the same shall be published with the call 

 for the next annual meeting. 



Art. VIII.— This Constitution may 

 be amended by a two-thirds vote at any 

 regular meeting. 



Mrs. Frances Dunham, Depere, Wis., 

 was unanimously elected an honorary 

 member, in recognition of her valuable 

 invention. 



On motion, the Society proceeded to 

 ballot for officers for the ensuing year, 

 with the following result : 



President— Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 

 Illinois. 



Vice President— Mrs. F. Dunham, De- 

 pere, Wis. 



Secretary— C. C. Coffinberry, Chicago, 

 Illinois. 



Treasurer— Thomas G. Newman, Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



The President suggested that ques- 

 tions be propounded for discussion, and 

 to give opportunity for comparing prac- 

 tice, with the reasons therefor. 



Mrs. F. Dunham inquired if queens 

 were not more liable to be superseded 

 from having their wings clipped V She 

 had lost several in this way, and attrib- 

 uted it to the clipping of their wings. 



H. D. Burrell had practiced clipping 

 the queens' wings, and could not see 

 that it made any difference ; he should 

 continue the practice, to save his valua- 

 ble queens and the bees. 



G. M. Doolittle would as soon thinkof 

 returning to black bees and box hives, 

 as to abandon the practice of clipping 

 the wings of the queens. 



H. W. Funk would clip their wings to 

 save the queens as well as the bees in 

 cases of swarming. 



George Thompson assigned a similar 

 reason ; he can always find a clipped 

 queen in the grass, from the presence of 

 bees in her vicinitv. 



T. S. Bull would not clip any more, 

 because he had lost several queens in 

 swarming time, and the bees always be- 

 came demoralized. 



A vote being taken, the practice of 

 clipping was largely sustained. 



T. G. Newman stated that he had per- 

 fected arrangements, whereby he could 

 procure tickets for those desiring to at- 

 tend the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention, in Cincinnati, from Chica- 

 go and return, at $12, instead of $18, 

 the regular fare for the round trip. 



Adjourned till 7:30 p. m. 



Evening Session. 



A. J. Hatfield inquired whether it was 

 desirable to shade the hives, and to 

 what extent V 



After considerable discussion, the 

 opinion prevailed that a complete shade 



was undesirable ; but that during the 

 extreme heat of the day a shade was 

 quite beneficial. 



M. A. Newman, Collins, 111., inquired 

 as to the value of red clover as a honey 

 plant. 



G. M. Doolittle said one season his 

 bees secured about 500 lbs. of fine comb 

 honey from red clover ; he thinks if it 

 could all be reached by the bees, the red 

 clover would prove to be the richest 

 honey plant we have. There are two 

 kinds of red clover ; his bees work on 

 the large red clover better than the 

 smaller variety. 



T. S. Bull remarked that his bees 

 worked very briskly on red clover last 

 spring; he saw no difference between 

 the black and the Italian bees in regard 

 to gathering honey from it. 



G. M. Doolittle's Italian bees some- 

 times stored surplus from red clover, 

 while the blacks were consuming their 

 surplus stores. 



President Miller suggested that per- 

 haps by pasturing red clover closely a 

 species of clover might be produced, 

 with shorter corollas, from which bees 

 could obtain all the nectar. 



A. J. Hatfield inquired as to the best 

 manner of arranging surplus boxes- 

 He found that the bees do not fill out 

 the boxes so nicely when placed below 

 as those above. 



President Miller has had the same ex- 

 perience. 



G. M. Doolittle said he never allows 

 the boxes to remain below till finished; 

 they build out the comb faster below. 

 He starts the bees in the surplus boxes 

 at the sides, then carries them above to 

 replace the boxes filled and removed, 

 and puts in empty boxes below again. 



President Miller inquired, " What, 

 shall we plant for bee pasturage V" 



C. C. Coffinberry was convinced, after 

 several years of close observation, that 

 melilot clover and large mignonette 

 would well repay cultivation for honey; 

 they were early bloomers, and among 

 the last to succumb to the winter frosts; 

 every bee-keeper should have the waste 

 places, within reach of his bees, well 

 seeded with them, to bridge over the 

 bloomless period between spring and 

 fall fiowers ; in fact he was not certain 

 that they would not prove equal to white 

 clover when the latter was in its prime. 

 Catnip and motherwort would also well 

 repay any expense and trouble which 

 might be expended upon them. 



Several persons heartily endorsed all 

 these plants as good honey producers, 

 and especially melilot or sweet clover. 



G. M. Doolittle could heartily recom- 

 mend motherwort as a honey plant. 

 Convention adjourned till 9 a. m. 



