AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



Topics of Interest. 



Illinois Stale CoiiveiiUon. 



JAS. A. STONE. 



At this, my first spare moment, I pro- 

 ceed to give a kind of synopsis of the 

 late convention of the Illinois State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. The attend- 

 ance was not as large as we hoped for. 

 Some of the members sent their regrets, 

 and that sickness was keeping them 

 away. And we hear from many that 

 were kept away on account of La Grippe, 

 etc. Though we had a fair attendance, 

 and an exceedingly interesting meeting. 

 Our meeting was held in the Senate 

 Judiciary room at the State House, and 

 through the kindness of the State Secre- 

 tary, I. N. Pierson, and Chief Janitor 

 W. E. Savage, we received the attention 

 that could not fail to make our visit to 

 the capital a pleasant one. 



The meeting was called to order by 

 the President, P. J. England, of Fancy 

 Prairie, and Eev. Dr. Johnson, of 

 Springfield, invoked the divine blessing 

 — praying that we might learn lessons 

 of industry from the habits of the little 

 bee. 



Mr. G. F. Robbins, of Mechanicsburg, 

 gave us a very eloquent address, to 

 which Mrs. L. Harrison, of Peoria, just 

 as eloquently responded. 



Each member was then requested to 

 report as to their several apiaries, which 

 feature proved to be as much of a love 

 feast as it was said to be at the meeting 

 of the Northwestern. And although 

 none could report any light-colored 

 honey, and not a great quantity of dark, 

 it was talked and laughed over as though 

 it was something to amuse rather than 

 disappoint. Later we received a report 

 from A. Coppin, of Wenona, stating- that 

 his crop of white comb-honey this year 

 was 3,000 pounds, and that they had no 

 honey-dew. 



The Secretary, in his report, took the 

 stand that it was unjust, and prejudiced 

 the minds of consumers, for us to call 

 honey-dew bug-juice. And that honey- 

 dew was not all from the exudation of 

 the aphis ; and if it was, it only differed 

 from honey in that it was exuded by 

 aphis, and fell upon the leaves, while 

 honey and wax were exuded by bees in 

 the hive. And, further, that as the 

 season advanced honey-dew became 

 darker, caused by the windy, dusty 



weather, depositing dust wherii the 

 honey-dew was on the leaves. 



The Secretary's report also showed 

 that our membership had increased to 

 more than 50, largely through the 

 efforts of Mr. A. N. Draper, of Upper 

 Alton. 



The Treasurer's report (A. N. Draper) 

 showed a balance on hand of $46.25. 



Committee on by-laws, C. E. Yocom, 

 of Sherman, A. Coppin, of Wenona, and 

 G. F. Robbins, of Mechanicsburg, re- 

 ported, and by-laws were unanimously 

 adopted as a whole. 



Hon. J. M. Hambaugh addressed the 

 convention on " What Laws are Bee- 

 Keepers in Need of?" He said that 

 bee-keepers did not need many laws, 

 but that they should have justice by 

 being represented, recognized and pro- 

 tected in their interests the same as all 

 other industries are. 



Mrs. L. Harrison read an essay, ex- 

 plained by charts, as follows, on the 



FertiUzation of Plants by Honey-iBees 



It appears to be the first anxiety and 

 care of all animal and vegetable life, to 

 reproduce its kind. As plants cannot 

 walk like animals, other agents, viz : 

 wind, water, birds and insects, were 

 appointed to carry out the requirements 

 of nature. 



Some families of plants grow the 

 male and female flowers on separate 

 plants, as the willow and green ash. In 

 others they are found growing on the 

 same branch, as on the oak, walnut, or 

 castor-oil plant. It is plainly seen that 

 in these two modes of growth some 

 foreign agent is necessary, to bring the 

 life-giving power to the embryo plant. 



Those plants that are dependent upon 

 the wind to bring together the agents 

 that produce life, yield pollen in great 

 abundance, as the pines, and it is car- 

 ried great distances. It has been seen 

 covering the ground so thickly that it 

 looked like a layer of sulphur, and it 

 must have come from forests -100 miles 

 distant. Currents of water convey pol- 

 len from one aquatic plant to another. 

 In some parts of the world, as in South 

 America or Australia, hummiil|; birds 

 are the agents in conveying the pollen 

 to some species of flowers. 



Insects are powerful agents in this 

 distribution of the "father dust," and 

 many plants have their own particular 

 insect. Dicentra spectabilis never bears 

 seed in this country, because its fertiliz- 

 ing moth has never been introduced 

 from North China, its native habitat. 

 Red clover, Trifolmm pratenfte, bore no 



