"^HE AMEHIUAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



Korth-western Bee-keepers' Association. 



Official Eepokt. 



The third annual meeting of this association 

 was held at the Young Ladies' Library Rooms, 

 in Decatur, Illinois, on Wednesday evening of 

 the State Fair week. Three sessions followed 

 the annual meeting, two on Thursday and one 

 on Friday. The meeting was well attended by 

 the bee-keepers of Illinois and other States. The 

 majority were practical men, largely and enthu- 

 siastically engaged in the culture of the honej'' 

 bee. Several infiuential members of the press 

 were present. 



Tlie annual meeting was called to order byM. 

 M. Baldridge, the secretary, none of the other 

 officers being present. Dr. J. Blanchard, of Il- 

 linois, was then made chairman pro tern., but 

 vacated the office on the arrival of M. L. Dun- 

 lap, Vice President for Illinois. 



Tlie Vice President, on taking the chair, gave 

 notice that the Secretary was ready to record the 

 names and address, and to receive tae member- 

 ship fee of one dollar, of those wishing to join 

 the association. Twenty-four new names were 

 added to the list. The association then proceeded 

 to the election of officers for the ensuing year as 

 provided by the constitution. The following 

 officers were unanimously elected : 



President, M. L. Dunlap, Champaign, Illinois. 



Vice Presidents, Lucius C Francis, Spring- 

 field Illinois, Elisha Gallup, Osage, Iowa, H. P. 

 Danks, Fond-du-lac, Wisconsin. [No Vice 

 Presidents were chosen for the States of Mis- 

 souri, Nebraska and Minnesota, they not being 

 represented in the associotion. j 



Secretary, M. M. Baldridge, St. Charles, Illi- 

 nois. 



Treasurer, James M. Marvin, St. Charles, Il- 

 linois. 



The time and place for holding the next annual 

 meeting was briefly discussed. The constitution 

 provides that the annual meeting shall be held at 

 the time and place of the State Fair of some one 

 of the six Northwestern States represented in the 

 association, which is to be determined by a ma- 

 jority vote of the members present. 



Vice President Danks stated that he was a 

 member of the Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, and tiiat he hadbeenrequested to invite the 

 Northwestern Association to meet with them at 

 the next Wisconsin State Fair, so there could be 

 a temporary co-operation of the two societies. 

 He also stated there was quite a number of the 

 Wisconsin bee-keepers who would like to join 

 and meet with our society, but were this year 

 prevented fi'om doing so in conseciuence of the 

 State Fairs being held the same week. To remedy 

 this, he suggested an amendment of our consti- 

 tution, changing the time of holding the annual 

 meeting of the association. 



The President did not think it best to amend 

 the constitution in that respect, as he had no idea 

 that the States of Indiana, Wtsconsin, and Illi- 

 nois would be so short-sighted as to hold their 

 State Fairs again in tlie same week. 



The suggestion of the Wisconsin member was 



not supported. The secretary stated that this 

 society held two annual meetings in the State of ' 

 lowfc, and he was in favor of holding another 

 meeting in Illinois, before changing the location; 

 but would waive any objection to its being held 

 in any other State the Society might select. 



A vote was taken, resulting in the choice of 

 Decatur, Illinois, as the place for holding the 

 next annual meeting. 



Dr. Blanchard, Rev. A. Salisbury and E. 

 Daggy, were appointed a committee to ascertain 

 how much surplus honey and how many hives 

 of bees are represented by the members of this 

 society. The committee was also instructed to 

 ascertain the kinds of hives used, and the num- 

 ber of each kind ; also the number of hives of 

 bees each member had in the spring. 



The main object of tliis report is to convince 

 the public, by facts and figures, that bee-keeping 

 is profitable. That this information may be com- 

 plete, the Secretary requests those members who 

 were necessarily absent, to forward their reports 

 at once to the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. 

 J. Blanchard, Brimfield, Illinois. The Chairman 

 will then forward the condensed report to the 

 Secretary for publication. If the price, per pound, 

 at which surplus honey is sold, is also given, it 

 will add much to the value of the reporrs. 



A committee was then appointed, consisting of 

 the President, Vice President Francis, and the 

 Secretary, to award prizes for the largest amount 

 of honey that can be legitimately secured, next 

 season, from a given number of hives of bees. 

 This committee is to have full control of the mat- 

 ter. They will fix the time for selecting the bees, 

 and when the season shall close, the number of 

 hives to be used in competing for the prize, the 

 number of prizes, and the amount of each. The 

 The committee will prescribe rules and regula- 

 tions in regard to managing the bees, and will 

 ' rec^uire of the competitors proper evidence of the 

 I truthfulness of their reports. It will therefore be 

 ' for the interest of the successful competitors not 

 I to present any Munchausen reports, for they will 

 j be carefully investigated. The prizes will be so 

 liberal that they will be worth competing for, and 

 it is thought that not less than two hundred bee- 

 keepers will be on hand as competitors. All com- 

 petitors must first become members of the asso- 

 ciation, which they can do by simply sending 

 their names and address, and the membership fee 

 of one dollar, to the Secretary, N'o further fee 

 will be required. 



The object of these pr^es is to ascertain truth- 

 fully how many pounds of honey a given number 

 of bees will store in a season, when managed in- 

 telligently and in the best possible manner. It 

 is now claimed by our best bee-keepers that they 

 can easily obtain a ton of lioney as surplus, in one 

 good season, from ten hives of bees ; and it is 

 thought that the plan adopted by the Northwest- 

 ern Association will bring out the facts, and as- 

 tonish the uninitiated. 



The committee will be prepared to report on 

 the subject by the first of January next, and per- 

 haps before, so as to give all a chance to make 

 arrangements for entering the field of strife. 

 ! Rev. A. Salisbury, D. L. Adair, and James M. 

 I Marvin, were appointed a committee to prepare 

 1 or receive questions for discussion. 



