AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



779 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



Twenty-Fifth Annual meeting 



NORTH AJHERICAK 



BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



BY FKANK BENTON, SEC. 



(Continued from page 761.) 



SECOND DAY — Afternoon Session. 



Upon re-assembling the Association 

 proceeded to the selection of the place of 

 meeting and the election of oEQcers for 

 1895. 



The Next Place of Meeting-. 



For the place oi meeting, Toronto, 

 Can., was proposed by R. F. Holter- 

 mann, of Brantford, Ont., and also by 

 A. E. Sherrington, of Walkerton, Ont., 

 in a letter read by the Secretary. Lin- 

 coln, Nebr., was urged by L. D. Stilson, 

 of York, Nebr., who supported his re- 

 quest by very cordial invitations from 

 the Governor of the State, from the 

 Chancellor of the State University at 

 Lincoln, from the Mayor of the city of 

 Lincoln, from the Lincoln Commercial 

 Club, and from the Nebraska State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. Vice-President 

 O. L. Hershiser, of Buffalo, N. Y., in a 

 letter which was read and heartily sec- 

 onded by the Secretary, presented the 

 advantages of Buffalo. Mr. J. Fletcher, 

 of Ottawa, Can., in a letter addressed to 

 the convention, suggested that city. 

 Los Angeles, Calif., was also brought 

 forward in the same manner. After con- 

 siderable discussion, Mr. Stilson with- 

 drew his motion and announced the vote 

 of Nebraska for Toronto, after Mr. Hol- 

 termann had promised, in behalf of 

 Canada, that the influence of the Do- 

 minion bee-keepers would be used to 

 bring the meeting to Lincoln in 1896. 

 The vote was then taken, and Toronto 

 was declared the choice of the conven- 

 tion. 



Election of Officers for 1895. 



Several nominations for each of the 

 offices were made, and, the rules having 

 been suspended to permit viva voce vot- 

 ing, the following were declared duly 

 elected : 



President— R. F. Holtermann, Brant- 

 ford, Ont. 



Vice-President — L. D. Stilson, York, 

 Nebr. 



Secretary— W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, 

 Mich. 



Treasurer— J. T. Calvert, Medina, 0. 



Following the election of officers was 

 an essay by Mr. R. McKnight, of Owen 

 Sound, Ont., which w»s read by Mr. 

 Holtermann. It was entitled, 



Bee-Keeping in Canada. 



Nearly 40 years ago, and while this 

 Province (Ontario) was yet but thinly 

 settled, I knew an expert bee-hunter to 

 bring home tubfuls of honey from the 

 pine forest. Where the bees that col- 

 lected it originally came from I know not, 

 as none were kept within many miles of 

 the place. 



The condition under which the bees 

 lived, however, were favorable. A hol- 

 low pine tree, with its warm padding of 

 dry, decayed wood, was a congenial 

 home for them. In no modern hive do 

 we find conditions so favorable to the 

 well-being of a colony, as these hollow 

 giants of the forest furnished. Sur- 

 rounded by a shell a hand's breadth in 

 thickness, lined with the best kind of 

 absorbent, a solid trunk above, ample 

 space below, with a " punk-hole " for an 

 entrance, they gave comfort, accommo- 

 dation and protection, surpassing that of 

 any modern contrivance of the hive- 

 maker. 



It was to those old-time bee-trees that 

 our earlier bee-keepers were indebted for 

 their stocked " gums "—the progeny of 

 which, modified and improved by the 

 admixture of new blood, constitute the 

 present working-force of our bee-keepers. 



The box-hive succeeded the bee-gum, 

 and was for years the best known 

 method of housing bees. 

 I When the movable frame first came 

 into use in Canada, I am unable to say ; 

 nor do I know who Introduced it. Both 

 it and the extractor were known of, and 

 their advantages understood, some years 

 before either came into general use, D. 

 A. Jones was among the first to exten- 

 sively employ them, and was unques- 

 tionably the first to demonstrate the 

 honey-producing capabilities of this 

 Province. In 1879 he placed on exhibi- 

 tion, at the Toronto Industrial Fair, 10 

 tons of honey — the product of his own 

 apiary that season. 



Honey was not on the Industrial prize- 

 list that year, but its managers gave Mr. 

 Jones a massive gold medal for his ex- 

 hibit. Mr. Jones' exhibit attracted so 

 much attention that the Toronto Globe 

 sent a special reporter to Beeton to 



