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Holmes, of Shoreham, and the Secre- 

 tary, J. H. Larrabee, read the minutes 

 of the last meeting and the new Con- 

 stitution, which was adopted at the 

 meeting held at Middlebury last year. 

 The appointment of committees re- 

 sulted as follows : 



Committee on nominations : Addi- 

 son county, V. V. Blackmer ; Chitte n- 

 den county, George Beecher ; Lamoille 

 county, J. W. Smith. 



Committee on exhibits : Franklin 

 county, F. M. Wright ; Washington 

 county, H. W. Scott ; Rutland county, 

 H. L. Leonard. 



Committee on resolutions : Miss M. 

 A. Douglass, Miss Lottie L. Crehore, 

 and T. S. Warner. 



" Management of bees during swarm- 

 ing," was the subject of the first essay, 

 by V. V. Blackmer, of Orwell, who 

 gave his personal experience in hiv- 

 ing swarms. In the discussion which 

 followed, Mr. Manuni gave some in- 

 teresting information in regard to the 

 control of swarming bees, his method 

 of clipping the wings of queens calling 

 forth questions from several members. 

 Mr. O. J. Lowrey, of Jericho, being 

 absent on account of sickness,his essay 

 on "Metallic hone}'-boards," was 

 omitted, and the President called for 

 remarks on the subject, and Messrs. 

 Wright, Cram and Smith responded. 



The essay on " The rearing and 

 shipping of queens," by A. E. Manum, 

 ■who is an enthusiast in the business, 

 called forth an interesting discussion 

 in which the speaker made some inter- 

 esting answers to questions. 



" A book of chronicles," by Miss M. 

 A. Douglass, of Shoreham, was an in- 

 teresting history of the organization 

 and perfection of the Vermont Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, as evolved from 

 the Addison County Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, organized at Middlebury, in 

 1875. 



The last feature of the afternoon ses- 

 sion was an address on "The chem- 

 istry of lioney and other sugars," by 

 Joseph L. Hills, State chemist. Mi'. 

 Hills introduced the polarisoope, and 

 gave an exceedingly interesting de- 

 scription of the composition of sugar 

 and honey. At the conclusion of the 

 address, a vote of thanks was unani- 

 mously passed by those present. 



The subject of the incorporation of 

 honey among the products placed on 

 sale hy the Board of Trade was in- 

 troduced by the President, and at 4:20 

 the convention adjourned till evening. 

 An informal canvass among the 

 members present during the intermis- 

 sion, showed that quite a number of 

 bee-keepers in this State were produc- 

 ing from one to eight tons of honey; 

 and that there was a decided opinion 

 in favor of making a strong eflort to 

 incorporate honey among the products 



put on sale by the Boards of Trade. 

 Storage at a temperature of 90° is 

 necessary for the storage of honej-. 



THE EVENING SESSION. 



The convention was opened at 7:20 

 p.m., by the reading of reports of 

 Vice-Presidents. 



The first essay of the evening, on 

 "Honey-packages," gave some valua- 

 ble hints in regard to putting up 

 honey, and the kind of packages whicli 

 would cause the most ready sale in 

 the market. Miss Crehore, in an able 

 and exceedingly business-like manner, 

 told how she marketed honey, and the 

 remarks that followed showed that she 

 cert,ainly understood her business. 



Mr. Ferguson, Secretary of the Ver- 

 mont Board of Trade, introduced the 

 subject of placing honey upon the 

 Board, and some spicy remarks were 

 made by Mr. Davis, of Bradford, in re- 

 gard to the manner in which the pro- 

 ducer of honey is beaten out of his 

 profits, by the commission houses of the 

 larger cities. The discussion then be- 

 came quite animated. 



Prof. G. H. Perkins, State entomolo- 

 gist, with the assistance of a micro- 

 scope and a diagram, gave an interest- 

 ing informal talk on the " Bee and its 

 insect enemies." At the conclusion of 

 Prof. Perkins' address, the convention 

 adjourned. 



SEIOOISTID IDJ^'^ir. 



The morning session opened with 

 the report of the Secretary, which 

 showed the association to be in a 

 flourishing condition. The Treasurer's 

 report showed a balance in the treas- 

 ury, and all debts paid. 



The committee on nominations re- 

 ported the following officers, who were 

 elected : 



President, V. V. Blackmer, of Or- 

 well ; Vice-Presidents : F. H. Walker, 

 of Manchester ; D. S. Hall, of South 

 Cabot ; J. E. Crane, of Middlebury ; B. 

 P. Greene, of St. Albans ; H. L. Leon- 

 ard, of Brandon ; J. W. Smith, of 

 Stowe ; M. F. Cram, of West Brook- 

 field ; A. J. Albee, of Derby ; J. D. 

 Goodrich, of East Hardwick ; George 

 Beecher, of Essex ; and Secretary and 

 Treasurer, J. H. Larrabee, of Larra- 

 bee's Point. 



Mr. H. D. Davis discussed "Winter- 

 ing, and the influence of the ' Pollen 

 theory ;' " explaining his success in win- 

 tering bees. He claimed that the 

 pollen soured, if it became damp, and 

 therefore must be kiapt drj'. He turns 

 the bi-ood-chanibors upon end in win- 

 tering,thereby gaining a deeper brood- 

 chamber, in accordance with nature. 



MANAGING THE INCREASE. 



The consideration of "The control 

 and prevention of increase " was then 

 taken up. 



Miss Lottie L. Crehore, of Bradford, 

 illustrated her remarks on the subject 

 by the use of a swarming device, con- 

 sisting of a brood-chamber attached to 

 one side of a hive. She regulated the 

 increase as she desired, by changing 

 to new brood-chambers. The brood- 

 chambers contain eight frames each, 

 and nine days after the first swarm 

 issued, four of the frames in the old 

 brood-chamber were put into another 

 brood-chamber, upon which other 

 swarms were hived. By means of this 

 device, the bees are driven back into 

 the hive, and an increase is prevented. 



Miss Wolcott, of Shoreham, was the 

 next speaker. She said that when fine 

 queens issued, new colonies were 

 formed to the best advantage. By 

 having the queens' wings fully clipped 

 in the spring, and cutting out queen- 

 cells, the issue may be readily regu- 

 lated, and entirely prevented if no 

 cells are overlooked. 



M. F. Cram, of West Brookfield, 

 used the more common methods of 

 regulation, which consist of simply 

 going to the hive before the bees swarm, 

 taking away the queen, and then al- 

 lowing no queen-cells to hatch. The 

 subject was then generally discussed. 



BEE-MATTEES OF INTEREST TO ALL. 



In relation to saving queen-cells 

 from desirable colonies, Mr. Holmes 

 said that he would allow no cells to 

 hatch till enclosed in a queen-nursery. 



Miss Crehore, in answer to a ques- 

 tion, said that she did not use comb 

 over three years old. 



Mr. Davis, of Bradford, said that he 

 could not use the comb long, because 

 there would be too much pollen in it. 



Mr. Manum and Mr. Cram said that 

 they were troubled with too little 

 pollen. 



Mr. Davis thought that there was a 

 diflerence in localities in relation to 

 pollen. 



The best way to dispose of partly- 

 filled sections, Mr. Wright said, was to 

 extract the honey and keep the comb 

 for another year. 



Mr. Manum said that it would not 

 be profitable for a bee-keeper who had 

 50 colonies, to make his own founda- 

 tion. He thought that Italian bees 

 swarmed more than black bees. 



Mr. Wright said that if a man had 

 time, he could make his own supplies 

 profitably, but if he had other work, it 

 would be cheaper to buy them. 



Mr. Manum thought that it would be 

 profitable to buy bees, and hire a man 

 to care for them, judging from his ex- 

 perience ; but he would not advise a 

 man to do so who had no experience. 

 He thought that one man could man- 

 age 300 colonies. 



Various speakers said that the best 

 kind of fuel for smoking was poplar 



