186 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



thing that will make men feel like getting 

 up and talking. The Secretary ought to see 

 to it that such essays, and none others, are 

 secured. He should so inform the ones who 

 are asked to write essays. A well-considered 

 programme, with the best men available to 

 lead in the discussions, either by essay or 

 address, is a great step towards success: be- 

 sides, a published programme is one of the 

 best advertisements that a convention can 

 have. But we cannot for one moment believe 

 that an essay from a man is to be compared 

 to having the man himself present at the 

 meeting— the one is a love letter, the other 

 the lover himself. We believe it is also true 

 that apicultural literature is largely depend- 

 ent upon conventions for its brightness, its 

 "newsiness." In the October Review for 

 1888 we said: "We have always noticed that 

 when the editor of a journal attended a con- 

 vention the next number of his paper, was 

 greatly improved. There would be a fresh- 

 ness and sparkle, indescribable, but never- 

 theless very apparent." If conventions have 

 such a beneficial effect upon editors, why 

 shouldn't they be a benefit to subscribers? 

 But, after all is said and done, we feel that 

 it is the social feature that brings us to- 

 gether: it is the enjoyment of this personal 

 magnetism between choice spirits that at- 

 tracts us. At the last meeting of the North- 

 western, the editors of the A. B. .J., Gleanings, 

 and the Review, together with Dr. Miller 

 and Mr. Heddon, attracted by a sort of afiin- 

 ity, clustered together in a cozy corner one 

 evening as the crowd was dispersing, and 

 talked, and talked, and talked: started once 

 or twice to go to their rooms only to come 

 back again: and it was only as the small 

 hours approached that Bro. Newman went 

 home and the others "paired oft" and went 

 to bed to "talk some more." Such hours 

 are golden, and will ever linger as bright 

 spots in the memory. As E. D. Keeney, of 

 Arcade, N. Y., says in a private letter, "We 

 need more play days and rest days, and at 

 the conventions we can drop our business 

 and cares, and can rest and learn, and feel 

 better for it. We can go back to our work 

 with renewed vigor and life." While it is 

 true that the abundance of cheap and excel- 

 lent literature has greatly lessened the ne- 

 cessity for conventions — has completely 

 overshadowed them as a disseminator of 

 knowledge— it is equally true that conven- 

 tions yet have, and always will have, a vast 

 influence. We cannot spare them. To have 



a personal acquaintance with the best men 

 engaged in the same occupation as ourselves 

 is no small advantage: it gives us broader 

 views; by them we can measure ourselves 

 and see where we are lacking: it adds to our 

 enjoyment and to our knowledge. Without 

 conventions such acquaintanceships would 

 be few and far between. -Joined with the 

 press, the convention becomes all-powerful 

 —the words of wit and wisdom fall not only 

 upon the ears of the assembled hundreds, 

 but are seen by thousands of readers scat- 

 tered all over this fair land. The convention 

 and the press— we need them both. 



APIAKIAN PREMIUM LISTS AT FAIBS. 



The Review for August, 1888, was a "Fair 

 Number." The special topic which it dis- 

 cussed was "The Exhibition of Bees and 

 Honey at Fairs." One very appropriate 

 item that it might have contained, but did 

 not, is a model premium list. Agricultural 

 societies usually make up their premium 

 lists early in the year, sometimes as early as 

 January, and we wish to begin a discussion 

 of the matter )tow, in order that we may 

 have a model list all ready to present to 

 these societies when they hold their winter 

 meetings. A few years ago, H. D. Cutting 

 and the editor of the Review spent quite a 

 little time in getting up a list. We corres- 

 ponded with bee-keepers who had been ex- 

 hibitors, examined different premium lists, 

 secured all the information we could, and 

 then sat down and made up the list. We 

 spent several days in Detroit attending the 

 winter meeting of the Michigan State Agri- 

 cultural Society, and finally secured the 

 adoption of our list. We were rewarded by 

 seeing it almost universally copied by other 

 societies. It was a good list for the times, 

 but the world moves, we have had 

 some experience since, and can see where it 

 may be improved. We now oft'er the fol- 

 lowins for consideration, and ask all who 

 desire to do so to send in their criticisms, in 

 order that we have a list as nearly perfect as 

 possible to offer early in 1890. We have, 

 perhaps, placed the premiums at a higher 

 figure than most societies would care to use. 

 but they can be easily reduced, keeping the 

 proportions as they are. The amounts foot 



up p.W. 



premium list. 



Exhibitors will not be allowed to remove 



honey from the exhibit during the fair, but " 



may sell from a reserved supply. 



