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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ever attempted in this country. The 

 honey exhibit, though small, was also 

 good, none of the members being large 

 honey-producers. 



A number of magnifying glasses gave 

 the public a better view of the anatomi- 

 cal structure of the bees, queen and 

 drones. Several nuclei colonies, in ob- 

 servatory hives, were on exhibition, fully 

 equipped in rearing queens. An exhibi- 

 tion of transferring bees from box-hives 

 into movable-frame hives was also given 

 under the large wire-gauze tent belong- 

 ing to the Association, also the operation 

 of extracting honey from the combs. A 

 book of registry for bee-keepers was 

 also kept in the tent, and among the 

 strange and mysterious visitors who 

 registered therein were the King of 

 Kamtschatka and the Emperor of Japan. 



Another noteworthy incident in the 

 history of the Association was the recep- 

 tion tendered Mr. T. W. Cowan, Editor 

 of the British Bee Journal, who, accom- 

 panied by Mrs. Cowan, visited Philadel- 

 phia while making a tour of Canada and 

 the United States in the Fall of 1887. 



The reception was held on Sept. 26, 

 1887, at Carpenter's Hall, on Chestnut 

 Street, famous as the meeting-place of 

 the first Congress of the United States. 



Mrs. Thomas, in a few well-chosen 

 remarks welcomed the distinguished 

 visitors to our city. Mr. Cowan re- 

 sponded in a cordial manner, and gave 

 his listeners a detailed account of the 

 workings of the British Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, which was listened to with 

 marked attention. 



The powerful microscope which Mr. 

 Cowan carried with him was adjusted, 

 and the members, forming in line, viewed 

 the various parts of the honey-bee, with 

 which the majority were familiar, though 

 they had never seen them through a 

 glass of such power ; the Association 

 having had many former microscopic 

 exhibitions, with such glasses as were at 

 their disposal. « 



In writing of his trip through the 

 States, Mr. Cowan, in a subsequent num- 

 ber of the British Bee Journal, remarked 

 that he met the most scientific bee- 

 keepers in Pennsylvania; certainly a 

 great compliment to our Association and 

 the members. It may also be added that 

 the Philadelphia Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion was the only organized body of 

 apiarists who tendered Mr. Cowan a 

 reception on his trip to the United 

 States. 



The most useful branch of the Asso- 

 ciation is its Library, composed of books 

 and bee-literature of all kinds. A num- 

 ber of foreign bee-periodicals are also 



kept on its files ; in it are also to be 

 found a number of old bee books, in 

 which ideas on bee-culture are expressed 

 that afford great amusement in the light 

 of modern science. 



The Association imported the first 

 charts of the physiology and anatomy of 

 the honey-bee from England. They 

 have figured in an endless number of 

 lectures before the Association and other 

 assemblages. 



The minutes of the Association for the 

 ten years form a vast fund of informa- 

 tion on an innumerable variety of bee- 

 matters, and as a book of reference of the 

 work accomplished are of great value. 



The offices of President and Secretary 

 of the Association have been filled for 

 the whole term of ten years by Dr. H. 

 Townsend and F. Hahman, Jr., re- 

 spectively. 



To Dr. Townsend, for his unflagging 

 energy in the labor for the constant ad- 

 vancement of the welfare of the Asso- 

 ciation, the members feel deeply in- 

 debted. He has been ever ready to 

 burden the hard work upon himself, at 

 all times on the alert for new ideas in 

 bee-keeping, and on the look-out for the 

 merits possessed by new inventions, of 

 bee-appliances to be brought before the 

 members, to be explained and lectured 

 upon ; and when he thus appears at the 

 meetings, laden down with papers, bee- 

 periodicals, boxes and packages, charts 

 and diagrams, he then feels happy — 

 happy because he is rendering a service 

 to his fellow men. 



As we now pause, and look back over 

 the first decade of our existence as an 

 Association, at the strides we have made 

 in the science of apiculture since our 

 humble beginning ; as we recall the ties 

 of friendship which bind us together, 

 and to the memory of those who have 

 fallen by the wayside, and passed into 

 " the Valley of the Shadow of Death," 

 may we not humbly hope that it may be 

 said unto us : " Well done, thou good 

 and faithful servant?" and as we turn to 

 the future, ready to take up the onward 

 march, to overcome new difiSculties, to 

 place bee-keeping on a higher plane than 

 it ever occupied before, let us go for- 

 ward with renewed energy and vigor, 

 onward and upward. " Excelsior." 



After the reading of the Secretary's 

 sketch. Dr. and Mrs. Townsend invited 

 the members to partaken of a collation, 

 served by them in honor of this anni- 

 versary. 



The table in the dining room, to which 

 the members.adjourned, was loaded with 

 good things, the center piece, consisting 

 of a large cake, ornamented with the 



