ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



53 



would become members of this Associa- 

 tion, as well as of the National, if they 

 understood it would be a real benefit 

 to them. It seems to me there ought 

 to be enough wisdom in this oneeting 

 to devise some plan, so that we may 

 get out and work next year before the 

 meeting of the Legislature. I would 

 like to hear from Mr. Stone, as to 

 whether it would be an advantage to 

 have a large membersihip in trying to 

 secure the laws we want. 



Mr. Stone — Yes, indeed; that is one 

 question they generally put to us: 

 "What is the membership of your 

 Association ?" and we can ' turn around 

 and answer them: "It is the largest 

 of any bee-keepers' association in the 

 United States, except the National." 



■Mr. York — 'The National has about 

 3,500 members. 



Mr. Stone — Mr. France says that our 

 State Association sends them more 

 memlbersihips than any other State, 

 and Illinois stands ahead in the Na- 

 tional, of any other State in the Union. 

 We are doing pretty well now, but 

 we are not going to be satisfied until 

 we have departed from this earth. 

 And, Mr. President, I will just state 

 here (you might have gotten it from 

 my report, if you had read between 

 the lines), we send out, each year, a 

 thousand letters, soliciting member- 

 ship, and Mr. York has given us val- 

 uable assistance. 



But, as I have said before, I do not 

 feel any anxiety about the Association 

 ever going backward, because of 

 the discouraging year, and this year 

 has been very discouraging; but it 

 didn't reduce our list any, but increased 

 it, though it was increased before the 

 honey season came on. What the ef- 

 fect of this poor year on our coming 

 year's membership will be, is ques- 

 tionable, but I don't believe it will re- 

 duce it at all. Since the National 

 began to give us membership in that, 

 with our dollar, sending one-half to 

 the National and getting a member- 

 ship in that way, every bee-keeper that 

 is informed wants membership in the 

 National. And when he can get it in 

 our State Association, and get our re- 

 port and in the National at the same 

 time (and our report includes the report 

 of the National) ;. all of that for $1.00. 

 And if he joins the National, not in a 

 body, he will have to pay a dollar, and 

 just get the National report; but now, 



when he pays $1.00 in the State Asso- 

 ciation, he gets the National report and 

 ours, and the Northwestern (they are 

 all published in the same rei>ort) — all 

 this is an incentive to get membership 

 in our Association. If a bee-keeper 

 goes into it once, if he thinks any- 

 thing of his profession, he is not going 

 to drop out of it; he can't afford to. I 

 do not feel any anxiety about it. We 

 should all do like Mr. Werner does. 

 Some man at the Fair asked him a 

 question, and he replied that he could 

 not answer that question unless he was 

 a member of the Association, He sent 

 three men to me at the Fair, that 

 way. If we ail did as he does, our 

 Association would have one thousand 

 members. 



Dr. Bohrer — An increase in member- 

 ship is what I and all of us ought to 

 wish to see, and I believe it is on the 

 increase. I was one of the first readers 

 of the American Bee Journal; Samuel 

 Wagner began its publication, and he 

 suspended it for a while; it has been 

 alive ever since. I am satisfied there 

 is a great deal more bee literature read 

 through the length and breadth of the 

 land than there ever was before. We 

 should try to have our college® take up 

 the subject of bee-keeping; they should 

 have it in the schools; get after the 

 professors of your institutions and the 

 superintendents of public instruction; 

 tell them it is important that they take 

 up the subject. The time is coming 

 when it w^ill be done; when these things 

 will be taught in our universities and 

 other institutions. The people do not 

 know of the possibilities of bee-keeping 

 — only a very few of them; they have to 

 be educated! in this. Gradually it will 

 come to the front. Let us talk to the 

 teachers in our educational institutions, 

 and the educational institutions of the 

 State, ajid to our representatives, and 

 tell them what should be done; that 

 we want the people educated in these 

 industrial pursuits. In Germany bee- 

 keeping is taught in the common 

 schools, and many of the Gtermans 

 know about the management of bees. 

 There they are taking advantage of it; 

 this industry is gradually being pushed 

 all over Europe. In Pennsylvania I 

 notice they have Field I>ay Exhibitions, 

 and lessons given to the young men 

 and women of the country. They don't 

 think it beneath their dignity to go out 

 and take lessons. 



