365 



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Texas Association. 



The Texas Bee-Keepers' Association met 

 at McKinney, Collins Co., June 9th, 1879, 

 Judge W. H. Andrews, President, and F. 

 F. Collins, of Dallas, Secretary pro tern. 



The President delivered an address which 

 was well received, and calculated to pro- 

 mote bee-culture both for profit and pleas- 

 ure. Owing to the protracted drouth in a 

 large portion of our State, the attendance 

 was much smaller than had been hoped for, 

 but wc had 14 accessions to our member- 

 ship. After the business of the Association 

 was completed, the President had smokers 

 lighted — Bingham, Quinby and cold-blast 

 Simplicity,— and invited us out to his apiary, 

 and it is a fine. one, consisting of 255 colo- 

 nies of the finest bright Italians, in the 

 nicest of American hives. He then showed 

 us his tests of purity of the Italian, and also 

 some of the so-called dark Italians, some of 

 which he said he bought for pure, and 

 others that he said he had bred purposely 

 for exhibition at this meeting. He pro- 

 nouced them all frauds. Judge A. being by 

 far the most experienced and extensive cul- 

 tivator of Italians in our State, his remarks 

 and exhibitions were the most interesting 

 possible. 



Upon our return to our room (Judge A.'s 

 parlor) his most excellent lady invited us to 

 dine with her which we did, to her great 

 pleasure, as it seemed, and to our full satis- 

 faction. After dinner Miss Mary, the 

 Judge's daughter, gave us some very sweet 

 music, then we resumed labor, and Mr. F. 

 F. Collins, of Dallas, gave us a history of 

 the " great plague "—foul brood— as it rages 

 in his city and vicinity. He was quite par- 

 ticular, and his remarks excited much inter- 

 est. Dallas is the only place in our State 

 where this disease has ever been known, 

 having been there nearly four years. Its 

 origin there is not known, but is supposed 

 to have come with an Italian queen from 

 some section where it was raging. 



Mr. Collins had quite a large lot of bee- 

 keepers' implements on exhibition. He 

 keeps them for sale, and our apiarists were 

 glad to know that we had such an enter- 

 prise in our State. 



Our Secretary, Dr. YV. R. Howard, of 

 White Rock, Hunt Co., came in at 2 o'clock, 

 but by request the pro tern secretary con- 

 tinued to discharge the duties, and the Doc- 

 tor took an active part in the proceedings. 



The President brought forward some sam- 

 ple hives that had been sent in for our opin- 

 ion, to some of which there were so-called 

 moth-traps, that are claimed to prevent the 

 ravages of the much-dreaded bee-moth. 

 The Association unanimously declared all 

 such traps to be humbugs, and that the in- 

 ventors and vendors of them are far behind 

 the age. • This Association entertains no 

 hostility to patents, but only to those that 

 are worthless. We differed largely as to 

 the best hive, but agreed that the movable 

 frame is indispensable to the intelligent cul- 

 tivator of the honey bee. We agreed that 



it was a waste of time to discuss the meth- 

 ods of wintering bees here, as it is known 

 that they will live any way in this climate, 

 if provisioned. 



All praise was given to the improved bel- 

 lows smokers, as they have dispensed with 

 the old hot and inconvenient bee-hats and 

 gloves, and made the timid brave and the 

 work of bee-culture easy and agreeable to 

 all. It was a notable fact that in the exam- 

 ination of 20 to 30 colonies in a hot dry day, 

 there was not one of the members stung, 

 and not a bee-hat nor glove in the company. 

 Many questions were discussed as to how a 

 honey crop should be stored. All the sec- 

 tions, boxes, extractors and the markets, 

 etc., were liberally debated, but there was 

 much diversity of opinion and a conclusion 

 was impossible. 



Our Secretary, Dr. Howard, had a good 

 lot of entomological instruments with him, 

 and the second day of our meeting was de- 

 voted to the dissection of queens, drones 

 and workers, and the examination of many 

 honey plants of this section. This excited 

 much interest and was quite a treat for 

 most of those present. 



The meeting adjourned at 4 o'clock on 

 Tuesday, the 10th, to meet at Greenville on 

 the 12th day of July next, when new offi- 

 cers will be elected, and much other inter- 

 esting business will come up for action. 

 We will make arrangements for representa- 

 tion in the next National Convention, etc. 

 W. H. Andrews, Pres. 



F. F. Collins, Sec. pro tern. 



Muscatine, Iowa, Convention. 



The Association convened at the court- 

 house, in Muscatine* at 10 o'clock a. m., 

 Major Lyman Allen, President, in the chair, 

 and A. N. VanCamp, Secretary, with a fail- 

 attendance of other members present. 



Constitution and by-laws and Secretary's 

 report of meeting of organization of Dec. 

 13th, 1878, called for and read. 



On motion, Messrs. Geo. Parks, W. F. 

 Kirk and J. P. Lewis were appointed a 

 committee on programme. 



"Wintering Bees. 



Mr. Wm. Clement, of Malcom, favored 

 wintering in doubled-walled hives, and 

 gave statements of fatal results in his local- 

 ity, the past winter, in the use of single- 

 walled hives, while without exception those 

 in double- walled hives came through in per- 

 fect condition ; the bees commenced breed- 

 ing in them very early; thought their use in 

 a large apiary a great advantage and labor 

 saved. 



Mr. D. D. Palmer thought double-walled 

 hives too expensive, especially when bees 

 had become so low in value, and followed 

 by stating his experience in cellar winter- 

 ing the past winter. Carried into cellar 

 130 colonies before cold weather set in; be- 

 ing absent from home, depended on persons 

 whom he had employed to carry in the bal- 

 ance ; this they did not do till about Jan 

 10th, 1879, at which time 150 were placed in 

 the cellar. Of the first 130 but 2 were lost, 

 which became queenless ; of the 150 lost 



