804 



f HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nortli American Bee-Keepers' Society, 



SECOXD DAY— WED:NESDAY. 

 AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 2 p.m., Pres. Root in the chair. 



Officers were elected, as follows, for 

 the ensuing year: 



President— H. D. Cutting, Clinton, Mich. 



Recobiiing Secretaky— Frank L. Dougherty. 

 Indianapolis, iDd. 



CORRESPONDixG SECRETARr — Mrs. Cass Rob- 

 bins. Indianipolis. Ind. 



Treasurer— C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, O. 



TICE-PRESIDENTS : 



Alabama— Nelson Perkins, Princeton. 



Arkansas -Geo. B. Peters, Peters. 



Arizona— Jn8. H. Brown. Preecott. 



British Columbia— U. Spears, iSew Westminster. 



California— K. Wilkin, San Buenaventura. 



Colorado— I'hilip KeHrdon, Jamestown. 



Connecticut— II. 1.. Jeffrey. W:iahinpton Depot. 



District of Columbia -Kev..I. A. Buck, Washington. 



Dakota— J. H. Towniey, Ashtfin. 



Delaware— Geo. Uemingtun, Wilmington, 



Florida— W. S. Hart. Hawk's Park. 



Georgia— Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta. 



Illinois— Mrs, J., Harrison, Peoria, 



Indiana— J. Scholl. Indianapolis. 



Iowa— J. M. Shuck, Des Moines, 



Kansas— Chas. Smith, MarysviUe. 



Kentucky— J. M. Egbert, Salvisa. 



Louisiana- P. 1,. ViallnD, Bayou Goula. 



Maine— J, B, Mason. Mechanic Falls. 



Manitoba- H<-in. .1. H. Wallbridge, Winnipeg. 



Massachusetls-S. M. L'lcke, Wenham, 



Michigan— Miss Lucy Wilkins, Farwell, 



Missouri— E. M. llayhurst, Kansas City, 



Mississippi- Dr. O- M. Blanlon, Greenville, 



Minnesota— C, K. Greening, Grand Meadow. 



Maryland— Dr. W. G. Phelps, Galena. 



Montana— (has. Bruce. Wickes. 



Is'eliraska— T. L. VonDorn, Omaha. 



Nevada— A. A, Leeper, Carson City, 



New Jersi-y- E. Terryberry, Highbridge, 



New York— Ira Barber, DeKalb Junction. 



North Carolina— H. II, Walwon. Sladesville. 



Nova Scotia— C. T. Junes. Waterville, 



New Hampshire- M, llarie.Keno, 



Ohio— A, I, Boot, Medina. 



Ontario— J. H. Hall, Woodstock. 



Pennsylvania— Arthur Todd, Germantown, 



Prince Edw. Island— Jas. Gourde, Summerside, 



Quebec— II. F, Hunt, Quebec, 



Rhode Island— Wm. J. Tracy, Burrillville, 



South t arolina— S. C, Boylslon, Charleston. 



Tennessee- W, P. Hendert-on, Murfreesboro, 



Texas— W, H, Andrews, McKinney, 



TJlah- John Morgan. Salt Luke City,' 



Virginia— J, W, Porter, Charlottesville. 



Vermont— A, E. Manum, Bristol. 



West Virginia- A. W, Cheney, Kanawha, Falls. 



Wisconsin— Christopher Grimm, Jefferson. 



Wyoming-James Fields. F.irt Laramie. 



Washington- H, A, Mwrsh, Fidalgo, 



[As a mistake was made in one of 

 the names last week, we republish all 

 of them.— Ed.] 



A letter read bv Mrs. L. Harrison, 

 from Mrs. Sarali J. Axtell. Roseville, 

 Ills., conveyinft her salutations to the 

 Society, and detailing her experience 

 as a bee-keeper, was referred to tlie 

 committee on resolutions. 



An essay on " Selling and shipping 

 bees by the pound," by Mr. E. M. 

 Hayhurst, of Kansas City, Mo., was 

 read. 



A. I. Root — I do not think the letter 

 extravagant; such reports are quite 

 frequent. The original half-pound of 

 bees that !Mr. Ilayliurst sent me was 

 put upon combs, and made so strong 

 a colony that it was, 'I believe, divided 

 ill the fall. We must have young 

 bees, and the bee-keeper must bean 

 exijert. Mr. Root then described 

 what could be done in a single season 

 with a lialf-pound of bees and a fertile 

 queen in May. 



There was general concurrence in 

 the utility and convenience ot selling 

 bees by the pound. 



Mr. A. I. Root, of Medina, O., then 

 read the following on 



EXiCELLENCE OrCHEAPNESS— WHICH V 



I do not know but that this subject 

 was given me because some of the 

 brethren think I have been a little too 

 eager to recommend cheap tools and 

 appliances ; and may be they thought 

 I would defend my side of the subject 

 while somebody else would take up 

 excellence rather than cheapness. 

 Now, it seems to me that wisdom and 

 experience should guide us in this 

 matter, and that we cannot very well 

 lay down general rules for purchas- 

 ing bee-supplies, or for purchasing 

 anything else, in fact. Isaiah tells 

 us, in his first chapter, to " learn to 

 do well;" that is, doing well is pro- 

 gressive ; and I should also say, learn 

 to purchase wisely. If you have a 

 little money that you want to invest 

 in bee-supplies, do not be in a hurry 

 to get rid of it all. It is said that 

 " through wisdom is a house builded;" 

 and 1 should say, " through , wisdom " 

 we make prudent purchases. 



Suppose a boy is large enough to 

 need a knife. What kind of a knife 

 should he purchase — a five-cent knife 

 or a two-dollar knife '< Why, I should 

 say it depends upon who the boy is, 

 his age, and what he wants to do 

 with the knife. IJut with the average 

 boy, I think it would be a pretty good 

 idea to try the cheap knife first. 

 Even if he has laid up a couple of 

 dollais to buy a pocket-knife, I think 

 he will get more satisfaction by try- 

 ing a cheap one first than bv trying 

 the two-dollar one first. If the cheap 

 one does not please him, nor answer 

 his requirements, it would not be 

 very much expense to give it to some 

 other boy, and try a little better one. 

 Let him carefully examine and test 

 each knife he buys, until he becomes 

 a tolerably good judge of knives, and 

 is able to "purchase understandingly. 



There are a great many people — 

 and good people too — who have a way 

 of saying, in regard to every purchase 

 that comes up, " The best is the 

 cheapest." A good deal depends 

 upon what you mean by best. Suppose 

 you want a hammer. There are ham- 

 mers in the market for only five cents. 

 They are not loose nor rickety either, 

 for t;hey are made all of one piece of 

 iron ; and although they may be awk- 

 ward and cheap looking, they will do 

 a vast amount of service for many 

 kinds of work. They cost so little 

 that if somebody borrows one, or loses 

 it, it does not matter much ; and I 

 have found it quite convenient to 

 have these cheap hammers scattered 

 all around the premises. We have 

 one down in the barn, and one in the 

 stable out in the lots. The cliildren 

 have them to crack nuts; and, in fact, 

 their are so many of them on the 

 premises that whenever you want 

 some sort of hammer for just a min- 

 ute, you can almost always get hold 

 of one of these, without going a great 

 way or hunting very long. 



But, do you think I would give a 

 good mechanic such a hammer to put 



up hives with ? By no means. In 

 putting up hives he uses a hammer 

 almost constantly ; and if I could find 

 a hammer loorih five dollars, 1 would 

 give it to him without hesitation ; for 

 if it were worth only a cent a day to 

 him more than a cheap hammer, it 

 would soon pay for itself. For this 

 same reason a good mechanic ought 

 to have at least three hammers, and 

 three good ones. Now, when f say 

 I would give a hammer worth five 

 dollars if I could find it, I do not 

 mean that I would buy one that is 

 silver-plated, or has inlaid work in 

 the handle, and things of that sort ; 

 neither would I give him a hammer 

 that had a great amount of unimpor- 

 tant work put on it. One of our large 

 railroad companies paid S60 (I think 

 it was) for a dozen hammers to be 

 used by some of their expensive men. 

 These hammers were all worked out 

 by hand, and were very handsomely 

 made. I do not believe it will pay 

 many bee-keepers to use tools or 

 appliances made in this way. When 

 he becomes so well oft' in producing 

 honey and bees that he has some 

 money he really does not know what 

 to do with (I wonder if there are any 

 such here to-day), it maybe just the 

 thing for him to do, to buy a six- 

 dollar hammer to make hives with, 

 because, you know, " the best is 

 always the cheapest." 



Suppose somebody of limited means 

 wants to try bee-keeping. What kind 

 of a colony of bees should he buy ? 

 Without knowing anything about the 

 general habits of the man or woman, 

 I would say, let them get the cheapest; 

 colony of bees that could be found in 

 the neighborhood, thus saving ex- 

 pensive transportation charges, and 

 also making their purchases of friends 

 and neighbors. Then I would advise 

 getting an Italian queen ; but as I • 

 have said before, if one is new at the 

 business, and, may be, likely to make 

 blunders at first, I would tell him to 

 get an untested queen. After he in- 

 troduces her all right, and she begins 

 to lay, if she does not turn out well in 

 every way, let him try a higher-priced 

 one next time, working progressively; 

 and m> experience convinces me that 

 the best way in the world to get any- 

 thing of this kind is to get it progres- 

 sively. Learn to do well, not under- 

 take to come up to the highest stan- 

 dard all at once. There is far more 

 enjoyment in making a little more 

 improvement every day, than in step- 

 ping into great things, even if it 

 could be done. The same with hives, 

 I would first get a cheap hive. When 

 winter comes, get a hive suitable for 

 winter, even if it does cost a little 

 more ; but save the old hiv.e for the 

 increase when spring comes again. 



If you are going to make hives, 

 start out with tew tools and purchase 

 judiciously each season, as you find 

 you really need to. Uo not get any- 

 thing to be put away on the shelves 

 until you may need it. Purchase 

 what you need, and no more, until 

 you have pretty surely demonstrated 

 that it would be prudence to purchase 

 larger lots for the sake of getting 

 better prices. If you have worked 

 with comb foundation enough to 



