140 ANNUAL BEPOBT 



EEMARKS OF MR. URIE. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Amber Cane and Horticultural 



Societies ; 



I have made apiculture a study for the last forty years, at least a 

 good deal of the time, and yet with all this experience I have not 

 fully mastered it. There is a good deal to be learned, and it is one of 

 the greatest studies we have. I claim that it is one of the greatest 

 insects that has ever been given to man, — the honey bee, — and per- 

 haps the least understood. The reason why so few are engaged in the 

 industry I do not know, unless, as the Irishman says, "The bee has a 

 warm foot." [Laughter.] 



There was no trouble in getting along with bees with proper treat- 

 ment. The first swarm he ever owned »vas down in Vermont, and he 

 traded a tub of maple sugar for the swarm and hive, with a corncob 

 stuck in the the top of the hive. In those days honey was obtained 

 by the use of brimstone, but those days had passed away. 



The proper way to handle bees was to strengthen the weaker 

 swarms from the stronger colonies, which should be done from the 

 first to the tenth of May. 



He described the method of dividing the swarms. He had kept 

 from two hundred to three hundred stands at one time, and had expe- 

 rience in the business in the states of Vermont, Illinois, Virginia, 

 Maryland and Minnesota. 



When he came to this State he brought fifteen colonies, which were 

 increased the first year to forty-eight, which yielded him 1,500 pounds 

 of as fine box and strained honey as he had ever seen. He had taken 

 a box of honey with him on an eastern trip, which had been pro- 

 nounced by experts the finest they had ever seen. Minnesota was as 

 good a state as any other in the union for the production of honey. 



Most of the honey produced in this vicinity was from white clover. 

 The sample exhibited by Mr. Danforth was made from diff"erent flow- 

 ers, and therefore he had ac advantage in producing honey of very 

 fine quality. His apiary was located at 2,520 Bryant avenue north. 

 He had built a house for the protection of his colonies of bees, which 

 was 12x24 feet in size, and was so constructed as to be as frost proof 

 as possible. There were four air spaces, and the house was so con- 

 structed as to prevent dampness, and he had no trouble in keeping 

 them through the winter without loss. 



Anyone going into his bee-house at the present time would find in 

 the coldest weather the bees apparantly asleep, and consuming very 



