Jan. 16, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



39 



my niifloiriR, and, incldiMitally, ratlu'r hard mi the biws. Tin- 

 fever ra^rd hl^iur and liijjhi'r : 1 bcraiiK^ dcliridiis ; vlsioii^^ oi 

 goldi^ii ciiicfiis lUialrd lii;fijr(! my oyi'S. I l)(!;;aM to bollcvc l\i'- 

 advertiscinciits of llio (|ii(M^ii-r('ar(!rs, cvon so far as to smid ni\ 

 good money to tliom. I divided and subdivided. Italianized 

 and Cainioliuiizi'd, formed nuclei and reared quei^ns. l!i-e 

 Ideas chased l)ee-ideas, up one side of my l)raln and down th^' 

 other, most of tiiem too large to get out th(' natural openln^'^ 

 for Ideas, except so misshapen as to l)i' unrc'cojjnizaliie. Smok- 

 ing became a lived iialiil with me : I would not introduce my 

 friends without lirst smoUirif,' them, lor fear they would (|uai- 

 rel ; nor open a conversaliiui without it. dieadlnn beiiif; stun;; 

 (by a sharp tonijiu')- In fact, I had smoker with me eonstanliy 

 — If not a bee .smoker, a pl|»?, cigar, oi' cigarettes 



I was also alHlcted witli hives, as the season advanced. 

 The Dadaut, tlio Dauzenbaker, the Ileddon, the Lanfistroth, 

 the fharf and the'Slmplicily. and others that were not so sim- 

 ple — the six, eight and ten or mor(^ frame, de<'p and shallow. 

 box, l)arn a-nd palace, swarming and mm-swarming hives, in 

 endless procession, until I developed ri'|)eated attacks of urti- 

 caria. Tilings went on ill this way, gettiiif; worse and worse. 

 Ideas of single, double, i|iiadriipl(!, sextuple, etc., had their 

 turn, until I must have a b(!e-hoiise large enough to hold all 

 my colonies. Having a small building not in use, I linally 

 finished, after much study and expending some money, a model 

 bee-house with accommodations for 14 colonies. I moved my 

 bees in, not without some objections from the liees, however, 

 which did not seem to appreciate the efforts I was making to 

 convert them from tlieir primitive ways of secreting themselves 

 in any old place, to the more enlightened ways of domesticity, 

 and with the same degrei^ of bigotry, shown by some heathen 

 tribes, to civilization, fought to (witli) the liitter end. 



I moved 1 2 colonies to their new home, and at first every- 

 thing went along swimmingly, but winter came, and it got too 

 cold to swim, or something else happened ; at any rate, they be- 

 gan to die a slow and lingering death. First one colony died ; 

 we used what honey they had left. Then another would, by 

 that time, become sullicieiitly ripened by death to be fit for 

 table use. Peath. the grim destroyer, continued to wreak 

 vengeance until the gentle zephyrs of spring came, when, 

 on examination, I found I liad but one colony to occupy my 

 fourtcen-room bee-house, and they were showing signs of 

 lonesomeness. 



Strange to say. with the death of the bees, the fever began 

 to abate, until it was almost gone, and I am convinced that if 

 the last colony liad died the disease would have been cured. 

 But, with the return of sjiring, the symptoms began to get 

 worse, and I passed though all the stages again, with but little 

 better results than before, from a honey standpoint. I in- 

 creased to twelve colonies again by fall, four of which I man- 

 aged to pull through in spite of the bee-house. About this 

 time, I might say that a liouse fell on me, and I took a tumble, 

 that, perhaps, the bees did not want to be domesticated 

 to the extent of living in an improved flat. So, early in the 

 spring, I moved them back into hives (the four which were 

 left), and they showed their appreciation by producing 380 

 pounds of comb honey, and increasing to twelve colonies once 

 more. 



The disease has subsided into a chronic condition, which I 

 have been told is incurable, and is subject to relapses each 

 spring, until death relieves, not only the sufferer, but also 

 those afflicted with tlie sufferer. 



The history of this disease dates back into the earliest 

 times of which we have any writings, and, as far as I can find 

 out, it has never received sufficient recognition to have a 

 scientific name given to it. A careful study of the disease 

 will show that all symptoms lead to irritation of the bees, and, 

 as irritation, unless relieved, always leads to inflammation, I 

 would suggest a combination of tlie two words apis (bee) and 

 itis (inflammation), which would make the word ap-is-i-tis to 

 be the scientific name of "bee-fever." This may not be 

 scientifically correct but it would elicit sympathy for a sufferer 

 of the disi^ase where it now provokes mirth. 



Thanking you for your kind indulgence, in listening to 

 the plaintive lamentations of an apisletic, 



I am, vours, etc., C. M. B. 



<• The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eug-ene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25. cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



nvention Proceedings. \ 



Report of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Convention, 

 Held at Woodstock, Dec. 3, 4 and 5. 1901. 



ni;i'Oitri:i) by it. f. iioi.teii.m.\nn. 



The annual meeting of the above association began Dec. U, 

 at 2:!iO p.m. .Members of the association liad been gathfrring 

 during the early part of the day and spending tlir-ir time in 

 discussing subjects of interest to themselves. I'res. Xewton 

 opened the meeting by calling upon Mr. Craig to lead in 

 pray(!r. The minuti's were read by Secretary Couse, and at 

 the close a committee was formed to Investigate an omission 

 of name's of the officers of the Ontario Bee-Keepers" Association 

 during the joint miMiting of the International and Ontario, in 

 Toronto, at which tiiiii' R. .McKnighl was president. 



President Newton's Address. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— \\i is with pleasure that we meet 

 again in convention. Another year has passed, and we are 

 here to talk over the past and make plans for the future. The 

 first of the new C(^ntiiry has been very profitable to most bee- 

 keepers, not only by the good flow of honey but by the good 

 prices which have been obtained for our product. In fact, I 

 may well say that we have to-day as good prices as we liad 

 ten or twelve years ago. Surely, this is encouraging. The 

 (juality, as far as I have Ijeen able to judge, has biicn extra- 

 good. 



Now as to our expectations for next year's crop : Bees in 

 most parts have gone into winter quarters with good, ripened 

 stores, which means much towards good wintering : and the 

 roadsides are massed with white clover, and judging from thia 

 we may well look for a big crop in 1902. I doubt not, the 

 most, if not all of you, have come here with the hope and ex- 

 pectation that this would be one of the most enjoyable and 

 profitable meetings evi'r held by our Association. To make this 

 a veritable reality can best be accomplished by each one tak- 

 ing part in the discussion, an 1 so contributing his or her por- 

 tion of information for the general good. 



It was with deep regret that we learned the news of the 

 sudden death of our ex-president. Dr. Thom, who held the posi- 

 tion of president in the year 1884, and was much esteemed by 

 all members of the Association. But these calls are but warn- 

 ings to each of us that some day we, too, shall be called hence 

 to our reward. 



It will be remembered that at our last annual meeting a 

 motion was passed to the effect that the Association deem it 

 advisable to make an exhibit at the Pan-American. The mat- 

 ter was brought before the Ontario Government, and they de- 

 cided to help us. At our executive meeting in May it was my 

 pleasure to be appointed to go to Buffalo to install the exhibit. 

 \Ve made a generous call to bee-keepers of the Association to 

 help us. We succeeded in getting a good supply of extracted 

 honey, but not a great deal of comb. However, the extracted 

 and comb were of a very fine quality. Our display was not 

 large, but was greatly admired Oy all visitors. 1 may note a 

 few remarks gathered" by passers-by and entered in my regis- 

 ter book : 



"Canadian honey — what part? Ontario. Ontario is all 

 right." "Magnificent exhibit." "Very artistic exhibit, and 

 very clear honey.'" " Grand honey and beautiful exhibit; I"m 

 glad I came upstairs to see it." "O, look at the purified 

 honey 1 Isn't it fine? It"s a very pretty show-up, ain't it ? "' "O 

 isn't it fine"? The Canadians may be slow, but they know how 

 to put up a honey exhibit." There were only 21 exhibitors in 

 all for the judging of awards. We were awarded the Gold 

 Medal for the collective exhibit of honey, and 33 diplomas of 

 honorable mention for our exhibit. I have to thank the mem- 

 bers who so willingly aided us in making Canadian honey 

 famous at the Buft'alo Pan-American. 



While at Buffalo I had the pleasure of attending two ses- 

 sions of the Xational Bee-Keepers" Association, which so 

 kiudlv extended an invitation to our society. I was pleased 

 to see" so many Canadian bee-keepers present, and enjoying 

 the meeting. Every one reported a profitable convention. 



During this year, also. Canadian honey has been repre- 

 sented at Glasgow, Scotland, being taken from the exhibit 

 which was at Paris, in UIOl ; but I have been unable to find 

 out what awards were given. 



