THE BKE-KEI-:ri-:RS' REVIEW. 



53 



my readers in this direction bj- paying 

 more attention to the mailer of titles. I 

 will nse the leadinjj tiile, then a sub-title, 

 together with a little motto that is sup- 

 posed to show the trend of the article. 

 In addition to this, I will scatter snb- 

 he.ids all Ihrough the articles. With 

 this arrangment, no man will find it nec- 

 essary to read a whole article in order to 

 find out whether he wauls to read it. Do 

 the best I can, it is likelv that I will often 

 publish something that will not interest 

 all of my readers; but I am going to do 

 my best to save everyone the time of read- 

 ing that for which they have little interest. 



■ ••••"^^.^F-" 



THE HELP OK SCIENCE IS NEEDED IN 

 T.\KING OUR NEXT STEP. 



I have had on hand, since last Novem- 

 ber, a short article from .\rlhur C. Miller 

 that I have not yet been able to crowd in; 

 but the opening paragraphs are so valua- 

 ble and timely that I must make room for 

 them here, even if the rest of the article 

 should «<'t'<'> see light. Mr. Miller sa3s: — 



Recently the statement appeared in the 

 Review that there was no common ground 

 for comparison of the law of breeding be- 

 tween bees an<l the higher animals. It is 

 unfortunate, for the ])rogress of apicul- 

 ture, that any one so ignorant of the well 

 known laws governing the reproduction 

 of animal life should be allowed to ham- 

 per legitimate discussion by the expres- 

 sion of mere opinions. Tiie laws are vir- 

 tually ihe same for all, the difference be- 

 ing rather one of degree. 



Practical bee- keeping has reached a 

 point of developement beyond which it 

 can make but little progress without the 

 aid that can only be rendered by science. 



Mere guessing must give way to regular 

 and careful research. Observaiions must be 

 repeated over and over again, fullv and 

 accurately recorded, and deductions made 

 only by trained minds. The practical 

 bee-keeper can make the observations; 

 and, in some respects, is better fitted to 

 do .so than the tiaiiied naturalist; because 

 the former is familiar, through the con- 

 stant handling of many colonies, with 

 habits aufl traits which are not apparent 

 to the latter. 



.Again, it is essential that mere opinion 

 and belief, resting solely on conimonlv 

 accepted but unsupported statements, 



shall give way io facts, whether the latter 

 shatter our ideals or not. 



.And this brings to mind the fact that 

 almost no scientific e\pei imenting is being 

 done for apiculture. Occasionally, some 

 over-worked Professor of entomology 

 gives us a little help, but what we need 

 is a competent man continually at work 

 making experiments. The Department 

 of Agriculture at Washington has once 

 or twice employed a man to do something 

 in this line. Perhaps the National Asso- 

 ciation might use its influence to advan- 

 tage in securing the appointment of a 

 competent man to be kept continuallv 

 busy making apicultnral e.xperinients. 

 We can get these things by asking for 

 them, and asking loud enough and long 

 enough. There's no other way. 



HELP, ON THE RE:vIEW. 

 The Review has outgrown its editor; or 

 rather his ability to do all that it requires. 

 P"or the last two or three years this has 

 been more and more apparent. Do the 

 best I can, the Review will get behind — 

 come out from one to three weeks late — 

 and I can see dozens of things left undone, 

 the doing of wliich would greatly add to 

 its usefulness. If I .stuck closely to my 

 office, from morning until night, every 

 day in the year, I presume that I could 

 get the Review out on time; but, so thor- 

 oughly am I convinced that that isn't the 

 best plan, that two of the last .six months 

 have been passed in attending conven- 

 tions, and traveling about visiting bee- 

 keepers. In no other way can there be 

 secured that freshness, piquancy and up- 

 to-date-ness, which betoken the successful 

 journal. .Vn editor must get close to his 

 readers; learn what thev need — and all 

 that they can tell him. I'pon my return 

 from one of these trips, I always find that 

 a lot of work has been accumulated, and 

 something has been neglected that great- 

 ly needed attention. Either these trips 

 must be given up, or else there must be 

 help in the office. I am of such a make- 

 up that I dislike to have hired help about 

 —I prefer a quiet, snug little business, all 



