hundred pounds a swarm. From 5 colonies 

 he got 725 lbs. of honey, and increased his 

 colonies to 35. But he had to feed them after 

 the flowing season. 



Mr. Butler, of Jackson, claimed that he 

 could not extract honey without injuring 

 more or less of the brood. He would not 

 dare to extract as closely as Mr. Overniayer 

 had said was his practice. 



The Secretary had said he had seen Mr. 

 Overmayer extract the honey from'a colony 

 owned by a man near Toledo, and the opera- 

 tion was very successful; the cells were 

 entirely exhausted; brood was notdisturbed. 



President Cook sustained Mr. Overmayer's 

 views, and said he never hurt any brood in 

 extracting. He also believed in feeding. 

 He said he thought there was more in the 

 talk of "foul brood" than in the reality. 

 He didn't think foul brood would result 

 from the use of the extractor. 



Mr, Everett, of Toledo, asked if there was 

 not danger of extracting too close from a 

 two-story hive. 



Mr. Overmayer said in case of a two-story 

 hive he would extract the upper story first 

 and then change positions. 



Mr. Bingham said that in Michigan it 

 would not do at all to throw out the honey 

 as closely as Mr. Overmayer bad done. 



Mr. Bingham moved that each gentleman 

 present hand in his name, place of residence, 

 number of colonies he had last spring, num- 

 ber of colonies now, honey, box or extracted, 

 raised during tiie season, and amount it was 

 sold for. The motion was adopted. 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



The President opened the discussion of 

 this question by a tew remarks, and said he 

 used artificial comb foundation with great 

 success. The great trouble with it is that 

 if filled it would " sag," and this objection 

 uuist be met, and without doubt would be 

 met. The remarks made at the National 

 Convention on Novice's Foundation, by Mr. 

 Newman and Mr. King, rather surprised 

 him. He found that bees generally thinned 

 out foundation if too thick. 



Mr. Newman, editor of the American 

 Bee Journal, said it was very certain that 

 bees sometimes would not thin out the 

 foundation, and if it was too thick it was 

 unpleasant. But sometimes they would, 

 and if the foundation could be thin enough 

 it would be a great improvement. The 

 matter of sagging was an objection. Capt. 

 Hetherington, of New York, was experi- 

 menting with it, and had invented a plan 

 for preventing it; he had found it a success 

 so far, and if he continued to find it success- 

 ful, he would make his plan public, but he 

 was opposed to advocating anything till well 

 tested and found to be absolutely successful. 

 Mr. Bingham thought there was no ne- 

 cessity for the use of the starters at present. 

 He said drone comb could be easily cleaned 

 by pouring over it water from a sprinkling- 

 pot, and it made the nicest kind of starters. 



Mr. Butler said the comb foundations 

 were a perfect success with him. He had 

 used large quantities, some thick and some 

 thin, and thought there was no difference.— 

 He thought a great deal of it for box honey, 

 and never found any trouble in disposing of 

 it, but never used it for brood purposes. 



Mr. Bingham was not opposed to comb 

 foundation. He thought it a success. 



An essay was then read on Honey Plants, 

 which will appear in the next Journal. 



Mr. Thompson, of Detroit, said he had 



much experience in raising mignonnette. — 

 Feared it would be a failure at first, but 

 when it did start it exceeded his expecta- 

 tions, as a bee plant. It continued to bloom 

 from June 15 'till hard frosts. 



Mr. Russell was elected Treasurer of the 

 Society pro tern. 



" What shall we wear," was the title of a 

 paper by Mrs. L. ]i. Baker, of Lansing, 

 which was read. 



[ This will appear in the next American 

 Bee Journal.— Ed. j 



Dr. Whiting, East Saginaw, said most 

 bee-keepers were discarding rubber gloves. 

 The danger of being stung on the hands 

 was very slight. 



Mr. T. G. Newman, of Chicago, then gave 

 the following address on 



MARKETING HONEY. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Oentlemen: 



To meet with you on this occasion, and 

 unite in the discussion of themes that inter- 

 est every apiarist is indeed a pleasure, — the 

 more so, because this association is one of 

 the oldest and best on the continent; many 

 names of Its members being "household 

 words" in thousands of homes— not only in 

 this country, but also in Europe and Aus- 

 tralia, and when, by means of that mighty 

 lever — the printing press — we transmit to a 

 World your " thoughts that breathe and 

 words that burn," — they echo and re-echo 

 " to Earth's remotest bounds!" 



The honey market is a subject that inter- 

 ests every apiarist, in order that honey 

 may be sold readily, it must be attractive! 

 Has it never occurred to you to enquire why 

 bolts of muslin are labeled with litho- 

 graphs of luscious fruit? Or why boxes of 

 fancy toilet articles are adorned with litho- 

 graphs of enchanting faces with bewitching 

 smiles? Answers to such questions offer 

 us instructive lessons that will pay for the 

 learning! Manufacturers know full well 

 that in order to have their goods sell readily 

 they must be attractive! No matter how 

 good the quality, nor how cheap the price 

 —they must attract and please the eye ! 



To-day, Comb Honey is the preference 

 for table use, and if we would cater to the 

 public want, we must produce that article 

 in the most attractive shape. This must 

 necessarily be arrived at by growth! We 

 could not jump at once to " the most desira- 

 ble shape," — but by steady, forward steps, 

 we hope soon to approximate perfection! 



The larger boxes of yore with many 

 combs are rapidly going out of demand, 

 and now it Is difficult to dispose of those 

 having more than 2 or 3 combs, at any price. 



As if " sniffing from afar" the breezes of 

 public opinion, Mr. Harbison invented the 

 California sectional frame, and placed car- 

 loads of honey upon the market in it. These 

 were readily accepted, and but for the fol- 

 lowing reasons would soon have become 

 general: 



1. Though readily divided by grocerymen, 

 it puzzled them to devise means to pack 

 such combs without side protection with 

 other goods, and deliver to their customers 

 without seriously damaging them. 



2. In the retail stores, not being protected 

 from dust and dirt, honey in these frames 

 soon became unattractive to consumers. 



But again invention comes to the rescue, 

 putting upon the market single-comb 

 frames, so coustructed that they may be 

 easily glassed when taken from the hive 



