THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



19 



sisteiitly or plausibly put, "the trail of 

 the serpent is over it all ;" "every man 

 to his trade" is a noble motto, and 

 brings " the greatest possible good to 

 the greatest possil)le number." 



The season was a poor one; the 

 amount of honey taken being about 

 fifty per cent below the average. The 

 weather was too cold and wet with oc- 

 casional hot spells. The principal 

 honey-producing flowers were abun- 

 dant, but' the elements failed to get 

 into the proper humor to inspire them 

 with their natural love for the secretion 

 of the delicate, sparkling sweets, and 

 the friendly visits of the honey-bee. 

 In spite of all this, some of the short 

 crop of 1884 is yet on the markets ; but 

 we shall have a clean market for 1886. 



There are several practices that mil- 

 itate against the true progress of api- 

 culture in Ontario, besides those 

 already referred to : 



1. Extracting green or unripe honey. 

 It is impossible by human art or skill 

 to impart that exquisitely fine, finished 

 flavor that the bees give it when left 

 with them until it is capped. 



2. The practice of feeding sugar ei- 

 ther for stimulating or wintering pur- 

 poses. It is very difticult to disabuse 

 the public mind. They know that we 

 feed sugar, and they seem determined 

 to cherish the belief that, in some way 

 or other, it gets into the honey. If we 

 all fed honey instead of sugar, a less 

 quantity would be thrown upon the 

 markets, and a correspondingly higher 

 price would be obtained, besides in- 

 spiring confldence iu the purity of our 

 honey. 



3. Small beekeepers demoralize our 

 markets sadly, and give a good deal 

 of trouble by allowing their bees to be 

 robbed. 



4. And last, but not least, I fear the 

 most of us will have to plead guilty to 

 the charge of painting the bright side 

 of beekeeping too bright, while we 

 keep the dark side obscurely in the 

 dark; in f.act it is much easier to show 

 up the bright side than the dark side — 

 it seems to loom up so easily. 



In conclusion, I desire to say, that 

 the practice of exhibiting granulated 

 honey in glass, at our Expositions, is 

 doing good service by vvay of an edu- 

 cator; both dealers and consumers 

 begin now to regard granulation as a 

 proof of purity. 



After the enrolling of new members 

 Mr. Langstroth made a few appropri- 

 ate remarks, 



Fres. Root appointed the following 

 committees : 



On Finance.— G. M. Doolittle, W. 

 r. Clarke and Prof. A. J. Cook. 



On Statistics. — Thos. G. Newman, 

 D. A. Jones and Silas M. Locke. 



On Resolutions.— Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 W. F. Clarke and R. L. Taylor. 



On Exhibits.— Dr. A. B. Mason, J. 

 B. Hall and G. M. Doolittle. 



Thereupon the meeting adjourned 

 until 2 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Pres. Root called the meeting to or- 

 der at 2 p. m., and announced that the 

 first business would be the address of 

 welcome by Edwin Willetts, Esq., 

 President of the Michigan Agricultural 

 College. President Willetts, on aris- 

 ing was greeted with enthusiastic ap- 

 plause. His address was as follows : 



Mk. Presidicnt, Ladiks and Gex- 

 TLKMEx:— It becomes my duty, audit 

 is a pleasure, to welcome you to the 

 State of Michigan. I know of no rea- 

 son why I shoukl be asked to do so, 

 save, perhaps, because for fifty years 

 I have been a citizen of the Slate, 

 and at present represent the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, which institution 

 makes a specialty in bee culture and 

 instruction in the habits and propaga- 

 tion of bees. 



We have those present who can 

 more fitly represent that feature of the 

 institution than myself, but neither 

 they nor any one else can welcome you 

 to our state with a more hearty greet- 

 ing than can I. We are glad to see 

 you in our midst. There is a growing 

 interest here in the industry that you 

 represent to-day. Michigan easily 

 ranks high iu the production of honey. 

 The breezes are tempered by our in- 

 land seas, and our soil is generous in 

 foliage and flowers. We are strangers 

 to extreme droughts and pestilential 

 moisture. We are not in the path of 

 the blizzard or the tornado. Nearly 

 every foot of land in our southern 

 peninsula takes kindly to the plough- 

 share, and rejoices in a fertility that 

 responds heartily to the demands of 

 husbandman. We are a busy people, 

 in busy homes, and we harmonize 

 easily with the "busy bee." We un- 

 derstand each other — we and the bees 

 — and each pursue our vocations with- 

 out antagonism. Hence there is room 

 for both, without hostility and nmtual 

 profit; and all we need is the dissemi- 

 nation of such information as you can 

 give, to lead us to a more general pur- 

 suit of your industry. 



We shall expect an impulse in that 



