Nov. 6, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



709 



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Convention Proceedings. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 33d Annual 

 Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, held in Denver, Col., on Wed- 

 nesday, Thursday and Friday, 

 Sept. 3. 4 and 5, 1902. 



(Continued from pa^e 695.) 

 SECOND DAY— Aftkk NOON Session. 



At 2:30 o'clock Pres. Hutchinson called the convention 

 to order. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 



Mr. Taylor — I understand, and I suppose you all under- 

 stand, that there is, in the year 1904, to be held a great fair 

 at St. LiOuis, Mo.; it is a World's fair. All preparations are 

 taking place for the purpose of making it a great fair, and 

 it is instituted for the purpose of commemorating this great 

 strip of land between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, 

 the purchase of it by the United States Government from 

 Napoleon I, one hundred years ago. 



Now, most of our members are specially interested in 

 respresenting our pursuit at this great fair, so I arise to 

 make a motion with regard to it, if desirable, that this 

 Association should be heard with regard to the appointments 

 to office concerning the exhibit that will surely be made by 

 the bee-keepers of the whole country. I, therefore, move 

 that for the purpose of making such provision and oversee- 

 ing all matters pertaining to it that this whole matter be 

 referred to the Executive Committee of this Association, 

 and that they act as a committee for that purpose, and to 

 see that all proper action, so far as this Association is con- 

 cerned, be taken. 



J. C. Carnahan — I second the motion. 



The President put the motion, which, on a vote having 

 been taken, was declared carried. 



Pres. Hutchinson — The first thing on the program is a 

 paper by Mr. C. A. Hatch, on " Reporting of the Honey 

 Crop: When and How It Should be Done." to which Mr. 

 Frank Rauchfuss was to respond, but as he can not be here 

 this afternoon, in place of that we will hear from Mr. F. E. 

 Brown, on 



THE CALIFORNIA PEAR-BLIQHT. 



F. E. Brown — It is not often that we hear California 

 spoken of as blighted, but to-day I have something to pre- 

 sent before you on that line. We have not the blight alto- 

 gether ; it is not all blight, but we have a blight there that 

 promises to destroy our bees. You have already heard 

 more or less regarding the blight question ; it has been 

 published through, I think, perhaps all the leading journals, 

 and )'0u are all more or less familiar with the subject, 

 therefore I will not take any more of your time than is 

 necessary to bring it before your minds just about as it 

 appears to-day. 



In the spring of 1901 — I think it was, perhaps, in March 

 — one of the Board of Horticulturists came into my office 

 and inquired for the Secretary of the Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, stating to me that our bees were destroying their pear- 

 trees. That I think is the first mention I ever had made to 

 me that bees were responsible for the spread of pear-blight. 

 The pear-blight that exists in our district is what is com- 

 monly known as the Eastern pear-blight, so I suppose you 

 are all familiar with this blight that exists among the pear- 

 trees, apple-trees, and quince-trees. 



I asked the gentleman how he knew our bees were re- 

 sponsible for this blight ; he did not speak directly to that, 

 but asked if I would be so kind as to meet him before the 

 Board of Supervisors that afternoon. In that meeting that 

 afternoon the Board of Horticulturists brought complaint, 

 stating that the bees were responsible for the spread of the 

 blight which was fast destroying the pear-trees, and unless 

 the bees were removed from the pear districts, which vir- 

 tually meant from our county, that within a very short time 

 there would be no pear, apple, or quince trees left in the 



vicinity. The gentleman, the speaker from the Board of 

 Horticulture, went on to state how this blight was carried by 

 tlic bees ; he stated that it was a germ that was small, could 

 not be seen with the naked eye, like small particles of 

 smoke that went in the wind ; the bees being of a hairy, 

 fuzzy nature, Hying through the air to the tree, would 

 gather up this germ and contribute or carry it to the blos- 

 som thereof, reaching the nectar, and from there to the sap 

 of the tree, finally killing the tree. 



After he had made his speech the Board asked if I had 

 anything to say. I simply told them no; that it was new 

 to inc, that I knew nothing about the fact, and never had 

 had our bees accused of such a thing before. 



The matter went on for about three or four weeks, when 

 the Board of Supervisors telephoned me one afternoon ask- 

 ing if I would come into their room, when I found the same 

 committee as before- -and they had the same complaint up, 

 asking the Board if they would not pass laws by which bees 

 could not be kept in that section of the country. This was 

 perhaps in May, 1901. 



After they had made their complaint the bee-men were 

 asked if they had anything further to say, and I simply 

 asked the Commissioners how the bees distributed the 

 blight. At this time the Commissioners had sketched a 

 picture of the insect which they called pear-blight, stating 

 that it came out on the body of the tree in the pores of the 

 bark in a gluey or gummy shape, and that bees crawling 

 over the body of the tree in search of the blossoms gathered 

 up the pear-blight and communicated it to the flower. That 

 was the position that was taken then, and when I was called 

 upon, after they made the statement upon my question — of 

 course, you understand people that are not familiar with 

 the habits of bees would not know but what the statement 

 was correct, which was the case with our Board of Super- 

 visors — I told them that any man who was familiar with 

 the habits of the bee would know bitter; that the bees did 

 not crawl about over the body of the tree in pursuit of the 

 flower, but when a bee went to a tree that was in blossom it 

 lit directly upon that blossom, and from that blossom to the 

 next one, and the next one, and so on, but never in any case 

 were they found upon the body of the tree. 



Now, when our trees in California blossom, especially 

 the pear-tree, there are no leaves ; they blossom before the 

 time of leafing, and the tree is simply one great snow-ball 

 of white blossoms, and the bees, of course, go over the trees, 

 flying directly from blossom to blossom. 



However, there were one or two other bee-men there 

 who made some remarks regarding the matter. The matter 

 was passed over; the Board did nothing. 



A little later there was a mass-meeting called of fruit- 

 growers, the pear-men and raisin-growers all together ; thej' 

 came together in the Superior Court room of King's county. 

 In this meeting there were no bee-keepers supposed to be 

 present. However, we had a delegation there. One of the 

 most prominent men in that Board of Agriculture came be- 

 fore that mass meeting and urged that they would poison 

 the insects that were infesting the trees — they were 

 spreading the blight from tree to tree. This was said in an 

 open mass-meeting of the fruit-growers of our county and 

 vicinity. The gentleman that was addressing the meeting 

 advocated that they use cobalt and honey as a matter of 

 poison ; that by poisoning them that way the bee would die 

 before it reached the hive, therefore there would be no dan- 

 ger of the poison getting into the honey. 



I think it was about this time, perhaps, that Mr. E. R. 

 Root visited our locality, and he visited almost all the promi- 

 nent pear-growers in our vicinity ; he visited the orchards ; 

 he met Prof. Pierce, and had a good influence over the sit- 

 uation, and it was proposed by Mr. Root that we try to com- 

 promise the matter by making a test. 



Now, the bee-men did not believe that Iheir bees were 

 in any way responsible for the spreading of the blight at 

 that time. However, Prof. Waite and Prof. Pierce had 

 both suggested that it was possible, and I think they have 

 spoken more directly since then. 



The first part of July of last year the bee-men called a 

 meeting and passed resolutions agreeing to make a test 

 case, and that we would move our bees out of the pear dis- 

 tricts that we might test the matter. This was suggested 

 by Mr. Root while he was with us. This was done the first 

 day of July, 1901. We handed our resolution to the commit- 

 tee of the fruit-growers : they accepted it and said nothing. 

 It went on until some time in the fall, when one of the 

 fruit-growers came to one of our men and said it was about 

 time we were doing something with regard to moving the 

 bees. At that time, however, I was away in San Francisco, 

 but shortly afterwards I returned. Nothing further was 



