202 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[March, 



"4. That in furtlierance of this object the fol- 

 lowing measures be taken, viz. : 



"That the Vice President, Secretaries and 

 Treasurer of this association be organized into 

 a committee, to be called the Langstroth Testi- 

 monial Committee. 



"Ihat a general appeal be made for sub- 

 scriptions on behalf of this object, as proposed 

 and commenced by I\Ir. King at the meeting of 

 the association yesterday. 



" That a proposal, submitted to this committee 

 by Mr. IST. C. Mitchell, to furnish a large photo- 

 graph of Mr. Langstroth to all and sundry at one 

 dollar, out of which at least seventy-five cents 

 shall go to Mr. Langstroth, be published as 

 widely as possible, with the warm approval of 

 this association, in the belief that a large multi- 

 tude of persons, bee keepers and others, will be 

 anxious to possess themselves of such a souvenir 

 of one who has so distinguished himself in the 

 domain of apiculture. 



" That whatever is obtained in the ways above 

 enumerated be transmitted to Mr. N. C. Mitchell, 

 by him conveyed to the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, 

 and reported to this association as i^art of the 

 Treasurer's official statement. 



" All of which is respectively submitted. 



" Wm. Clauke, Chairman." 



On motion, it was agreed to make the price of 

 the photographs one dollar without and two 

 dollars with ~Mv. Langstroth's autograpli. 



Wlien the report was read, Mr. Langstroth 

 said it was against his feelings to have his per- 

 sonal matters taken up by the association. If 

 his own wishes were consulted, he would like the 

 matter to go no further. lie did not mean by 

 these remarks to reflect upon the committee or 

 the association. 



Mr. Clarke, of the committee, said the com- 

 mittee had all the while been aware of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's feelings on this matter as just expressed 

 by him. 



Mr. Porter said he could not do too much for 

 Mr. Langstroth. He felt paid for coming here 

 by the privilege of seeing him. 



Mr. Van Slyke hoped ]\Ir. Langstroth would 

 permit the matter to go on. 



Mr. Moon was well acquainted with the feel- 

 ings of the bee keepers in the country, and he 

 could say that they would all feel it a privilege 

 to contribute to this testimonial. 



Mr. Mitchell said he had often been asked for 

 a pliotograph of Mr. Langstroth. 



The report was received and adopted. 



Mr. Mitchell, of Ind , spoke of the Egyptian 

 bee. He said they are beautiful little fellows. 

 He took a lot of hives to the prairie. He found 

 out that the Egyptian bees were cross fellows. 

 They went out of the hive like a flock of quails. 

 In his exiierimenting with them he used armor, 

 but got stung fearfull}% nevertheless. The bees 

 stung the trees, the weeds, the dogs, the children, 

 and everything. But he wanted to give them 

 their due. They made more honey than any 

 other bees he ever knew, but when they made it 

 they meant to keep it. He was not certain his 

 Egyptians were pure. 



Mr. Proctor said he intended to go home and 

 report the Egyptian bee a humbug. 



Mr. Langstroth said he made a number of im- 

 portations of the Egyptian bee to this country. 

 He had never had an Egyption queen which he 

 was sure was pure. His opinion was that the 

 Italian bee was a cross between the EgyiJtian 

 bee and the black bee. 



Gen. Adair thought it doubtful if a pure 

 Egyptian bee had ever been introduced into this 

 country. 



Mr. Langstroth said that "buffalo chips," and 

 also the excrement of cattle, freed from all 

 moisture, and burned, and the smoke used, 

 was very effectual in taming bees for a while. 

 It might be made to burn by dipping an end in 

 kerosine. It should not be saturated. Colu- 

 mella mentioned this substance. It was, there- 

 fore, two thousand years old. The Egyjitians 

 used it now. 



The association here adjourned. It will meet 

 again in Cleveland in the month of December. 



Of one hundred and forty signers to the consti- 

 tution all but twenty reported themselves as bee 

 keepers. Slips of paper were circulated on 

 whicli members wrote their names, post office 

 address, pounds of honey produced by them last 

 year, price per pound, nvmiber of pounds of bee- 

 wax sold, and whether the hive was a movable 

 comb hive or the box hive. One liundred and 

 twenty responded. We here give the aggregate 

 result of their reports : 



The total number of stocks of bees owned by 

 tliese one hundred and twenty persons was 5,051. 

 The number of pounds of honey produced by 

 them last season was 83,0G5 pounds. It sold at 

 an average (counting eightj^-six persons who 

 reported the price) rate of 29| cts. pei" pound. 

 The number of pounds of wax sold bv the same 

 was 1,040. Of the 5,051 stocks, 4,Gi2 were in 

 the movable comb hives, and 439 in the box 

 hives. 



Many of the above reported stocks, probably 

 more than half, were the increase of last season. 

 A large number of the pi'oducing stocks were 

 used in queen raising, which, when practised 

 extensively, is incompatible with great produc- 

 tion of lioney. Many others were engaged in 

 multiplying colonies for the market, which is 

 also incompatible with honey jtroducing. One 

 of the bee keepers reports 390 hives and a 

 honey product of 8,000 pounds. Another, a 

 resident of this city, reports 90 pounds per hive 

 last season from 20 hives on his house roof. 



Everybody was pleased with the association 

 and its results. It is to unite in December with 

 another national association, and the two are to 

 form one body. 



Views were compai'ed by men from distant 

 parts of the country. Apparently contradictory 

 experiences were reconciled. Mr. Langstroth 

 was the recipient of an expression of gratitude, 

 and will be of something more substantial, which 

 has been long due him, but tardy in coming. 

 By a unanimous vote of the Association he 

 was given the special privilege of speaking 

 when he chose, and as long as he chose. He 

 solved many knotty questions, and poured oil 

 upon the waters when they were troubled. 



