525 



came off we marked on the slate " '79, June 

 15, sw'd." When the second swarm came 

 we saw on the slate that they had swarmed 

 a few days previous. By this record we 

 then know that this is a second swarm to be 

 returned. By this means our apiary of 250 

 colonies has increased but little for the last 

 three years. D. D. Palmer. 



New Boston, 111. 



Mr. Sherman, Mich., places a swarm 

 from another hive, into that from which 

 the swaam has come, saving the neces- 

 sity of pinching queen-cells. 



Dr. Eanney,Mich., being called, said 

 he had no special wav. 



Dr, Slade, 111., called for Mr. Oat- 

 man's experience. 



E. J. Oatman, 111., could not freely 

 give his experience, as he has a series of 

 experiments under trial, and has 

 arrived at no satisfactory results. He 

 believes he is developing a race of bees 

 without swarming tendencies ; it re- 

 quires another year to determine the 

 question. If it is successful, he will 

 then make it public, but would not like 

 to do so before, as it may prove detri- 

 mental to others. 



A. A. Winslow, Wis,, stated the 

 method of a bee-keeper in Bipon, Wis., 

 to be the same as that of Mr. Sherman. 



C. S. Schoheld, Ind., thinks he can 

 control swarming by using a wire-cloth 

 cage the size of a comb, enclosing it 

 entirely, then place the queen in the 

 cage and on the comb, with a little 

 brood, and many empty cells. The 

 bees build but two or three queen-cells. 



Mr. Bailey, Wis., corrected state- 

 ment of Mr. Winslow. Mr. Dart has 

 not tried the method suggested, but in- 

 tends doing so. 



Mr. Godfrey, Iowa, thought Mr. 

 Schofleld's plan impracticable in a large 

 apiary. 



Afternoon Session. 



The order of business being selection 

 of the Executive Committee, the fol- 

 lowing were elected : T. G. Newman, 

 Chicago, 111. ; C. F. Mnth, Cincinnati, 

 O. ; E. J. Oatman, Dundee, 111. ; E. F. 

 Collins, Dallas, Texas ; A. J. King, 

 New York city ; D. A. Jones, Beeton, 

 Ont. ; William Pierce, Dayton, O. 



The President announced that Gen. 

 Le Due, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 was present, and called upon him for a 

 speech. The General volunteered to in- 

 duce the general government to import 

 and distribute the seeds of honey-bear- 

 ing plants to a limited extent, and also 

 to assist the committee in the matter 

 of inducing the P. M. General to re- 

 verse his decision concerning the send- 

 ing of bees by mail. 



A proposition to amend the consti- 

 tution in regard to lady members being 

 admitted free was voted down. 



An essay was read by the Secretary 

 entitled 



Shall we Induce People to keep Bees? 



Many will answer this, Yes— a few, my- 

 self among them, will say, No ! I think 

 this indiscriminate advice to all persons, 

 no matter what their condition of life 

 or adaptability for the business, to keep bees, 

 is all wrong and brings much discredit on 

 our profession. People are urged to keep 

 bees because they are poor or out of work, 

 are sick and need the gentle (?) exercise, to 

 ensure wealth and a return to health ; 

 especially are the invalids and ladies urged 

 by all means to take up bee-keeping as the 

 one thing needful for health and wealth. 

 Our bee periodicals, and nearly all of our 

 prominent writers, hold up in glowing col- 

 ors the ease and advantages of a bee-keep- 

 ers life, and but very little notice is taken of 

 the very many who make bee-keeping a 

 failure. 



It takes hard work and lots of it, and 

 plenty of money, too, to carry on bee-keep- 

 ing as it ought to be, for profit. As to its 

 being invalids' and gentle ladies' work, 

 listen to one of them, which 1 quote from a 

 letter of recent date from a New York bee- 

 keeper : "I purchased a few colonies of 

 bees last spring ; I am sorry I bought any, 

 and will sell again if I can, and unless my 

 health improves, I shall dispose of most all 

 the bees I have at some price, because bees 

 require care and unless care be given them 

 when they need it, they are of no value or 

 profit whatever. I rind it is busy, hard 

 work to take care of bees as they should be, 

 and for an invalid or sick person to think of 

 taking charge of more than 3 or 4 colonies, 

 is out of the question." 



We tell of the great yields and large sales 

 of the few, but very little of that which 

 tells of the failures, disappointments and 

 disgust of the hundreds is told, in compari- 

 son to what there really is to tell. Many 

 start into bee-keeping with bright hopes of 

 speedy and easy success, only to rind in the 

 end failure and " blasted hopes," because 

 they were not adapted to the business and 

 never would be. True, there are a very few 

 who have gained wealth and good health by 

 it, but they are few compared to those who 

 fail. What other profession can you find 

 where its votaries are so eager to have every 

 one come and stick their finger in the pie, 

 as we bee-keepers are ? It reminds me of a 

 flock of chickens, one finds a dainty morsel, 

 and instead of eating it in peace, sets up 

 his cry and starts off on a run with the rest 

 all "tagging" after him. 



It is natural enough for the supply deal- 

 ers to want everybody to keep bees, but we 

 bee-keepers ought not to want it, especially 

 when we mislead them to their loss and our 

 detriment. Our Conventions are said to be 

 run in the interests of supply dealers, but 

 they ought not to be. My ideas of the use 

 of our societies, is to get bee-keepers to 

 organize ; to use as much as possible, uni- 

 form styles of hives and honey packages ; 

 to learn from each otherthe best methods of 

 handling our bees, marketing honey, etc. 

 and not to give dealers a chance to sell 

 their wares and to induce more to go into 

 the business ; but to instruct what are 



