THU MMERICSrf BEE JOljmiSRI^. 



715 



Here is another point of gre:il ad- 

 vantage — allowing drones to tly oidy 

 from sek'cti'il colonies, all others being 

 kept in the hive by the use of perfor- 

 ated zinc, or Ijy the use of the ordinary 

 drone-trap, thns mating the qneiMis 

 with the s(deeted drones, or just those 

 desired. This, I think, makes a gigan- 

 tic stride, in nij- estimation. 



It is sometimes argued that there is 

 so much danger of queens mating 

 with black drones from a neighboring 

 forest, or from a colony of black bees, 

 kept by some one in the vicinitj- of 

 the apiary, but I believe it is onlj- a 

 rarity where this occurs, when a large 

 number of drones are present in the 

 apiary ; for, from close observatii>n, I 

 am le.ad to believe that the virgin 

 queen flies but a very short distance 

 until she meets the drone and returns 

 to the hive. 



After mating, the queen will usually 

 lay in three days, and if she lays in 

 worker-comb, we may safely conclude 

 that she is properlj' fertilized. Now, 

 to cull again, take only those which 

 are large and vigorous. 



We have queens superior to those 

 reared by the ordinary colony without 

 any assistance. To the average bee- 

 keeper, this is of but little interest, as 

 the rearing of a small number of 

 queens would necessitate the disturb- 

 ing of one or more of their best colo- 

 nies, during the very best of the 

 honey-flow. It would prove quite ex- 

 pensive, if only a half dozen or more 

 queens are wanted, as the same colo- 

 nies would gather more honey during 

 the 25 or 80 days required in hatching 

 and mating the queens, than would 

 buy the same number. 



North Manchester, Ind. 



CONVENTION'S. 



The Iiii|>orlanee of Bciii^ 

 Altcndaiiee, etc. 



Written for Oleanltigs in Bee-Culture 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Since returning from tlie meeting in 

 Columbus, I am more than ever con- 

 vinced of the value and importance of 

 such gatherings. I have always felt 

 that there could be no mistake in this 

 matter. The common practice of all 

 intelligent societies sustains this posi- 

 tion. We say the farmers, as a class, 

 have suffered from isolation and the 

 lack of .such associations, and that the 

 Grange was a God-send to the farmer, 

 in that it supplied this long-felt want. 

 Mr. Heddon and I have often argued 

 this matter iti cxlenso, both by word of 

 mouth and bj- letter ; and while I have 

 very great respect for Mr. Heddon's 

 ability as a bee-keeper, which is rarely 



surpassed, I cannot but believe that in 

 this matter he is wholly wrong. The 

 opinion of the world, as expressed in 

 actions, is with me, and not with him. 



There is one serious obstacle in the 

 way of making our meetings in the 

 highest degree satisfactory ; that is, 

 the great size of our country. If our 

 a.ssociation is to warrant calling it 

 North American, we must not limit 

 the meetings to one section of coun- 

 try, nor have we done so. New York, 

 Rochester, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, 

 Columbus, Lexington, Cincinnati, In- 

 dianapolis, and Chicago, are wide 

 apart. I think it would be well to go 

 to St. Louis, Louisville. Philadelphia,* 

 Pittsburg, Richmond, and New Or- 

 leans. 



But it has always appeared to me 

 that such meetings were more success- 

 ful where some one appeared in per- 

 son, invited the a.ssociation, and so be- 

 came in some sense responsible for the 

 success of the meeting. Thus it was 

 that I moved and favored the going to 

 Brantford next j'car. I feel sure that 

 Mr. Holtermann will spare no pains 

 to make the meeting a success. I 

 should have preferred, had we been 

 invited, to go to St. Louis or Kansas 

 City. 



Now, if we thus migrate we cannot 

 expect to have the same persons pres- 

 ent each, nor representatives from all 

 sections. It is too expensive. Of 

 course, if State associations would ap- 

 point and bear the expenses of dele- 

 gates, this might be done. But from 

 my observations in other associations, 

 I much doubt the success of any such 

 plan, much as I should like to see it 

 succeed. Yet for all this I still think 

 we can make the meetings represen- 

 tative. 



While we may not secure the per- 

 sonal presence of Smith and Jones at 

 each meeting, we can secure their 

 brains, their thought, which, after all, 

 is what we want. I believe most thor- 

 oughly that what we need and must 

 secure is such action by our Secretary, 

 in preparation for each meeting, as 

 will call forth in brief, say fifteen min- 

 utes, carefully prepai'ed " papers," the 

 best that is known, from the best bee- 

 keepers of the several States. I say, 

 •'/jreparerf papers." I mean just that. 

 Then we get mature views, and con- 

 cise, well-digested pointers. Our best 

 men will do better, when time is taken 

 to carefully prepare themselves. 



Thus we shall have a dozen or fif- 

 teen just such admirable presentations 

 as Dr. Tinker gave at Columbus. 

 Then we have a representative nieet- 

 inf. Wo have some facts of real value 

 presented from all sections. We have 

 some topics to hold us in our discus- 

 sions. Oh ! but it did me good to have 

 my dear friend Dr. Mill but I must 



not call names — say to me at (Colum- 

 bus, " I believe you are right in this 

 matter of papers." It is such a com- 

 fort to see our friends converted. If I 

 could only get Mr. Heddon out to con- 

 ventions. 1 should soon have him on 

 my side as to their importan<;e. 



I hope this matter will be fully di.s- 

 cu.ssed. I desire that our next meet- 

 ing be a grand success, and thus a 

 tyi)(! of the many more to follow it. I 

 believe these meetings maj' be a great 

 blessing to all, not only to those who 

 attend, but to those who stay at home. 

 I have made some suggestions in the 

 above. Who will speak next ? 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Mr. A. I. Root, editor of Gleanings, 

 remarks as follows on the subject : 



Friend Cook, I heartily agree with 

 all you say ; and altliough 1 myself am 

 much inclined to l)aekslide a little, es- 

 pecially if I do not attend the conven- 

 tions for a wliile, I never get home 

 without feeling that I am a wiser and 

 a better man, and with a feeling, too, 

 that I have been fulfilling better the 

 purpose for which God placed me here 

 upon this earth. In other words, I do 

 believe that the man who stays at 

 home hurts himself. The great 

 troubles and trials that beset us through 

 life are often caused by not being ac- 

 quainted. The uncharitableness, the 

 greed, and selfishness, which we see 

 exhibited are the consequences and 

 outgrowth of staying at home — yes, 

 oftentimes of sticking to business. Of 

 course, there are people who do not 

 stick to their business enough, or, per- 

 haps, not in the right way ; but they 

 are exceptions to the general rule. 

 Inasmuch as our good friend, the edi- 

 tor of the American Bee Journal, 

 gives a caret>dly prepared report of all 

 the proceedings of the convention, we 

 have not thought best to take space for 

 it here ; but I want to speak a little of 

 the social time we had outside of the 

 regular meetings 



Before our last evening assembly 

 opened, we were informed that the 

 Senate Chamber, which we occupied, 

 must be vacated exactly at 9 o'clock, 

 for another crowd. Yankee-like, we 

 inquired what the next crowd were 

 going to do. The reply was, that a 

 large company of male jubilee singers 

 were to practice on some campaign 

 songs ; and when we suggested that 

 the bee-men were fond of music, we 

 received a very cordial invitation to 

 remain. Well, tlu- singing was the 

 grandest and the finest, I believe, I 

 ever heard in all my life. It never 

 dawned upon my simple understand- 

 ing before, that the human voice un- 

 aided is capable of such flights of 

 melody as we had there. These sing- 

 ers, of course, and the audience, were. 



