96 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Baldridge thought that, by skilful man- 

 agement, the Association might be able to dis- 

 tribute such a work at a very cheap rate, if not 

 gratis. 



The Secretary thought this a matter of great 

 importance, as the dissemination of truth not 

 only aided industry and increased capital, but 

 also led to higher intellectual attainments, and 

 ■what was still more desirable, raised the moral 

 tone of the people, and especially was this true 

 in relation to truths connected with natural 

 history. 



Mr. Marvin said our Agricultural College was 

 doing efiicient work in this direction. 



Messrs. Cook, Baldridge and Townley were 

 chosen a Committee to give the subject consi<l- 

 eration, and to confer Avith scientific men, and 

 report a plan of procedure at next meeting. 



The Association then proceeded to discuss the 

 following question ;— Can a country be over- 

 stocked witu bees ? 



Mr. Baldridge said bees at St. Charles, Ills., 

 work for five miles around ; flowers w^ere plenty, ) 

 and hundreds of colonies might be kept., 



Mr. Marvin advised killing half our stock. 

 We could care for the remainder enough better. 

 The honey and comb being given to them in 

 spring, would stimulate to increased labor ; and 

 having comb already, they would early store a 

 great quantity of surplus honey ; and they 

 would also breed faster. He would only kill 

 if stands were too numerous and food unob- 

 tainable. 



Dr. Conldin inquired why destroy the bees? 

 "We have plenty of food for all ; and one dollar 

 will furnish a hive of bees with all the food that 

 will ever be needed to winter Ihem. 



Evening Session. 



The Constitution was amended so as to make 

 the Executive Board consist of the President, 

 and Vice President and Secretary, instead of 

 the President, the Secretary, and an Executive 

 Committee of ten. The Associati(m then pro. 

 ceeded to the election of officers. E. Rood, of 

 Wayne, wished to be excused from longer serv- 

 ing as President, on account of age and ill 

 health. The election resulted as follows : 



President — A. F. Moon, of Paw Paw, Mich- 

 igan. 



Vice President— 'R. Huff, of Jonesville, Mich- 

 igan. 



Secretary — A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, 

 Lansing, Michigan. 



Treasurer — R. G. McKee, Laingsburg, Mich- 

 igan. 



The Committee appointed to judge as to the 

 merits of hives, awarded the first premium to 

 H. Huff, who exhibited the Thomas Hive. This 

 hive, in their judgment, being the most simple, 

 most easily constructed, and most accessible to 

 the apiarist, possessing also the merit of dura- 

 bihty. 



The judges on honev awarded the first prize 

 to E. N. Sheik, of Three Oaks, who entered a 

 large box of beautiful basswood honey in the 

 comb. The second prize was granted to M. M. 

 Baldridge, who exhibited a can of most excel- 

 lent honey which was extracted by his machine. 



Feeding Bees. 



Mr. Marvin used tight-bottomed hives, turn- 

 ing the honey into the entrance. 



Mr. Baldridge preferred upper story hives, 

 and would feed honey in frames or coml). 



Mr, Moon thought it often paid to feed sugar. 

 He dissolved five pounds of coflee sugar in one 

 quart of water. Poor sugar should never be 

 used to feed bees. 



Mr. Mason thought it better to add more 

 water, and then boil down. It made a better 

 syrup. 



The Secretary thought the best way was to 

 equalize honey by changing frames. 



The President and others thought the same, 

 if there was honey enough to spare. 



President Rood wished his swarms to have 

 twenty -five pounds of honey, each. He took 

 fiames of honey from those that had -more than 

 this, and gave to them that had less. 



Mr. Bafdridge said he would only feed honey, 

 and if there was none to spare, he would de- 

 stroy some of his bees. 



Mr. Moon thought it far more profitable to 

 feed sugar and save all the bees. 



Amemcan Bee Journal. 



All who read thip Journal spoke in the high- 

 est terms of its excellence ; and it was the 

 unanimous opinion that no beekeeper could 

 afford to be without it. Many of the first apia- 

 rists present coupled this with " Lnngstroth on 

 the Honey Bee," giving to both the highest 

 meed of praise. The one the best periodical, the 

 other the best treatise on bee culture, in the 

 English language. 



Upon inquiry it w^as found that more than 

 eleven hundred swarms of bees were owned by 

 members of this Association. 



There were a large number of patent hives on 

 exhibition. 



The Secretary, on behalf of the Society, would 

 thank Messrs. Rood and Baldridge for donating 

 their premiums to the Association. 



A. J. Cook, 

 Agricultural Colltge, 



Lansing, Mich. 



[For the Arncrican Bee Journal] 



Bees and Hives at the New York State 

 Pair. 



Mr. Editor : — While being at the State Fair 

 at Elmira, I wished to learn what I could about 

 bees and hives. There was not a great show of 

 either. 



Mr. V. Leonard, of Springfield, Bradford 

 couutji-. Pa , was there with a model of his Na- 

 tional Bee Hive, movable comb, or non-mova- 

 ble, swarming or non -swarming, controlling 

 worm-catching, and self-hiving invention. 



Also, J. H. Graves, of Rochester, N. Y., with 

 the Graves' hive. Of him I tried to learn some- 

 thing about the management of bees, and of the 

 moth-miller. He said that " by breeding the 

 moth under the hive, it cannot get into the 



