708 



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In October Days. 



From Vick's Magazine for October. 



I wander down the russet lane 

 And see the autumn's bonefires burn 



Upon the hillside slopes again, 

 Among the sumac and the fern. 



The Oaks have caught October's fire, 

 And drop their treasures in the grass, 



Wiiile the still flame creeps high and higher, 

 Fanned, by the warm winds as they pass. 



The sky is dim in purple haze ; 



The spell of dreams is over all. 

 Unknown, save in the lone, still days 



When flowers fade and dead leaves fall. 



Xlie Con»ititiition of* the Inter- 

 national Society. — It was a great dis- 

 appointment to the Editor of the Asleri- 

 CAN Bee Jouknai,( who was indisposed and 

 absent much of the time), to learn that the 

 Convention at Chicago, in 1887, did not dis- 

 cuss the merits of the new Constitution and 

 By-Laws he there presented. These docu- 

 ments were " evolved " while on a sick-bed, 

 under considerable difBculty, and were by 

 him acknowledged to be imperfect in many 

 points. The Convention was particularly 

 solicited to discuss, and by Its united wis- 

 dom improve both the Constitution and By- 

 Laws, and we were surprised that they did 

 not even attempt to do so — but when at 

 Columbus, they adopted the whole, without 

 discussion and without due consideration, 

 we were even more astounded. We desired 

 to offer some amendments, which the inter- 

 vening time had suggested, and to obtain 

 the.views of others upon points which were 

 open to discussion. But it was rushed 

 through by a vote to adopt, in such haste 

 as to show that it was done to get a trouble- 

 some thing out of the way as rapidly as 

 possible. 



We do not wonder, therefore, that Dr. 

 Miller should seek to discuss it now in the 

 bee-papers (see page 711). That is the next 

 best thing to be done, and we welcome it, 

 even though we had no idea of the Doctor's 

 views on the subject, until his article was 

 received for publication. 



Some of the points raised by Dr. Miller 

 "are well taken ;" others need discussion, 

 and still others, when explained, will, we 

 think, meet with his unijualified approval, 

 as they now stand. We will review them 

 by numbers, as follows : 



1. Ills first point, suggesting the shorter 

 came. Is well taken and should be adopted. 

 The title, "American Bee-Society," is 

 short, expressive and appropriate. 



2. In a society, standing at the head of 

 the pursuit of apiculture on the continf nt of 

 North America, surely some formality is 

 necessary in determining who shall be its 

 annual members, and a majority vote by 

 show of hands would occupy but a minute 

 for a dozen of such members. It is probably 

 true that none may ever be voted owf— still 

 such a peculiarity may be desired, and the 

 Constitution should give the Society the 

 power to do so. 



No such formality is required with dele- 

 gates from affiliated societies— they are ad- 



mitted free without vote, on their creden- 

 tials. 



3. As to the calling of special meetings, 

 something unusual may arise, making it ex- 

 pedient to do so, and then to have the power 

 is a desirable thing. 



4. An address by the President is not one 

 of the iiew features, but is no less desirable. 

 Who is more conversant with the items of 

 interest or business matters to bring before 

 the Society, than the President who had 

 chargeof it during the intervening year? 

 His address need not be a long one, but 

 should cover the salient points, review the 

 work done, the position attained, and the 

 points deemed desirable by the Society's 

 officers or members, etc. 



5. Calling the names of officers, perma- 

 nent members and delegates, to know who 

 are present, is advisable, even if it does 

 consume a few moments to do so, especially 

 in a representative body. The names of 

 annual members of a former meeting of 

 course are not to be called. Their member- 

 ship closed with the adjournment. This 

 negatives the Doctor's objection entirely. 



6. Giving notice of the regular meetinss 

 three months previous is desirable, but the 

 law gives the least possible time to have 

 the meeting held lawfully. 



7. The items mentioned by Dr. Miller in 

 this division should have received consid- 

 erable attention, both by the committee, 

 and also by the Convention. They were 

 put into the By-Laws for the purpose of 

 being discussed before being adopted. As 

 that was not done, we ask for a general dis- 

 cussion, and will (D. V.) promise to devote 

 our energies at the next meeting to have the 

 whole Constitution and By-Laws amended, 

 perfected, and put into running order. 



The Columbus Convention did not ap- 

 point the committees required by the Con- 

 stitution and By-Laws, evidently intending 

 to leave that for the next meeting to do, 

 which should be composed of its officers, 

 life-members and delegates from affiliated 

 societies. 



In the meantime, we would recommend 

 every apicultural society in America to 

 electa delegate to send to the next meeting 

 at Brantford, fnlly instructed as to the 

 needs and wishes of the local society, and 

 to assist in completing the organization of 

 the International Association. 



ItiiclcW^lieat as a Honey-Plant. 



— The editor of the Canadian Honey Pro- 

 ducer, in his issue for October, reports 10 

 pounds of honey in a single day by one 

 colony, from buckwheat. The day was 

 showery, so the bees were enabled to work 

 on it from morning till night. Now, friends, 

 wliat is there in our whole list of plants, 

 that are raised for honey alone, that has 

 given a yield like this ? I venture to say, 

 that not one has ever yet given us anything 

 like it. We should like to have friend 

 Holtermann tell us more about it. Was 

 the buckwheat the new Japanese, the 

 silverhull, or the old-fashioned kind ?— 

 Oleaniniis. 



norticnlture and Apiculture. — 



The two legislative halls at Columbus were 

 occupied at the same time by bee keepers 

 and truit growers. They were friendly or- 

 ganizations, as they ought to be, and the 

 fruit-growers sent a delegation to invite the 

 bee-keepers to their hall to hold a joint ses- 

 sion. It was accepted, with thanks. They 

 discussed a subject which was of interest 

 to both societies, and did it in a friendly 

 way, too. This shows thata good, friendly, 

 brotherly spirit is being engendered, and 

 we are glad to see it. We hope that such 

 may obtain all over the country, and gen- 

 eral harmony may prevail. The Orange 

 Jwdd Farmer thus mentions the matter in 

 its issue for Oct. 20 : 



The convention was invited by Secretary 

 Devol, of the Ohio State Horticultural So- 

 ciety, to visit th'e horticulturists then in 

 session in the same building. 



Upon entering the Senate Chamber the 

 horticulturists were discussing the question 

 of fruit fertilization by insects. In this the 

 bee-men joined heartily. 



It was decided that the little busy bee was 

 a very useful insect to the fruit-grower in 

 the way of aiding nature in the fertilization 

 of flowers. The consensus of opinion was 

 that " bees seem to 'roar' over the Crescent 

 and Wilson varieties of strawberries in 

 equal numbers." Tills answers the idea 

 wtiich some people have regarding the 

 value of the perfect and imperfect flowers 

 as lioney-pruducing plants. 



The feeling between the fruit-growers 

 and bee-keept-rs is becoming more friendly 

 every year. They are earh beginning to 

 see the necessity of the other for tlie best 

 results in their respective lines of labor. 



Tes, Brother Judd, we hail the omen of a 

 better day, with delight. For this grand re- 

 sult we have labored full many years, and 

 now hope that the peace and harmony may 

 last forever. 



Uisposing: oi Honey.— The Ameri- 

 can ApicuUarist says that one who has 

 anything to sell must watch his chance and 

 take every advantage of the market, and 

 adds : 



I have a brother who carries the mail be- 

 tween Wenham and a summer resort. The 

 idea struck me that it would be a good 

 place to dispose of some of my honey. One 

 day I gave liim a package to show the peo- 

 ple, and the result was 1 foimd quite a sale 

 for honey. He gets 2.5 cents per pound for 

 it, and I allow 5 cents commission tor sell- 

 ing it. You see we both make a good thing 

 out of it, as it requires no extra time or 

 labor to do the selling. 



You who have honey for sale should take 

 a sample package when going "to town," 

 or wherever you go, provided the honey Ciin 

 be taken as well as not. In this way you 

 can do your own advertising, aud at the 

 same time take orders to fill wlien going 

 tliat way again. If theje is much passing 

 of teams by your residence, just stick up a 

 "shinjjie," stating that you have pure 

 honey for sale, and you will he surprised to 

 know how many aud how well people love 

 honey. 



I>o Not Ship Honey to Us without 

 first corresponding with us about it. We 

 have received several undesirable lots with- 

 out previous notice, or correspondence of 

 any kind. 



