a diploma for the most expert handling of 

 bees. 



In order to do this, let the amendments to 

 our Constitution of last year be reconsidered, 

 and sections 3 and 10 be reinstated— electing 

 a Vice President in eacli State and Territory, 

 who shall co-operate with the Society's Rep- 

 resentative, in awarding the bee and honey- 

 show prizes in his locality. 



To do this, tinancial aid will be absolutely 

 necessary ; but if it be done, a thousand 

 members can be obtained, and the funds thus 

 raised will carry out the provisions of these 

 recommendations, as the Representative 

 should be entitled to call upon the Treasurer 

 for a milage fee of say 3 cents per mile, to 

 cover traveling expenses to and from these 

 honey and bee shows, whenever a medal is 

 to be awarded. 



We recommend that a committee be ap- 

 pointed to procure medals and diplomas. 

 Thomas G. Newman. 



Mr. King, another member of the commit- 

 tee, remarked that the report, as a whole, 

 met with liis approval, though some details 

 should be discussed to ascertain the best 

 means of obtaining the desired results. 



The report was adopted, and Articles 3 and 

 10 of the Constitution were reinstated in 

 their former position, having been sus- 

 pended at the last session. 



The following were appointed acommitlee 

 of arrangements : T. G. Newman, L. C. 

 Root and E. J. Oatman. 



Dr. Parmly was appointed Secretary pro 

 tern., in the absence of the Secretary, who 

 was engaged on the committee of arrange- 

 ments. 



A. J. King then read the following essay 

 OD the 



RISE AND PKOGRESS OF BEE-CULTUKE. 



All the great inventions and discoveries 

 which have developed the resources of the 

 world to a greater extent within the past 

 century, than in all previous time since the 

 creation, have had their oriuin, more or less 

 remote, in the ages past. The various appli- 

 cations of steam, electricity, the mechanical 

 powers, and the wondrous developments of 

 natural science which have so changed tiie 

 face of all nature, and the currents of 

 thought within the past few years, are but 

 the accumulations and scientific combina- 

 tions of ideas and inventions, scattered all 

 along the line of the ages, by the past 

 generations in tiieir onward march from 

 Ignorance, superstition and bigotry to 

 Intel ligenc(*, knowledge and true science. 

 Of all the fields of research in the develop- 

 ment of National industries, none are more 

 fruitful, inviting, and instructive to the 

 Antiquarian than the history of the culture 

 of the honey bee, for in all his researches, 

 he will find himself in the company of the 

 wisest and best minds of all ages. Poets, 

 Naturalists,: Philosophers, and Doctors of 

 Divinity are all largely represented in its 

 history. Honey was regarded by the 

 Ancients as a present from the Gods, and 

 with it their lil)ations were made around the 

 tombs of those dear to them. With honey 

 they preserved their corpses. Witti honey 

 their Gods were appeased by pouring it on 

 their altars and tiie heads of the victims. 

 Honey was the only sweet known until 



within comparatively modern times. T'>e 

 Holy Scriptures abound in figures of the 

 highest joys and the most exquisite sweet- 

 ness, drawn from the bee and its delicious 

 product. Aristotle pronounced the honey 

 bee a magazine of the virtues. Virgil, the 

 most elegant of the Latin poets, calls it a ray 

 of the divinity, and chose it as the subject 

 for the best of his Georgics. Shakspeare, 

 Milton, and, in fact, all the prominent 

 writers, have bestowed on the bee, at least 

 a passing notice. DeMonfort, who, in 1B46 

 wrote a work on bees, estimates the number 

 of authors who had written on this subject 

 previous to his time, at between five and 

 six hundred, the larger part of which are 

 lost, but traces of most of them have come 

 down to us through works published in the 

 17th century. These works, one of which 

 was written by DeMontfort, seems to unite 

 the ideas of the Ancients with those of his 

 own time. And the nu)st romantic and 

 foolish reveries stand side by si<le with 

 sensible views, and in many instances the 

 two are so badly mixed, that to give in full 

 the various views which have prevailed, at 

 different times in the past history of bee- 

 culture, would bring a result similar to what 

 Milton says of the writings of the Fathers— 

 a huge drag net, brought down the stream 

 of time, filled mostly with sticks and straws, 

 pebbles and shells, sea-weed and mud, with 

 a pearl in the oyster here and there. We 

 shall confine ourself to the merest outline 

 of this history and endeavor to select as 

 many of the pearls as we can, in passing. 



Of the antiquity of the bee, we cannot 

 speak positively, but the geological evi- 

 dences of flowering plants, demanding 

 insects for their fertilization, together with 

 the remains of insect-feeding reptiles, as 

 well as herbivorous animals, places the bee, 

 at least presumably, aaes anterior to the 

 creation of man. The positive proofs of its 

 early domestication are ample. The 

 Ancient Egyptian sculpture and tablets 

 abound with hieroglyphics, wherein the 

 bee is the symbol of royalty, their economy 

 being represented with a monarch at its 

 head. In most instances these representa- 

 tions are rude, and betray a lack of close 

 observation, as the bee is pictured with two 

 wings and four legs; however, on one tab- 

 let of the twelfth-dynasty, the bee is 

 figured correctly, having four wings and six 

 legs. Shuckfird, in his " British Bees." 

 gives us indications of a still higher 

 antiquity from the Sdnskrit, wherin Ma 

 signifies hmiey; Mndhiipd, honey- drliiker, 

 and rtiad-hurnkara, honey maker. He 

 also traces the same in the Chinese dialects. 

 The earliest Shemitic and Aryan records, 

 the Book of Job, the Vedas, as well as the 

 Poems of Homer, are conclusive proof of 

 the early domestication of the honey bee, 

 all of which are interesting to the student 

 of Apiculture. Of the origin of bees, the 

 ancients indulged the most extravagant 

 fancies, some contending that they origi- 

 nated from the putrid carcasses of animals, 

 — probably from witnessing the transforma- 

 tion of insects as millers from moth worms, 

 butterflies from caterpillars, etc. They give 

 receipts to produce swarms of bees, the 

 details of which are too disgusting to relate 

 Others, of finer and more poetical coucep 



