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Head before the Indiana Convention. 



Apiculture— Bee Hives. 



J. M. HICKS. 



It is a pleasure, and I deem it an 

 honor, to have the privilege of address- 

 ing this convention, upon the subject 

 of apiculture, as being adapted to the 

 many, as a business. It was my good 

 fortune to meet with and become a 

 member of the first organization that 

 ever convened in this city as a band of 

 bee-keepers. It has also been my lot to 

 have been a bee-keeper for many years, 

 having formed a love and desire to learn 

 what I could about the little pets when 

 but a small boy. There are many, how- 

 ever, that form an ardent love for bees, 

 after they arrive to manhood and 

 womanhood. Others take up the keep- 

 ing bees as a pastime, having of course 

 some profit in view. Again, there are 

 others who go into bee-keeping as a 

 means of support, and we often find 

 them failing, as in all other business, 

 and then the next we hear is that bee- 

 keeptng is a humbug, and he or she who 

 has failed retires from the contest. This 

 is owing to the simple fact, that they 

 never study nature's law governing the 

 habits and working of their stock, a 

 want of which will surely produce fail- 

 ure in this day of progression. It has 

 been so in in ail ages of the world, and 

 the bee business is no exception. 



But let me say, we never find any one 

 who goes into this business with a de- 

 termination for success, and makes it a 

 subject of study who ever fails. Many 

 of you may ask why I make this asser- 

 tion ? If so, I will answer, first, that 

 such parties as last referred to, look 

 well to various conditions necessary to 

 successful bee-keeping. For instance, 

 a good and proper location for an apiary. 

 Then they look well to the kind and 

 style of a hive to be used ; also as to 

 the various departments their apiary is 

 to be run for, such as honey to supply a 

 given market, or the especial raising of 

 bees for the trade, and also that of 

 queens, for the demand. I would not 

 forget the resources for the bees to work 

 on. All of these things are necessary 

 elements to success, and are of vital im- 

 portance in the proper management of 

 the apiary, and should be well studied 

 by the apiarist. 



Much precious time is wasted in try- 

 ing to invent worthless beehives, such 

 as we now have patented and offered 

 by unprincipled venders, who never did 

 and never will know the first principles 

 or requisites for a good beehive. Hence 

 so many failures in this hive business, 

 and more bees murdered and ruined. 



Let me admonish all to beware of him 

 who comes to you with an untested bee- 

 hive, telling you it is the best hive in 

 the world, for you may be sure he him- 

 self knows but little if anything about 

 bees, or what a hive should be to pos- 

 sess the good qualities, such as nature's 

 law demands for a successful manipu- 

 lation of bees. But study well all the 

 essential points referred to. and you will 

 be capable of judging for yourselves as 

 to the wants of a successful apiarist. 



I want no hive that has any loose 

 boards or boxes to remove before hand- 

 ling, or replace after handling my bees. 

 All such I consider as a nuisance and 

 worthless. 



Central Kentucky Convention. 



The annual convention convened at 

 Lexington, Ky., on May -1, President H. 

 C. Ilersperger in the chair. 



The Secretary's and Treasurer's re- 

 ports were read and approved. 



The following new members were en- 

 rolled : Chas. F. Muth, Cincinnati, O.; 

 E. A. Bagby, Midway, B.F. Elkin, Mer- 

 cer County. 



President's Address. 



Gentlemen : I feel like congratulat- 

 ing you upon the ending of a mild win- 

 ter and the opening of a favorable 

 spring. One of Kentucky's mildest 

 winters has just passed over us, and a 

 beautiful spring, laden with opening 

 flora, is upon us. Wherever bees have 

 been properly provisioned they are now 

 in fine condition. The mildness of the 

 winter, the absence of severe and pro- 

 tracted cold, made it only necessary for 

 the prudent bee-keeper to see that his 

 bees had sufficient stores and nothing 

 more. I have wintered .40 colonies with- 

 out loss, and I gave them no care what- 

 ever, except to feed a few. I had sev- 

 eral nuclei, with about a pint of bees 

 and an Italian queen in each, and they 

 all went through right. What did it? 

 A mild winter, and nothing else. 



When we met here a year ago, an un- 

 usually severe and protracted cold win- 

 ter had just passed over us. Our bees 

 were fairly frozen out. Some lost nearly 

 all, as friend Holman will testify. Oth- 

 ers, again, had them so weakened by 

 freezing to death upon the outer combs, 

 that they could not build up in time for 

 the spring bloom, and the tiny cups of 

 the flowers were filled with sweet, but 

 the little winged harvesters were not 

 here to gather in the harvest, and na- 

 ture's sweetest boon was wasted on the 

 air. 



When we contrast the disastrous win- 

 tei of 1879 with the mild winter of 1880 



