Whereas, We have reason to believe that Northern 

 Michigan offers unusual inducements to bee-keepers, 

 not only in the quantity, but also in the quality of 

 honey which it produces ; therefore, 



Resolved, That the following gentlemen be ap- 

 pointed a committee to gather facts as to the same 

 and report at the next annual meeting: George E. 

 Steele, of Elk Rapids ; L. C. Lincoln, of Greenville ; 

 Henry Palmer, of Hart. 



BUILDING AN APIAKY. 



Secretary Bingham said the specialist 

 could tell his neighbors that the business 

 was not genei ally profitable ; that there was 

 danger of losing lioney by theft ; that the 

 markets were poor, and that the business 

 end of a bee was something to be dreaded. 



Dr. Southard said a majority of bee-keep- 

 ers engage in the business at their homes 

 while the specialist must start out and seek 

 a location for his apiary. The time is com- 

 ing when apiarists will try to improve their 

 locations by growing plants that will supply 

 a large amount of food for bees. He advo- 

 cated artificial swarming, and gave his 

 method of effecting it. 



Mr. Heddon preferred natural swarming. 



Mr. Hetherington, of East Saginaw, 

 thought the best method for building up an 

 apiary was by purchase. He would keep the 

 bees from swarming as much as possible, as 

 it is cheaper to purchase. By this practice 

 more and better honey is produced. 



Mr. Heffner said swarming could be pre- 

 vented by ample room and ventilation. 



Mr. Heddon said he did not know any 

 effectual method to prevent swarming ; he 

 had tried every one he ever heard of. 



President Cheeney said last spring he had 

 120 colonies ; that 60 colonies is as many as 

 can be kept profitable in one place. He 

 decided to increase his bees 40 or 50 colonies 

 and purchased a lot of queens and took the 

 queens out of the strongest colonies as the 

 queens arrived, and put them into new hives. 

 He then took out 5 frames filled with comb 

 and placed them in the hive alternately with 

 comb foundation. He then placed the hive 

 on the old stand and took the old colony to 

 a new place, some distance away. On the 

 next day he introduced the purchased queen, 

 and his plan for an increase of colonies 

 worked well. He had perfectly true combs. 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



Secretary Bingham read the following : 

 Comb foundation has been used more or 

 less for 30 years, but until within 2 or 3 

 years it has been so faulty in its construction 

 or price, that honey producers have not 

 taken kindly to it, even in the brood cham- 

 ber where no conscientious scruples could 

 be urged against its use. The new kind 

 however, so far as mechanical construction 

 is concerned, seems to be all that could be 

 desired. The level septum foundation, if 

 not perfect at present, strikes the line on 

 which mechanical perfection is possible. 

 On this principle, machines with steel rollers 

 may be made, which will produce a septum 

 containing less wax and more perfection in 

 its construction than formerly. Complete 

 honey comb might be perhaps desired, yet 

 with the high price of wax the matter, s 

 open to the question of economy. If, com- 

 plete comb is not at present practicable, the 

 new foundation offers the best substitute. 

 The walls one might suppose which are so 



high and perfect, would be still better if 

 they were higher. Such, however would not 

 be the case. While the strength and size of 

 the jaws of the honey bee are perfectly 

 adapted to forming and thinning the edges 

 of the combs and cells, they are incapable 

 of manipulating to any considerable extent 

 combs already formed. This principle 

 denies the probability of bees ever thinning 

 the foundation at the base, while it proposes 

 that they will thin and complete cells already 

 started. On the j udicious use of this princi- 

 ple rests all the reasonable hope of 

 machine aid in the surplus boxes. Comb 

 foundation has had much to contend with. 

 Unscruplous parties substituted paraffinefor 

 pure wax and cheap foundation fell into 

 disrepute. Then it was urged that it sagged 

 so that the queen would not lay readily in 

 it, and when perchance she did, monstrous 

 three-cornered bees emerged from its hid- 

 eous cells. To avoid this, Capt. Hethering- 

 ton incorporated wire into its manufacture. 

 The new plan of flat septum allows the 

 incorporation of wire without liability of 

 injury to the rollers, or weakening or break- 

 ing the wire. Mr. Betsinger states that 

 copper wire corrodes under' the influence of 

 the food fed to the young larva to such an 

 extent that the bees remove (he brood from 

 the cells under which the wire passes. 

 Should such be the case the use of tinned 

 wire would at once obviate the difficulty. I 

 should prefer tinned wire whether Mr. B., 

 experience should prove to be the rule or 

 merely an exception. 



Mr. Heddon read an essay on the same 

 subject, after which the topic was discussed 

 by Mr. T. G. Newman, Dr. Southard and 

 others. 



RACES OF BEES. 



The President read a paper on "Kinds and 

 Qualities of Bees," by Frank Benton, of 

 Detroit. 



The Convention passed the following 



resolutions unanimously : 



Whereas, We feel the deep importance of the sub- 

 ject so ably presented by our brother member, Mr. 

 Frank Benton, of Detroit, of some plan to secure the 

 testing of the various species or races of exotic bees, 

 and. 



Whereas, We feel that in the importation of some 

 of these bees, there are very great possibilities of 

 rapid advancement ; therefore, 



Resolved, That i'resinent Cheney, Frank Benton 

 and H. M. Roop, be appointed a committee to take 

 the matter into consideration, and if possible, to de- 

 vise some practicable scheme whereby we may obtain 

 information of the various species of foreign bees, 

 and if desirable, may secure their importation into 

 our State and apiaries ; and 



Resolved, That the committee bring the same sub- 

 ject before the National Convention at its next 

 meeting. 



UNTESTED DOLLAR QUEENS. 



Prof. Cook said : In the revised "Man- 

 ual of the Apiary" I gave the following 

 advice: "Send to some reliable breeder, 

 and ask for a queen worth at least five dol- 

 lars. It is the mania now to rear and sell 

 cheap queens. These are reared— must be 

 reared— without care, and will, I fear, prove 

 very cheap, it is a question if any more 

 sure way could be devised to injure our 

 colonies, than the dollar queen business, 

 which is now so popular. It is quite prob- 

 able that much of the superiority of Italian 

 bees is owing to the care and careful selec- 

 tion in breeding. Such careful selection in 



