Mr. Hanchet, Leslie, said he had used 

 chaff exclusively, but now had some in 

 chaff and some in the cellar. 



John II. Van Ness reported that he 

 put all his hives of bees together and 

 packed straw all around, above and be- 

 low them about a foot deep, and there 

 was not a dead bee in the hives in the 

 spring. His bees were all through 

 swarming by the time others that had 

 been wintered out of doors had com- 

 menced to swarm. 



At this juncture Mr. O.J. Hethering- 

 ton, who had been to the depot to escort 

 Mr. T. G. Newman to the hall, entered 

 with the distinguished visitor and 

 honorary member. After a hearty 

 hand-shaking from his numerous ac- 

 quaintances, the President formally 

 presented the jolly, world-renowned 

 editor of the American Bee Journal 

 to one of the largest gatherings of 

 practical bee-keepers every assembled 

 in Michigan. He made a few happy 

 remarks which were enthusiastically re- 

 ceived. He said he was glad to meet 

 with an Association, whose reputation 

 was world wide. In Europe as well as 

 America, the Michigan Convention had 

 a distinguished reputation. 

 The Best Bees. 



The topic "Can America breed the 

 best bees, or must bee-keepers continue 

 to import V" was enlarged so as to 

 embrace the next topic, viz.: "The 

 effects of close breeding." 



Mr. Robertson, said, the Italians were 

 a great improvement and he believed 

 America could sustain their reputation. 

 There were so many black bees, it was 

 difficult to keep an apiary pure, but he 

 thought from what he had seen of the 

 past season's operations, that black bees 

 would be less in number and less 

 troublesome next spring. 



Mr. T. G. Newman, stated that he 

 took American bees to Italy and they 

 were pronounced by experts more beau- 

 tiful than they had ever seen before. Mr. 

 Newman said that he had no doubts as 

 to Americians breeding the best bees. 

 Her progressive bee-keepers would 

 never remain in the back ground with 

 an enterprize in which the whole world 

 was interested. Much had been said 

 about " the coming bee," and " the next 

 progressive step " in the production of 

 "the bee of the future," but he thought 

 " the linger of destiny " was pointing to 

 apis Americana, as the one that would 

 satisfy the expectations of those that 

 were longing tor the best race of bees. 

 He did not know but that the Cyprian 

 race would form an important part in 

 its production, but whatever it was, the 

 coming bee, when produced, would be 

 strictly American. He was asked about 



the comparative temper of bees, and 

 remarked that it was generally admitted 

 that Italians were best natured; after 

 them pure blacks, and that hybrids 

 were usually the least tractable. The 

 numerous cases of fatal stinging of 

 careless and ignorant people and horses, 

 induced him to say that no one was 

 justified in keeping bees without always 

 having at command the means of con- 

 trolling them. Smoke would control 

 the most viscious hybrids, if applied 

 promptly and in abundance. Any good 

 smoker would answer— but he recom- 

 mended the Bingham Bee Smoker, as 

 the best yet produced. 



Mr. J. L. Curtis, of Grand Rapids, 

 favored the Italians and believed they 

 could be improved by selection and 

 careful breeding. 



Mr. J. H. Robertson wanted as pure 

 Italians as he could find. 



Mr. Butler said that if he was to send 

 comb honey to the Centennial, he should 

 have black bees do the work ; he 

 believed they made the prettiest comb, 

 but Italians take the best care of their 

 homes. 



Mr. Geo. Stray had 50 colonies of 

 Italians and 100 of blacks last winter. 

 The Italians died, and the blacks all 

 wintered finely. 



Dr. C. E. Ashley, Ypsilanti, expected 

 America to hold her own and breed the 

 best bees. Prof. Hasbrouck had demon- 

 strated that both queens and drones 

 could be selected and as in other stock 

 the males determine the progeny ; he 

 regarded the drone as a mighty factor 

 in the improvement of the honey-bee, 

 and believed America could and would 

 produce the best bees. 



Mr. Newman said that if careless 

 breeding was to be continued we must 

 also continue to import. But if we 

 breed from the best, under the best 

 conditions, improvement is absolutely 

 certain. 



Mr. O. J. Hetherington,of East Sagi- 

 naw, said Dr. Whiting removed black 

 larvae from queen-celis and substituted 

 Italian and obtained splendid queens. 



Mr. J. II. Townley, of Tompkins, se- 

 lected his cells and queens by letting 

 the bees swarm naturally. In that way 

 he obtained the best, every time. 



Mr. Prentiss, of Ohio, remarked that 

 to improve our bees we must select from 

 those which till their hives with combs, 

 honey and brood, the quickest. 



Mr. T. F. Bingham then read the fol- 

 lowing essay on : 



Close Breeding not Detrimental to Insects. 



In the absence of evidence to the 

 contrary I shall assume that all insects 

 dwelling in families like ants, whose 



