TMm MMERICjHLM BEEJ JOURNaiL. 



761 



to follow. He never had fouud auy 

 trouble or objection to his method. 



J. M. Hambaugh said that what the 

 specialist wanted was. how to prodiico 

 the most honey, and that a bee-keeper 

 who spent all his time witli bees must 

 keep ii large number of bees. There- 

 fore, as U inches was considered a 

 better space for winter, owing to its 

 giving more room for the bees to place 

 their honey and to cluster, he thought 

 that distance was the proper distance 

 for practical bee-keepers. 



At this ]ioint the discus'.on was in- 

 terrupted by the Presitleut. who said 

 that the time alloted to this subject was 

 up. and stated that the Business-Mens' 

 Association at Hamilton, had sent a 

 delegation to the Convention, to otter 

 to transport those of the bee-keepers 

 who desire it, to the establishment of 

 theDadants, at any time they might 

 select. The offer was enthusiastically 

 accepted, and it was unanimously 

 decided that the Convention would ad- 

 journ at noon of the last day, for the 

 proposed tri]). 



The Rev. W. F. Clarke theu read the 

 following on 



The 



International Bee-Association- 

 Its Past and its Future. 



After liaving, somewhat raslily. as- 

 sented to the request of our worthy Sec- 

 retary, that I would speak on this topic. 

 I began to consider wliat I would say. I 

 ought to liave done this before commit- 

 ting myself to the task. But I did not. 

 So the next best thing possible, was to do 

 it afterwards. 



Wlien I had fairly got on my thinking 

 cap, I made a study of the Secretary's 

 letter. It was not a strictly official, or 

 business document. There was a vein 

 of fun in it. I was to lie very lirief. The 

 reason assigned was, lest I miglit tire out 

 our good friend Dr. Miller, who was of 

 the opinion that I was inclined to be long- 

 winded. Well, I dare say he is right. 

 He ought to know. '• It takes a thief to 

 catch a thief," at least so an old ijroverb 

 says. The man who could reel off— what 

 was it ? — seventeen consecutive articles 

 on out-apiaries (?) must lie able.especially 

 if he is a Doctor, to give a correct diag- 

 nosis of long-windedness. 



The Secretary furtlier said he had put 

 me last on the programme, so that if Dr, 

 Milli'r got tired, he could go home. I 

 concluded that the idea was', that if the 

 Doctor did not leave until the last item 

 in thi- lU'ogramme was reached, the meet- 

 ing would not lose much of liis valuable 

 aid. What I would lose in lacking tlie 

 inspiration of his presence, and what he 

 would lose through not hearing my elo- 

 quent words, did not enter into the Sec- 

 retary's calculations at all. Well, I 

 thought it all very funny, and had a 

 hearty laugh over it, as you are doing 

 now. 



I shall not treat tlie first jiart of my 

 theme historically. That has been done 

 by an abler hand than mine, and we all 

 owe a great debt of gratitude to our 



friend, Thomas G. Newman, for having 

 rescued the (>arly records of our Associa- 

 tion from oblivion, and colle<'ted them in 

 tlie admiralile little coinpend which 

 records our annals from the first meeting 

 until the ever-memorabh^ one, held in 

 Detroit, ill DeciMiiber, ISS"). Uc has laid 

 us under further obligations by contiuu- 

 iug his historical labors up to date. I 

 shall take the liberty of expressing the 

 thanks of this Convention for these and 

 many other services rendered to the 

 interests of bee-keeping by Mr. Newman. 

 Prof. Cook, though a much younger 

 man than I am, was the father of this 

 Association, He was not present at the 

 birth of his child, but I was, and I can 

 testify that it was legitimately born, and 

 was a fine, lusty youngster at the start. 



May I just wliisper that the hiberua- 

 tion theory had the same ]iarentage. I 

 was nurse to the first-named child, and I 

 am foster-father to the second. Both 

 have had the usual maladies incident to 

 infancy and childhood, but both have 

 survived, and are "alive and kicking" 

 to this day. 



We owe as many thanks to the father 

 of this Association as we do to its his- 

 torian, for he was not only the author of 

 its being, but lias helped, as much as 

 any one else, to make its history. All 

 lionor to him ! — and •■ more power to his 

 elbow !" 



I wish to say a little in regard to what 

 this Association has accomplished. Its 

 first good work was to elevate Father 

 Langstroth to that pedestal of honorable 

 distinction which was his well-deserved 

 place. At the outset of this organization, 

 an attempt was made to start a rival 

 Association. The ring-leaders in the 

 movement were men who were not only 

 trying to rob Father Langstroth of his 

 legal rights, but of his good name. They 

 were decisively check-mated in a very 

 simple manner. This Association had 

 already elected Father Langstroth its 

 first President, thus doing liim honor.and 

 themselves more. When the convention 

 for tlie formation of a rival body met, 

 enough of us who knew Father Laug- 

 stroth's worth, and were impartially in- 

 tin-ested in bee-keeping, attended it to 

 elect the "Grand Old Man" President 

 of the rival organization too. We also 

 carried a resolution to adjourn to the 

 same time and iilace as liad been desig- 

 nated by this Association, and to take 

 stejis to make the twain one. Tlie mar- 

 riage was happily effected, and proved 

 an end of all strife. 



The Presidency of the joint Associa- 

 tion honestly fell to the next in rightful 

 succession, the late Moses Quinby. I do 

 not use tlie language of cant when I 

 add, " of blessed memory," Tlie higliest 

 authority declares that " the memory of 

 the just is blessed," and if there was 

 ever a just man on this earth, Moses 

 Quinby was one. His .services to bee- 

 keeping were only second to those of 

 Rev, L, L, Langstroth, and I drop to-day 

 on liis too early grave — what shall it be '? 

 — a siu-ig of evergreen, or a spray of 

 golden-rod '? — lit it be both. 



This Association not only proclaimed 

 to tlie world what a high place Father 

 Langstroth occupied in the esteem and 

 love of all honest bee-keepers on tills 



great continent of North America, but it 

 has been the means of doing sometliing 

 toward making Ids old age a little miu-i^ 

 comfortable. It has sliown its regard 

 and sympathy by deeds as well as words. 

 The iiurses of most bee-keepers are far 

 friMu plethoric, and recentyears iiave not 

 been iirospennis and jirofitable ones for 

 this iHirsuit, but our venerable friend 

 and fatliiT will not measure cnir love by 

 the magnitude — 1 should more jiropcrly 

 say, the smallness of our gifts. If our 

 purses were as full of money as our 

 hearts are of gratitude and atfection. In; 

 woulil yet die a rich man, as he ought to 

 do, and would, if he had his just be- 

 longings, 



I must emphasize tlie inlluence this 

 body has had in keeping re]mtal)le bi'e- 

 keepers at the front. Men who liad sel- 

 fish schemes to promote — axes to grind 

 for their own spi*cial benefit — have not 

 dared to face the honest daylight in 

 whicli this Convention has always lived, 

 moved and had its being. The quacks 

 and charlatans of bee-keeping have 

 known enougli to keep away from scenes 

 where exposure was imminent, if not 

 certain. Bee-keepers who had real and 

 valuable improvements to propose, were 

 not afraid to bring them here, and we 

 have always had a more or less extensive 

 display of really good apiarian requisites. 



At tlie outset of this organization, we 

 had motli-traps and multitudinous other 

 gim-craclis of the apiary, that we never 

 hear of now. The thorough sifting of 

 all matters connected with our pursuit 

 at these meetings, has disposed of a vast 

 amount of rubbisli. There has been a 

 furnace-fire constantly a-going, which 

 has purged away the dross, and left tlie 

 precious metals. 



Our conventions have been models of 

 propriety and courtesy ; we have had 

 free discussion without personality or 

 bitterness ; many life-long friendships 

 have been formed and fostered at our 

 gatherings, and I do not know of any 

 ill-feeling that rankles among us. Hav- 

 ing the misfortune, or the good luck, to 

 be a blunt .John Bull, I have sometimes 

 opened my mouth and put my foot in it ; 

 but it lias never been with any anger or 

 spite. I do not thinl-c of a single bee- 

 keeper to whom I am not ready to say in 

 the words of Gerald Massey : 



" Give me your hand, you shall, yo'u must, 

 I love you as a brother !" 



except tlie lady bee-lveepers. and. of 

 course, the brothers embrace the sisters, 

 in comprehension, and otlierwise, 



I want to say here, though I hesitate 

 to spealv of it on grounds of delicacy, 

 tliat though this Association did not 

 make our friend A, I. Root a bee-keeper, 

 yet it was one of the agencies ; and if I 

 am not mistaken, the first, that operated 

 to make him a good Christian man. 



We all believe, however much we may 

 differ from him on some points, that he 

 is trying to do all the good he can in the 

 realm of upiculture, and in other and 

 higher spheres of usefulness. I try his 

 patience and forbearance, especially 

 when he sees me taking a quiet smoke ; 

 lie tries mine in other ways, but all the 

 same, he has not a more true friend, 

 admirer and well-wisher, than myself, 

 notwithstanding he holds me up once a 



