^onvizutions. 



National Convention. 



The North American Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in Cooper's Institnte huiiding, 

 New York, on October 8, 1878, President 

 Nell is in the chair, Thos. G. Newman, Sec- 

 retary. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read 

 and approved. 



A number of persons gave in their names 

 and paid their membership fees. 



The following delegates from local socie- 

 ties announced their presence to co-operate 

 in behalf of their Associations : 



B. O. Everett, N. W. Ohio Convention. 



A. E. Manura, Addison Co., Vt., Association. 



J. W. Porter, Albemarle Co., Va., Association. 



G. W. Batty, E. D. Clark and L. C. Root, North- 

 Eastern Bee- Keepers' Association. 



A. Reynolds, W^estern Illinois and Eastern Iowa 

 Convention. 



Theo. F. C. Van AUen and H. W. Garrett, Albany 

 Co., N. Y., Association. 



T. O. Peet and E. Parmly, N. Y. City Association. 



President Nellis then addressed theiCon- 

 vention, as follows : 

 Ladies and Oentlemen of the National 



Bee-Keepers' A ssociation: 



1 cannot but feel thankful to you for the 

 confidence you manifested in choosing me 

 as your presiding officer, and yet 1 have a 

 sense ot regret that 1 have so poorly per- 

 formed my duties and advanced tlie interests 

 of the Association. 



Another year of care and labor has passed 

 since last we met, and I hope not without 

 its lessons of knowledge and profit. We 

 have great reasons to thank the Father of 

 Mercies for a continuation of our being, and 

 for the temporal blessings that we, as a 

 nation, and especially as a class, enjoy. 



I trust we have assembled to compare our 

 experiences in a spirit of generosity, and 

 tiiat we will carefully guard against quoting 

 as fact, what with us may be only theory. 

 Above all, let our deliberations be charac- 

 terized by harmony, and by a sense of deli- 

 cacy that shrinks from saying or doing 

 things in a deliberative body that may 

 wound the feelings of any present. 



Although the honey-bee has been domesti- 

 cated since the earliest period of man's his- 

 tory, yet, not till within a recent date, say 

 half a century, has its culture been made an 

 exclusive or remunerative business. 



The apparatus used and management 

 adopted have been so greatly improved, and 

 the business has lately assumed such won- 

 derful proportions, that a retrospective 

 glance astonishes, and the inquiring mind, 

 peering into the future, exclaims, " What 

 next?" 



Altliough the inventions and improve- 

 ments of the past year may not have been 

 equal to some of its predecessors, yet we see 

 marked advancement. Bee-keepers are fast 

 adopting standard hives, of which we now 

 have less than half a dozen. Then, too, 

 surplus honey is being stored more uni- 

 formly in neat, marketable packages. 

 (Thanks to Mes.srs. Thurber, for assist- 

 ing to this desirable end by offering a gold 

 medal.) 



The use of comb foundation is becoming 

 universal, and the article has been so much 

 improved that the two greatest objections to 

 it, namely, sagging and breaking down, and 

 a thick, hard centre in box honey that is 

 unpalatable and easily detected, these ob- 

 jections, 1 say, are now removed, the first by 

 incorporating fine wire in the sheets ; the 

 latter by making the bottoms of cells thin- 

 ner than in the natural comb. I will explain 

 no further. Samples are here on exhibition 

 that will convince the most skeptical. 



Kecent experiments convince me that 

 at no distant day grape sugar is destined to 

 play an important part in the economy of 

 honey production. It is valuable for stimu- 

 lating brood-rearing, and seems equally use- 

 ful as winter food for bees in conjunction 

 with honey. Its low price and adaptability 

 to the purpose named, will soon bring it into 

 general use among bee-keepers. 



Intelligent men, whether engaged in a 

 business or contemplating it, desire to know 

 something regarding its future prosperity 

 and advantages. To my mind, the future 

 prospect of bee-culture was never better. 

 So long as the inhabitants of the globe con- 

 sume over 2,.500,000 tons of cane sugar per 

 annum, so long will bee-keeping not be over- 

 done. We must study to economize the labor 

 of production, till we can make a profit and 

 sell honey at the price of cane sugar. Then 

 will we find ready sale for our products in 

 our own neighborhoods, and save the ex- 

 pense and anxiety of marketing, now so 

 manifest. 



To accomplish this, we must be energetic, 

 and have a thorough knowledge of the busi- 

 ness. In my opinion, too little attention is 

 paid to the fact that localities can be over- 

 stocked, with bees— the result no profits, and 

 the owner does not know why. I am con- 

 vinced that in Central New York, to afford 

 the best results, not more than 60 colonies 

 should be kept on a section (640 acres) of 

 good, fertile, honey-producing land. We 

 grant, there are localities that will sustain 

 three times this number; but I speak in 

 general terms. 



From a considerable correspondence, and 

 from, to me, ascertained facts, 1 believe this 

 average would ai>ply to most other parts of 

 our country. Small apiaries, in the hands 

 of experienced men, produce marvelous 

 results, the public statements of which are 

 not generally accredited. Investigation 

 shows that with these men all things are 

 done properly and in season. A man resi- 

 ding not many miles from me, has for 6 or 8 

 yearskept just 60 colonies, and during that 

 period he has averaged a yearly production 

 of 6,000 lbs. of box honey. He does not in- 

 dulge in wild aspirations. He has mastered 

 his trade, and has learned the capacity of 

 himself and of his locality. He is accom- 

 plishing far more than many with five times 

 ills number of colonies, who bluster about, 

 and perhaps ultimately give up bee-keeping 

 in disgust. We must not draw exaggerated 

 pictures of the profits to be secured in bee- 

 culture, but we can say to the man seeking 

 a fair recompense for his labor, that in no 

 other business do we see better prospects for 

 success with so small a capital stock. I 

 know many will accuse nieof having an axe 

 to grind, as I sell supplies for the apiary ; 



