276 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



of fine freshly broken rock had gone slid- 

 ing down the monntain. These mark 

 the entrances to mines. 



At last we got off at Silver Plume. 

 The air felt so light, and /felt so heavy, 

 that it seemed as though I should topple 

 over unless I was careful. It required an 

 effort to lift up my feet. My pulse went 

 up to 108. We were about 10,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. 



ir«^«««^^«'«*» 



THE PRE.SIDENT'S ADDRESS, AT THE 



DENVER CONVENTION — THE FUTURE 

 OF BEE KEEPING. 



P'ellow beekeepers — Has there ever 

 crossed your mind the thought that mod- 

 ern bee culture has advanced by distinct 

 stages? When Father Langstroth's in- 

 vention laid bare the secrets of the hive, 

 allowed man to turn one more page in 

 the book of Nature, then began what 

 might be called the mechanical stage. In 

 this were brought forth hives, smokers, 

 sections, comb foundation and the honey 

 extractor. Minor mechanical improve- 

 ments, like the bee escape, the queen and 

 drone trap, the solar wax extractor, the 

 wax press, perhaps an uncapping machine 

 may be occasionally added to our list of 

 implements, but the fundamental, me- 

 chanical improvements were made long 

 years ago. 



Next come the methodical stage, when, 

 with the aid of mechanical inventions, 

 were developed methods and systems of 

 managements. Bee keepers learned to 

 control increase, to rear, ship and intro- 

 duce queens, to secure the greatest amount 

 of the best honey in the most marketable 

 shape — learned the numerous operations 

 that come under the head of manipulation. 

 Some of the present methods will cir- 

 tainly be improved upon, but it is doubt- 

 ful if future bee keepers will secure their 

 crops with nmch less labor than we now 

 bestow upon ours. Our hives, imple- 

 ments and methods leave little room for 

 improvement. 



In another respect bee keeping is not 

 now what it was years ago. The inven- 



tion of improved hives and implements, 

 allowing the adoption of more profitable 

 methods, but calling for greater skill, has 

 gradually led bee keeping from mixed 

 husbandry to that of specialty. Of course, 

 there are, and probably always will be, 

 people whose tastes impel them to keep 

 a few bees, but the great mass of people 

 have found it more profitable to buy their 

 honey, the same as they have learned that 

 it does not pay them to make their own 

 cheese. 



Bee keeping has become a distinct 

 branch of agriculture, and is largely in 

 the hands of specialists. These specialists 

 have implements and methods that ans- 

 wer well their purpose, and the natural 

 question is "What next? " What will be 

 the next stage ? What will be the future 

 of bee keeping ? 



The answer is not far to seek. The his- 

 tory of kindred industries will be the his- 

 tory of bee keeping. First came discov- 

 ery, invention and developement; next 

 came specialty; and now comes organiz- 

 ation and CO OPERATION. 



Most emphatically is this an age of or- 

 ganization. An industry without organ- 

 ization is practically helpless — at the 

 mercy of all other organizations. Organ- 

 ization saved the citrus fruit industry of 

 California. But we need not go that far 

 for an illustration. Right here, in this 

 good State of Colorado, with its fields 

 watered from the eternal hills, and robed 

 in the royal purple of alfalfa, bee keeping 

 would have been robbed of its commercial 

 charm, had not organization come to the 

 rescue. 



Organization has already done much 

 for bee keeping. It has fostered a frater- 

 nal spirit, helped to scatter apicultural 

 wisdom from ocean to ocean, protected its 

 members from unjust persecution, and se- 

 cured favorable legislation. But the dear 

 old Association, of which we are all so 

 proud, is even now but the nucleus of 

 what it is destined to eventually become. 



Perhaps the next great work of this or- 

 ganization will be the timely gathering 

 of statistics regarding the prospective har- 



