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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



is of even more importance than care- 

 fully packing the honey for home 

 shipment. Our export market can 

 easily be diverted to some other 

 source if we are not careful in fur- 

 nishing the best grade of honey put 

 up in proper packages so it will reach 

 them in good shape. There is bound 

 to be competition on the part of 

 other large markets, and should they 

 furnish a better case, a better packed 

 article, they will get the business 

 and in time we will lose out. 



The National 



To the Beekeepers of America : 



AT the annual meeting of the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association 

 at Chicago last February, 

 there was evidence of dissatisfaction 

 with the existing National organiza- 

 tion. Provision was made for a con- 

 vention of delegates from the vari- 

 ous State associations to meet in 

 Kansas City on January next. These 

 delegates will come together to put 

 into concrete form your views of 

 what a National Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation should be. Your delegates 

 must answer the following questions 

 and many others: 



Shall the National be exclusively a 

 social and educational organization? 



Would such an organization satisly 

 the needs of 800,000 beekeepers? 



Has the National kept pace with 

 the development of American bee- 

 keeping? 



Should the National foster the or- 

 ganization of co-operative exchanges 

 in the various States and take an ac- 

 tive part in the business life of 

 American beekeepers? 



Shall the annual meeting of the 

 National be a social meeting with an 

 educational program, or shall it be a 

 business meeting of delegates from 

 State organizations? 



What shall be the future relation 

 between the National, State and 

 County organizations? 



Shall the National undertake a na- 

 tion-wide advertising campaign? 



Shall membership be open to any- 

 one, or shall it be confined to bona 

 fide honey producers? 



Shall the National maintain a paid 

 Secretary and an office which is open 

 for business the year around? 



These are some of the questions 

 which will come before the meeting 

 of delegates at Kansas City. Your 

 delegates must be present or the opin- 

 ions of the beekeepers of your State 

 will not be represented. 



The well-organized States of the 

 great West will be there. The dele- 

 gates from the central and eastern 

 States should be there to present 

 their opinions. Nearly all organiza- 

 tions in the central and i 

 States will hold annual meetings 

 within the next three months. This 

 matter should be taken up at eai h ol 

 these meetings. By all means send a 

 delegate to voice your sentiments. 



It is not a question of whethi 

 National shall live or die. Tl 

 tional will live, but its future activi- 

 ties will be modified to suit the needs 

 of the beekeepers it represents. 

 Whether it shall represent a section 



of the country or all of the nation, 

 may depend upon whether or not 

 beekeepers from all sections partici- 

 pate in its reorganization. It is in- 

 cumbent upon every organization lo 

 take some action on this matter. 

 B. F. KINDIG, 

 President National Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation, East Lansing, Mich. 



Pedigreed Mating 



By D. M. Macdonald 



THE scheme of improved breed- 

 ing dealt with in my last arti- 

 cle (August Journal) involves 

 the pedigree of both sire and dam 

 for several generations. We thus 

 secure at the start that "blue blood'' 

 on which to erect our superstructure. 

 Building on this credit balance we 

 can concentrate on improvement all 

 along the line. 



We have some queen-breeders in 

 this country who work by pedigree. 

 Year by year advance has been se- 

 cured by patient and diligent work. 

 All medium, as well as poor mothers 

 have been discarded. Only the best 

 of the best have been retained. Even 

 of these the various degrees of com- 

 parison have been sifted, and the 

 lower grade eliminated. A very 

 high ideal has been striven for from 

 the start and year by year the ten- 

 dency has been to raise the standard 

 nearer and nearer towards perfec- 

 tion. The climb up the many rungs 

 of the ladder may be slow, but it 

 has been steady. Healthier bees have 

 been the result. Longer lives are 

 claimed. Prolificness has undoubt- 

 edly been secured. Gentleness when 

 manipulating is more marked. Faults, 

 such as over-propolizing, have been 

 considerably eliminated. The pedi- 

 gree of each queen is noted, and a 

 reliable record kept for many gen- 

 erations. All this, if carried on long 

 enough, and if the advance is along 

 proper lines, must tend towards the 

 betterment of each succeeding gen- 



eration. Our cattle breeders have 

 done it, why should not we, who can 

 rear several generations in a single 

 season? 



Isolated Stations 



Some years ago a scheme was 

 formulated in our island to improve 

 our bees by breeding better queens 

 on the basis of pure (and compara- 

 tively controlled) mating. Working 

 from several mating stations in cen- 

 ters where the mating of tested 

 queens and specially bred drones 

 could be controlled, all the best pro- 

 curable were to be systematically 

 improved. These stations were to be 

 planted down in isolated districts, 

 or in islands off our shores, where 

 no contamination by inferior strains 

 was to be feared. Isolated stations, 

 however, mean isolated work. There 

 is here no systematic plan, no com- 

 bination of effort, no concerted ac- 

 tion. Every individual would work 

 at least mainly for his own hand. 

 That has been our weakness hither- 

 to. One worked for color alone, of 

 all aims and objects one of the most 

 fallacious. Another worked for out- 

 ward beauty, forgetful that beauty 

 is only skin deep, and that softness 

 and delicacy might more likely re- 

 sult. A third strove for gentleness, 

 in itself a virtue, oblivious of the 

 fact that anemic tendencies and low 

 vitality might come up top in secur- 

 ing mildness of temper and disposi- 

 tion. Longevity was the professed 

 aim of yet another set of experi- 

 menters. Lazy bees live long, inac- 

 tive bees take long to wear out, but 

 neither are desirables when breeding 

 for improvement. Apart from all 

 this there was a want of combina- 

 tion or preconcerted effort in all 

 this design of isolated work without 

 control from some central authority. 



Messrs. Root, in volume XIV of 

 Gleanings, put forward a scheme 

 which was formulated to mate 

 queens by drones liberated in one 

 of the largest glass houses in the 

 world. In spite of its size, the 



i- apiary started ilphui Springs resort in West Virginia Thi ow >■ ' < 



to increase to 300 colonies in order to be able to supply their patrons with honey from their 

 own yards, the year around. The crop in West Virginia is good this year, according to 

 State Apiarist, Charles A. Reece. 



