pretty 

 well worn out. Now Nature is making us 

 pay the penalty. We have made a great big 

 resolve that this shall be the last time she 

 shall make such a demand upon us. We are 

 going to begin right noiv and stay away 

 from that convention, because we are not 

 strong enough to make the journey. But 

 let no one stay away because some one else 

 can't go ; every one of you go that can, and 

 have a good time, while your friend, W. Z., 

 stays at home so unwillingly, and will watch 

 the papers most closely to see what you say 

 and do. 



APICULTUBAL JOUBNALISM. 



Bee keepers have good reasons for being 

 proud of their literature. • Scarcely a point 

 arises upon which we cannot find the record- 

 ed experience of our best apiarists ; while 

 new discoveries are at once described, illus- 

 trated and discussed in the bee keeping 

 periodicals. Perhaps bee keepers have 

 given the matter little thought, but, not- 

 withstanding the excellence of these periodi- 

 cals, might they not be improved ? If so, 

 how ? Have they faults ? If so, what are 

 they? We believe that " apicultural jour- 

 nalism " may be profitably made the subject 

 of special discussion. To show that we are 

 not alone in holding these views we will say 

 that the secretary of the International, 

 * American, Bee Association has asked us to 

 prepare an essay upon this subject, to be 

 read at the coming meeting of the Associa- 

 tion. We have accepted the invitation and 

 have also decided to use said essay as a 

 " leader " to the special topic for the Novem- 

 ber Review. So much by way of an intro- 

 duction, and now for the essay. 



Time was when many of the industries 

 were represented in one family. Flax and 

 wool were grown, spun and worked up into 

 cloth, and made into clothing. Cows were 

 kept, and cheese as well as butter made for 

 home use. Poultry and a few stocks of bees 



added to the comforts of the household. 

 But there is no need of going into detail ; 

 everyone knows how people lived 100 years 

 ago. Cheap and rapid transportation has 

 encouraged the invention of machinery, the 

 building of factories, and the classification 

 of labor. This has brought about specialty. 

 With specialty in production came the need 

 of specialty in the journals devoted to the 

 interests of producers. For the general 

 farmer we had, and still have, agricultural 

 journals devoted to the cultivation of grain, 

 stock raising, gardening, fruit growing, 

 bees, poultry, etc., and they answer their 

 purpose well, but when a man makes a spe- 

 cialty of some one of these branches of 

 rural industry, he then wishes a journal de- 

 voted to that business as a sjjecialty, not one 

 mixed up with some other specialty for 

 which he cares little or nothing. These 

 other topics are all right in their places, but 

 bee keepers who don't care for them dislike 

 to pay for their discussion, or to wade 

 through said discussions in order to get at 

 what information there is about bees. As a 

 rule, bee journals that attempt to " mix in " 

 other topics do so at a loss. We believe that 

 bee journals will best serve the interests of 

 their subscribers, and at the same time se- 

 cure their own prosperity, by letting severely 

 alone all subjects not pertaining to their 

 specialty. We would not expugn any wit, 

 humor or eloquence that may bubble up 

 spontaneously, but the publication of such 

 attemjjts at wit as have appeared in some of 

 the bee journals is enough to kill any journal 

 that it is possible to kill. 



After we have decided that only such mat- 

 ter as pertains to bees shall go into our jour- 

 nal, then the matter of quality must be 

 looked after. Some of the matter that ap- 

 pears in some of the bee papers, could be 

 placed only under the head of "twaddle." 

 What does possess editors to publish such 

 trash ? A woman tells in a would-be-funny 

 way of her troubles in clipping a queen's 

 wing, or a man starts out with ; " I am a bee 

 keeper. I l^egan the season with twenty- 

 four colonies. Some were weak but — " 

 What is the use of going any farther ? You 

 have all seen these things in the journals. 

 What good are they ? Do they help bee 

 keepers ? Must such things be used in order 

 to fill the pages of the journals ? No, not if 

 editors will bestir themselves, and, if they 

 can't do this they are unfit for the positions 

 they occupy. 



