THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



197 



another. A carpenter naight combine bee- 

 keeping with his business better than a 

 blacksmith or shoemaker could. 



I think small fruit raising has been rec- 

 ommended to be run in connection with bee- 

 keeping more than has any other business, 

 yet it is the poorest so far as busy times are 

 concerned : and I know of only this much to 

 commend it. The man with the proiier 

 tastes and qualifications to succeed at one, 

 is likely to succeed at the other. 



Winter dairying (and nearly all the dairy- 

 ing in this region ?'s winter) might combine 

 pretty well with bee-keeping ; but, if I were 

 to single out any one business that I think 

 might do for the largest number of bee- 

 keepers, as a "combine," it would be the 

 poultry business. I don't mean having a lot 

 of hens running the business themselves ; 

 fighting over their nests and dragging a lot 

 of little chickens around through the wet 

 grass just when the bee-keeper is busiest. 

 A business can be made of raising eggs and 

 poultry and yet have the laying mostly if 

 not entirely finished before bee-work presses 

 in the spring. A better price can be secured 

 for winter eggs, and the labor comes when 

 the bee-work is slack. The old hens can be 

 all sold off before busy times, and the chick- 

 ens raised so early as to need little summer 

 care. A brooder can be made to take the 

 place of mother-hens ; indeed, by using an 

 incubator, hens may be dispensed with 

 entirely as soon as the laying is over. 



Instead of saying all this can be done, I 

 ought to say I have read that it can, because 

 I have never run an incubator, and a brooder 

 but little. Possibly, some one with full ex- 

 perience may show up objections, of which 

 I know nothing, to this poultry scheme. 



This is a good subject to talk up, and I am 

 interested in it, for a few such seasons as 

 those of 1SS7 and 1888 may make me anxious 

 to find a " combine." I think it would be 

 more likely to be chickens than strawberries. 



AWAY WITH ESSAYS AT CONVENTIONS. 



I feel like saying just a few more words 

 .about essays at conventions. You say essays 

 should be " short, crisp, aggressive," "that 

 will make men feel like getting up and talk- 

 ing," and the "secretary ought to see to it 

 that such essays, and none others, are secu- 

 red." Now, if " such essays, and none oth- 

 ers" are secured, then I give up the fight 

 against essays. But can that be done ? I oh 

 can't do it. You never did, and you're the 

 best secretary I ever knew. Somebody 

 brings in, or sends in, a long-winded essay 

 that is a bore : and a secretary can't well 

 keep it out. You did'nt succeed at it the 

 last time I knew you to try. Then it isn't 

 easy to write such an essay as you descril)e. 



Once I was asked to write an essay for a 

 national convention, and I had a subject in 

 which I was interested, and wished to hear 

 discussed, or rather read the discussion, for 

 I was not expected to be present, so I wrote 

 as nearly as possible just such an essay as 

 you describe, and was disappointed to find 

 not a word of discussion. I think if I had 

 been present, and had been allowed to spend 

 half the time in asking questions that I re- 

 ally wished to have answered, I could have 



gotten up a lively discussion. As you say, 

 an essay from a man is not to be compared 

 to liaving the man himself present, and not 

 one man in one hundred can read as well as 

 he can talk. 

 Marengo, 111. Nov. 16, 1889. 



It will not answer to allow the Doctor to 

 get the start of us in this manner. He is the 

 best presiding officer we ever knew ; and, if 

 we could always have him in the chair, we 

 would be pretty certain of a good conven- 

 tion without essays. Sometimes, however, 

 the members are so unfortunate as to put 

 into the chair some such a man as the editor 

 of the Review, then essays are a big help. 

 But they must be of the right sort, and we 

 don't remember to have ever admitted one, 

 when secretary, that was very much, if any, 

 too long, or that was a bore ; but we do have 

 some quite distinct recollections of having 

 made enemies by rejecting essays that did 

 not meet our approval. (Guess the Doctor 

 must have been thinking of some conven- 

 tion where we were present but not secretary. ) 

 We have attended scientific, agricultural 

 conventions (been sent to report them for 

 the Country Gentleman) which were essay 

 reading from near the beginning to the end. 

 The secretary, in his zeal, had gotten up a 

 lengthy programme (a common error), and 

 the president would soon discover that they 

 " couldn't get through the programme un- 

 less discussion was dispensed with." "Get- 

 ting through the programme " seemed to be 

 what they came for, so the learned and sci- 

 entific men and " Professors," among whom 

 a most interesting and valuable discussion 

 might have been carried on, sat for hours 

 and listened to essay reading. (The views 

 of our friend Miller upon this subject often 

 danced through our mind.) The essays were 

 good enough, except that they were too long 

 and exhaustive to be read at a convention. 

 Why travel hundreds of miles to hear essays 

 read that might just as well have been pub- 

 lished and read in a periodical ? We will go 

 as far as any one in condemning such essay 

 reading ; and we most fully agree with our 

 friend that, as a rule, discussion at conven- 

 tions is of more value than the essays ; but, 

 with the general run of presiding officers 

 and conventions, the discussion is better if 

 there are a few essays of the right kind. 

 Let's don't say such essays can't be secured. 

 As yet, the efforts in this direction have not 

 been very extensive. The Doctor truly says 

 that few men can read as well as they can 

 talk ; upon the other hand, there are many 



