168 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Inaugural Address. 



Ladles and Ocntlemen of the Michigan B. 

 K. Association : 



I beg leave upon tliis pleasant occasion to 

 congratulate you, that our Society— the old- 

 est living organization ot its kind, also the 

 second one organized, so far as I can deter- 

 mine, in the United States— is no less active, 

 vigorous, and useful withall than it is aged. 

 That it has been a moving force in ' our 

 State, aye, and in our country, needs no 

 proof at my hands. Yet the fact that the 

 value of such associations has been called 

 in question by one of our first editors and 

 writers in this department, and more recent- 

 ly by one of our own members, one whom 

 we all respect, and whose wisdom and ex- 

 perience takes no second place among us; 

 together with the fact tliat my own con- 

 victions are most emphatically opposed to 

 this view, have led me to select the follow- 

 ing as the subject of my address: 



Are apiarian associations— like ours — 

 worthy of encouragement ? 



Of course I need not advocate before an 

 intelligent audience like the one I am now 

 addressing, the importance of social intei'- 

 coursf, espt'cially between those of like oc- 

 cupation and interest. That the tendency 

 of such gatherings is to broaden our sym- 

 pathies, and to heighten our regard for each 

 other, and thus surely to elevate and refine, 

 no one will dispute. As this benefit— no 

 inconsiderable one you will all grant— is 

 universally conceded, I will not tarry in its 

 discussion longer than to express the hope 

 tliat in future this feature may be indefi- 

 nitely advanced, by the more general at- 

 tendence, and participation of our wives, 

 sisters, and daughters. I sincerely hope 

 that in all our future meetings, no incon- 

 siderable portion of our audiences and 

 essayists shall be those than whom none 

 should be more interested or may be more 

 profited, who heretofore have been too 

 much shut out from the pleasures, profits, 

 and healtlifulness of out-door employments. 



The second point I would make is the 

 fact, which I am sure 1 shall be able to 

 demonstrate, that these gatherings,twhicli I 

 believe can only be successfully sustained 

 by a State or States association, richly repay 

 all the trouble and expense they may cost 

 in advancing the interests of a|iic"ulture. 



This point might be sustained by anology 

 alone. What interest has ever yet succeed- 

 ed in attaining to any ^reat proportions, 

 without calling to its aid the co-operated 

 influence of its patrons— influence whose 

 very existence depends upon association ? 

 The very universality of conventions 

 among all classes, composed of those of 

 every art, trade and profession, is of itself 

 sufficient guarantee of their value. So we 

 may well conclude that if the apiarists of 

 our State and country intend' to take a 

 position worthy the important interest they 

 represent, they must continue to sustain 

 and make even more fruitful of good, this 

 and kindred organizations. 



But does our experience, now covering 

 nearly a decade, sustain this argument from 

 analogy. How many of us tliere are who 

 would "give a quick yes to this question ? 

 Whatever may be affirmed of other in- 

 dustrial arts, no one will question the fact 

 that successful apiculture is based on both 

 science and experiment. The progress of 



the art. yea and of individual success as 

 well, points no less to scientific research 

 than to wise and wide experience. 



We have only to mention the names of 

 Ruber, Siebold, Dziertzhon and our own 

 Langstroth, to remind you how much scien- 

 tific research has done for the apiarist. 

 Three of these names, and I may well add 

 that of Quinby, recall the innnence array of 

 experience which .so mightily aids the 

 apiarist of to-day. Now must each glean 

 all the scientific truths, discovered and un- 

 known, and gather all the experimental 

 facts known and yet to be discovered, for 

 himself ? This is so utterly impossible 

 that the very question seems absurd to any 

 one who rightly understands the subject. 

 Yet how can we pass as by one mighty 

 stride these lower rounds of apiarian pro- 

 gress so well as by being lifted by those of 

 more knowledge and experience, at just 

 such meetings as this ? Here the veriest 

 novice, if studious and attentive, may learn 

 so I'apidly that he has only to confirm his 

 yet crude ideas by a comparatively brief 

 personal experience that he may labor with 

 good hope or no mean success. 



It may be said that our numerous treatises 

 and periodicals may better accomplish 

 this purpose. They may be studied, not 

 merely heard and then lost. Far be it from 

 me to discourage the reading or under- 

 estimate the value of our bee literature. 1 

 believe that successful apiculture demands 

 that these invaluable aids be likewise ap- 

 propriated. Yet I believe that without our 

 conventions these would languish. Each 

 reciprocally sustains the other. Without 

 conventions, our journals would go begging 

 for substance, while both the journals and 

 text-books would look in vain tor remuner- 

 ative patronage. 



The above suggests another way in which 

 these conventions powerfully aid in ad- 

 vancing the interests of bee-culture. There 

 is no agency which is so powerful in re- 

 cruiting the ranks of our brotherhood. If 

 our meetings are migratory, as they should 

 be, people in all parts of the State will learn 

 of the inducements to become apiarists, and 

 hasten to avail themselves of its pleasures 

 and profits. Our local and State press 

 which would otherwise be comparatively 

 barren of such facts and figures, will reveal 

 to all our people a new avenue for profitable 

 thought, study and exertion, and hundreds 

 will "be led to adopt one of the most 

 pleasant and remunerative of rural pur- 

 suits, and the liquid sweets of myriad 

 flowers will no longer volatilize to be dis- 

 persed by the summer breeze, but will be 

 gathered up and made to contribute to the 

 wealth and comfort of our people. Surely 

 he who said "Gather up the fragments, that 

 nothing be lost," will add his kindly bless- 

 ing to our labors, which aim to foster the 

 good work of storing up the unlimited 

 sweets with which nature has filled the 

 flowers of the field, forest, and even way- 

 side. 



Again our discussions here, if wise and 

 well ordered, will lead each of us to new 

 thoughts, experiments and research. How 

 many questions there are, both of science 

 and practice, which as yet are wholly un- 

 solved. For instance, who knows as yet, 

 just why the bees are led to build drone 

 comb, all the causes which impel to swarm- 

 ing, just what accelerates the development 

 of the queen ? In practice, too, what a 



