TTHE? HlVIERIC3!tN BEIS JQXJJinKt.. 



815 



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President'!* Annual Address. 



Ladiex andOcntlcmenof thelnteriuttlonal 

 Atnericaii Dec-AsxocUil ion : 



Some one has very truthfully said that 

 this age of eivilizatiou is not without its 

 false gods and their worshippers. No evil 

 of the Nineteenth century is more univer- 

 sal. There is one shrine at which almost 

 every one bows with a devotion scarcely 

 excelled by paganism— it is at the shrine of 

 fashon ; and we, as bee-keepers, are not an 

 exception to the rule. Bee-keepers' conven- 

 tions are fashionable, and 1 doubt not 

 nearly all who can afford the time and 

 money to do so, and, as in the fashionable 

 world", probably some who cannot, are pres- 

 ent with us to-night. 



It gives me pleasure to meet you all at 

 this annual gathering, but especially those 

 who have been so long and favorably 

 known by their excellent contributions to 

 our bee-literature; and added pleasure 

 comes to me in the opportunity it gives of 

 meeting, face to face, so many of my Cana- 

 dian relatives (cousins, I believe), who 

 have so freely given me the credit of having 

 an acrimonious feeling towards everything 

 Canadian or English. It is not the first 

 time I have received credit for more than I 

 have deserved, and it is somewhat comfort- 

 ing to know that in this I have plenty of 

 good company. 



If you all knew, as some of you do, what 

 a corporeal infliction has been threatened 

 me. evidently bj' a Canadian, in case I 

 "dared to put foot on Canadian soil," you 

 might wonder how I dared to " beard the 

 ' lion ■ in his den," and be in attendance at 

 this convention. But when I tell you that 

 a prominent member of this Association 

 (also a Canadian), recently wrote me that 

 if I was not here, "a vote of censure will 

 be passed," you will readily see that I was 

 "in a strait betwixt two," and I at once 

 decided to run the risk of getting the first, 

 rather than to suffer the last. 



There is a fascination about coui'age, that 

 human nature worships. No matter how 

 uncouth, every one finds admirers the 

 moment it is authentically announced that 

 he is brave; and so, from this first and best 

 of animated nature, the characteristic of 

 unfailing courage is universally adored. In 

 this instance, I lay no claim to this ador- 

 able quality, for in a letter received a few 

 days since, from one of Canada's noted bee- 

 keepers, he saj's : " Now don't let your 

 fears get the better of you. I shall try hard 

 to be there, and won't let anybody hurt 

 you.'" So, as you see, I am here. But 

 another thing confronts me, for on a pos- 

 tal, written with type-writer, some friend, 

 who is verj' anxious about how I conduct 

 myself, says: "Do try to overcome your 

 surly manner at the convention. .-Vt least 

 don't be cross all the time." 



I can assure you that the anticipated 

 pleasure in meeting with Canadian bee- 

 keepers has had more to do with my being 

 here than any other one influence, al- 

 though I am grateful for the jirivilege of 

 being, if only for a few days, in a country 

 where "honey drops from the trees." How 

 eagerly we scan the pages of the bee- 

 paijers for something from the pen of our 

 favorite writers, but how much more pleas- 

 ure in meeting such face to face in a gath- 

 ing like this. As so fitly exjiressed in the 

 last Revieir, "The one is a love letter: the 

 other, the lover himself." 



Tblnes tbat addrei^s ttie ear are lost and die in one 

 abort hour ; but that which strikes the eye. lives 

 long upon the mind ; the faithful sight engraves the 

 knowledee with a heaiu uf lisht. 



I doubt not the most, if not all of you, 

 have come hero with the hope and expecta- 

 tion that this would be one of the most en- 

 joyable and profitable meetings ever held 

 by this Association, and such as bee-keep- 



ers delight in attending. That such may- 

 be the case is doubtless the wish of all 

 present. To make this wish a veritable 

 reality, can best be accomplished by each 

 one taking part in the discussions, and so 

 contribute their portion of information for 

 the general good. 



Soil, air, sun and moisture are requisites 

 to vigorous vegetable growth, but not the 

 only requisites, tor the house-plant has 

 these; but in order to reach its most perfect 

 development, it n\ust be removed from its 

 root-bound condition to its native soil, and 

 the open air where root and branch may 

 appropriate the uuurishmeut that is all 

 about it. In the domain of thought the 

 same is true, and any one wishing to reach 

 the highest attitude of attainment must 

 have fellowship and communion with 

 other minds; "establish a commerce for 

 his thoughts." He must give as well as 

 receive. 



Good sense will stagnate. Thoughts shut up want 



air. 

 And spoil, like bales unopened to the aun. 

 Thoughts, too, delivered is the more possessed ; 

 Teiicliing we learn, and giving we retain. 

 'Tis thoughts, exchange, which, like the alternate 

 Rush of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum. 

 And defecates the student's standing pool. 



Without this and kindred organizations, 

 each bee-keeper would have to depend 

 largely upon his own resources and experi- 

 ments; struggling on without adequated 

 knowledge; by slow and tedious process, 

 gathering important facts to be used for a 

 brief period, and then, with the possessor, 

 be buried forever out of sight. 



Men thus acting for themselves follow in 

 a beaten path.or become selfish and reticent 

 of their knowledge ; " wise in their own con- 

 ceits," and jealous of their dearly-acquired 

 wisdom. If such an one gets into a gather- 

 ing of this kind, he seems to feel that there 

 is nothing for him to learn, and we rejoice 

 when the scales fall from his eyes. 



We have met here for the very same pur- 

 pose for which other Ijee-keepers' conven- 

 tions are held, which was so appropriately 

 and beautifully told by the editor of the 

 American- Bee Joukxal, in his address at 

 the recent meeting of the Northwestern 

 Bee-Keepers' Society, at Chicago. 



"We have come here," he said, " to talk 

 over the past and learn wisdom from our 

 experiences, and those of our co-workers. 



Light and knowledge, and power 



have been man's inheritance as the days 

 have come and gone. The poet wisely re- 

 marks that — 



"The waves that moan along the shore. 



The winds that sigh in blowing. 

 Are sent to leacli n mystic lore 



\Vhichmen arc wise in knowing. 



"To this end have we come together, so 

 that the wisdom of each one may be com- 

 municated to all, with the magnetic cur- 

 rents of personal contact and hearty fel- 

 lowship 



"Mistakes are made, and reverses come, 

 but these do not discourage, they only 

 strengthen the determination to succeed. 

 Of couse we shall differ in our opin- 

 ions, as do the greatest and best of men, 

 but this should not give rise to any feeling 

 of ill-will." 



With this introduction, allow- me to call 

 your attention to some things in our 

 "specialty that have been, and are, attract- 

 ing our attention and eliciting discussion in 

 the bee-periodicals. 



Within a few mouths, a new " disease " 

 has made its appearance among .some of the 

 bees of Michigan, connnonly recognized by 

 its name, "digested nectar," and if our 

 Canadian bee-keepers are not very careful, 

 it will cross the line and get mixed with 

 their "pure crystal linden" honey. I sin- 

 cerely hope that the " Wolverines " will, if 

 possible, confine it to "its native heath." 

 It might not be unwise for this convention 

 to pass resolutions of sympathy tor such 



bee-keepers as have the malady in their 

 apiary, and appoint a committee to fully 

 investigate and report upon the matter, 

 giving them full power to send tor persons 

 and papers. 



Perhaps the thing most desired by lead- 

 ing apiarists is the prevention of sw-arming. 

 If what has recently been brought to our 

 notice, in the invention of wooden brood- 

 combs, by Mr. Aspinwall, of Michigan, 

 pi-oves to be what is claimed for it, that de- 

 sire will, ere long, be satisfied. But 



How seldom do ourdreams come true — 



The very thing our fancy lets 

 Us hope In time will be our own, 



Scjme other fellow always gete. 



We fall in love ; the mind's diseased. 



The brain is in a foolish whirl : 

 And while wc worshll) fmni afar. 



Some other fellow gets the girl. 



Ah ! what a torment life would be 



If we were of all hope heroft. 

 That in some fairer world tiian this 



That other fellow would get left ! 



During the present year there has been 

 added to our bee-literature G. M. Doolittle's 

 book on "Scientific Queen-Rearing;" and 

 the Dadants have done the bee-keeping 

 world a lasting favor in their splendid re- 

 vision of •' Langstroth on the Honey-Bee." 

 Its division into numbered sections, and 

 the frequent references from one to another, 

 with its copious index and superb engrav- 

 ings make it 07ic of the most, if not the rrwst 

 desirable work ever published on bee-cul- 

 ture, and it should be in every bee-keeper's 

 library. These, with Prof. Cook's "Manual 

 of the Apiary," "Quinby's Bee-Keeping" 

 revised, and "the "A B C of Bee-Culture," 

 with a few of the many valuable and inter- 

 esting books and pamphlets that have been 

 written and published by the editor of the 

 AvERK'AX Bee Joi'UN-Ai,, supplemented by 

 the reading of half a dozen, more or less, of 

 our leading bee-papers, will put the average 

 bee-keeper in pretty good shape to get both 

 pleasure and profit in attending and taking 

 part in bee-conventions, whether there be 

 "an axe to grind" or not. 



But the "latest thing out" is a Honey 

 Almanac for 1890, issued by the publishers 

 of the Ameuihx Bee JoiiiXAi,, and to my 

 narrow- vision it has entirely demolished 

 the saying that " there is nothing new un- 

 der the sun." At least one copy of it 

 should be in the house of every family in 

 Canada and the United States, and it rests 

 with bee-keepers to see that such is the 

 case. , ^, , 



The sending of bees by the pound through 

 the mails has recently come under discus- 

 sion. As is usual, such a course has its ad- 

 vocates and opponents, and would it not be 

 well for this convention to consider the 

 matter, and take some action in regard 



The queen of wild-flowers and honey- 

 plants, the golden-rod, as a national flower 

 for the Yankees, whose praises of late have 

 been so freciuently.fervently and eloquently 

 sung might not be averse to receiving 

 some amorous attentions from the mem- 

 bers of this association, without blushing. 

 When in the field nodding to the breezes, 

 or as a bouquet on the breast of a lovely 

 woman, it possesses a beauty unequalled 

 and unsurpassed by any other flower. 



The honey crop in 1887 and 1888, to 

 many of us, was a total failure, and to some 

 even worse. For others, there was a par- 

 tial crop, and to but few was there the 

 usual yield, but a fairly good crop the past 

 season, revived the failing spirits of many, 

 if not the most of us. and I am quite con- 

 fident that some who are here would not 

 have been, had the honey yield been as 

 light in 1889 as it ivas the two previous 

 years. Owing to the meagre yield in 1887 

 and 1888, the price at some points was 

 materially greater than it has been this 

 year. 



