THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



279- 



takes and the successes, that the latter may 

 be patterned after in the future and the for- 

 mer not repeated. ' | 



One quite sweeping change was made, the 

 wisdom of which is yet to be decided. To 

 each annual paying member in 1895 the So- 

 ciety promises to give the choice of any bee 

 journal published in the United States or 

 Canada. To help the Society to this, all of 

 the editors present, except myself, promised 

 to furnish their papers at very low rates, 

 way down below their lowest clubbing rates. 

 I presume I should have made the same 

 promise if I had been asked, but through 

 some oversight, I presume, the question was 

 not put to me. I fear the matter was not 

 given sufficient thought. Why, at first 

 thought, in his exuberent manner, Mr. Root 

 offered to give Gleanings. Suppose all of 

 Mr. Root's subscribers should decide to join 

 the North American, where would he be ? 

 Suppose half of them should take that 

 course ? At the figures that were given some 

 of the journals cannot stand it if any great 

 number should join the Society. Any sum 

 of money coming into the treasury as the re- 

 sult of this scheme would come out of the 

 pockets of the publishers. Then there is an- 

 other side to the question. Suppose that 

 only the usual number, say 100, should pay 

 their dues, then about half of that money 

 would have to be used in buying bee jour- 

 nals, and there might not be enough left to 

 pay the running expenses. If some plan 

 could be devised whereby the membership 

 and usefulness of the Society could be in- 

 creased, it would be very welcome, but I fear 

 it cannot be done by making ourselves pres- 

 ents or asking the publishers to make us 

 presents. The whole thing is wrong in 

 principle and was adopted without sufficient 

 consideration. It is true that the Canadian 

 Societies furnish their members with jour- 

 nals, but the money to buy them comes from 

 the government ; besides, no journal has yet 

 been furnished below cost. 



As the convention was held pretty well 

 south and west I had hoped to learn some- 

 thing in regard to bee paralysis. The sub- 

 ject was freely discussed, and I had several 

 private conversations with those who had 

 had experience with the disease. The re- 

 ports are all very conflicting. That the dis- 

 ease is likely to disappear of itself is a fact 

 that I fear has been overlooked to a great 

 extent. When this is remembered a great 

 manv strange things arc explained. 



A very pleasant incident occurred when it 

 came to choosing the place for holding the 

 next convention. The choice really lay be- 



(tween Lincoln, Nebraska, and Toronto, On- 

 tario, Canada. Last year Toronto nearly 

 captured the convention for this year, and 

 ithere was a sort of a tacit agreement that we 

 jwould all vote for Toronto this year, but 

 when Bro; Stilson read invitations from the 

 Nebraska State bee-keepers, from the Mayor 

 of Lincoln, from the City Council, from 

 everybody who could have any interest in 

 ithe matter, and followed this up with a warm 

 ■(personal appeal, there was an evident 

 'wavering upon the part of some, but when 

 Dr. Miller explained that the voting for 

 Toronto was a matter of honor with a large 

 number, what did Bro. Stilson do but get up 

 and withdraw his invitation, an act that 

 brought down the house and in all probabil- 

 ity will take the convention to Lincoln in 

 189G. The choice of Toronto was made 

 unanimous. 



Mentioning the next meeting brings up 

 another point upon which I wish to make a 

 suggestion. As a rule, it has been impossi- 

 ble to secure the necessary attendance for 

 obtaining the desired reduction in railroad 

 rates unless the meeting is held in some rail- 

 road center of the North. These rates were 

 secured at Detroit, Brantford, Canada, and 

 at Albany. At Washington and St. Joseph 

 there was not sufficient attendance. Pub- 

 lishers can show by their subscription lists 

 that the great mass of bee-keepers is in the 

 Northern and Eastern States, and Canada. 

 Draw a line due north from St. .Joseph, Mis- 

 souri to St. Paul, Minnesota and another 

 from St. Joseph to New York City, and the 

 great mass of bee-keepers will be found 

 north and east of these lines, and a great 

 crowd can be gathered only inside these 

 lines. Even inside these limits it is better 

 not to depend upon securing reduced rates 

 by the crowd of bee-keepers alone. For in- 

 stance, I believe that the meeting of 1895 can 

 be held in Toronto at the time of a great in- 

 dustrial fair, when very low rates will be 

 given for long distances. Where this cannot 

 be done it would probably be well to hold 

 the meeting in connection with the meeting 

 of some other Society, when the two com- 

 bined would secure the requisite number for 

 obtaining reduced rates. 



About ten o'clock of the last day all of the 

 members gathered in a group on the steps of 



