1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



317 



the importance of pressing the matter 



upon the attention of the directors of 



exhibitions in ;iil parts of the country. 



Ill 1 I ll I V i t I II' I I I 1 I ■! 1 .. 1\- J . I'J||J,.I I I t t 1 111 111' 



such provision as would insure the 

 safe-keeping of the bees. He himself 

 had a number of line hives spoiled 

 for want of this. The proper regula- 

 ting of bees in the fall was much more 

 important than the wintering of them. 

 " There never has been," continued 

 the President, " such a line apiary ex- 

 hibit in the world as the present one 

 at the exhibition grounds, and it re- 

 llected great credit on the associa- 

 tion." (Cheers). In speaking of the 

 various species of bees, he said he had 

 been led to entertain a very high opin- 

 ion of the Apis dorsata species, ac- 

 counts of which had been very Batter- 

 ing, lie tiad been doing his best to 

 obtain a hive of them, but his efforts 

 had been unsuccessful so far. He 

 trusted to secure them shortly. There 

 was another species of bee said to be 

 even better than this, which a Euro- 

 pean friend of his had wri ten to him 

 about, and he hoped to be able to say 

 more about it shortly. Canada, he 

 said, was the linest country in the 

 world for raising bees, and he was 

 confident that 20 per cent, or more 

 could easily be made by entering into 

 the business with a will. Judging 

 from the comparative success with 

 which his bees were wintered this year, 

 in view of its being such a severeone, 

 it was fair to infer that any sort of 

 bees could be successfully raised in 

 Canada. After paying a high com- 

 pliment to the Secretary, to whom he 

 stated the success of the Association 

 was largely due, the President re 

 sumed his seat amid much applause. 



The Rev. \V. F. Clarke, on being re- 

 quested, addressed the meeting. The 

 fact, he said, that the membership was 

 increasing so rapidly, was a good evi- 

 dence of the success of the Associa- 

 tion. The great hindrence to the suc- 

 cessful raising of bees was the fact 

 the majority of people imagine that all 

 they have to do is to set the hive on a 

 stand and leave the rest to the bees. 

 This is a mistake. Bees, like every 

 other animal which is kept for the 

 benefit of man, must be proyided and 

 cared for, or they will never prove 

 successful. People should inform 

 themselves on the subject before they 

 go into the business, and then theory 

 must be conjoined with practice, for 

 the subject requires a great deal of 

 thought and vigilance. People grum- 

 bled about bees being more " bother 

 than they were worth," but he would 

 venture the assertion that there was 

 not a pursuit which, if properly man- 

 aged, would prove more remunerative 

 than that of bee raising. The intro- 

 duction of Italian bees to Canada had 

 greatly benefitted the old stock. Af- 

 ter dwelling on the qualities of the 

 President, Mr. Jones, as a practical 

 apiculturist, and on the great benefit 

 that had accrued to the Association in 

 consequence of his connection with it, 

 Mr. Clarke concluded by stating that 

 the Government should be asked to 

 aid in the advancement of the indus- 

 try, from which he said every town- 

 ship in the country might derive a 

 revenue of $10,000 annually if the in- 

 dustry were properly managed. 



SECOND EVENING. 



Mr. D. A. Jones, President, in the 

 chair, and a large number of members 

 were present. The Chairman stated 

 that two cakes, one a ginger and the 

 other a sponge, both sweetened with 

 honey, had been sent to the Conven- 

 tion by Mrs. J. G. Wallace, of Brigh- 

 ton. 



The cakes, being cut up, were 

 passed to the members present, who 

 discussed the merits, which, it might 

 be said, were uncommonly good. It 

 was stated that a cake sweetened with 

 honey was better to keep than one 

 sweetened with sugar, as the honey 

 would keep it moist. The Chairman 

 stated that if ladies would use honey 

 in making cakes, they might do their 

 baking in the winter time when it was 

 cool, and have fresh cakes all through 

 the summer. 



On motion of Mr. Beech, seconded 

 by Mr. S. Webster, a vote of thanks to 

 Mrs. Wallace, who had kindly sent 

 the cakes, was passed. 



It was moved by W. F. Clarke, and 

 seconded by N. B. Colcock, " That 



among the many uses of honey, its 

 value, as a sweetening in the processes 

 of cookery is one of the most im- 

 portant, especially in view of the 

 adulteration practiced upon almost 

 all grades of sugar, and this meeting 

 tabes the opportunity afforded by the 

 presentation of Mrs. Wallace's excel- 

 lent cakes, to call the attention of the 

 public to the great superiority of 

 honey to sugar in all cases in which 

 an absolutely pure sweet is desired." 

 Carried. 



QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION. 



The Committee appointed to decide 

 upon the subjects for discussion, re- 



Ting, 

 shal- 



2. Spring dwindling. 3. Deep vs. si 

 low frames. 4. Uses of comb foun 

 dation. 5. What is the cause of a 

 colony fighting and killing others V 6. 

 Final preparation of the hive for win- 

 tering, disposition of combs, etc. 7. 

 Best mode of obtaining the largest 

 yield of comb honey in sections. 8. 

 Is pollen injurious to wintering V 9. 

 Foul brood, its prevention and treat- 

 ment. 10. The best way to winter 

 bees in Muskoka. 



The Secretary, who had also acted 

 as Treasurer, read his report. He 

 stated that a few weeks ago he had 

 sent to the members a form of entry 

 for the exhibition, together with a 

 printed circular for the purpose of as- 

 certaining what progiess had been 

 made in bee culture by the members. 

 Twenty-seven members out of 68 had 

 reported, and from them he had gath- 

 ered the following : Bast fall they 

 put into winter quarters 1,534 colo- 

 nies, or an average of 50 colonies each. 

 Of these there were 1 ,254 taken out 

 alive in the spring ; 210 were lost by 

 spring dwindling, leaving an aggre- 

 gate working force of 905 colonies, or 

 an average of 37 per member. At the 

 time of reporting these, 906 were in- 

 creased to 1,993, or an average of 74 

 colonies per member, as against 37 in 

 the spring. This showed that not- 

 withstanding the unusual mortality 

 among bees last winter, there are now 

 in the hands of these 27 members, 20 

 per cent, more bees than at the corres- 

 ponding time last fall. The honey 

 taken by the members who reported, 

 amounted on an aggregate to 73,790 

 pounds, or an average of 81}.£ pounds 

 for each colony held at the opening of 

 the honey season. Over % of the 

 amount was taken by the extractor. 



The report being found satisfactory, 

 a vote of thanks was tendered to the 

 Secretary for the satisfactory manner 

 in which he had transacted the busi- 

 ness of the Association during the 

 year. 



The meeting then went into discuss- 

 ion on the first subject, which was 



WINTERING. 



Several of the members related their 

 experience in wintering bees. Mr. 

 Hall, of Woodstock, stated that he 

 commenced preparing on the 15th of 

 September, and wintered until 15th 

 of April. There was a cellar under 

 the bee-house, which was built with 

 walls 16 inches thick, packed with 

 sawdust. When he put them out he 

 had no dwindling ; last year he had 

 lost 2 out of 137 colonies. 



President Jones stated that there 

 was no surer way of killing bees than 

 by disturbing them late in the fall. 

 He had lost §1,000 worth of queens re- 

 ceived from his Cyprus apiary late in 

 December, to accommodate which he 

 had been obliged to break up and di- 

 vide a number of colonies. He always 

 tried to get as many young bees late 

 in the fall as possible, and when once 

 the winter cluster was formed, he pre- 

 ferred not to disturb it. 



In reply to a question, Mr. Jones 

 stated that when bee-keepers were 

 troubled with mice, they should use 

 arsenic, granulated white sugar and 

 Hour in equal parts, as a poison. 



Mr. Wallace, of Brighton, who had 

 put in 32 last fall, had taken them all 

 out. He had lost none by robbing, 

 and none by dwidling. He had in- 

 creased his by 67. He kept the tem- 

 perature at 38° to 42^. 



Mr. J. T. Beech, of Burnt River P. 

 O., near Lindsay, stated thathis mode 



of wintering differed from those who 

 had given their experiences. He had 

 commenced with 1 colony, and now he 

 had 40. The President bad said that 

 if lie disturbed bees in the fall it was 

 not good for them. He, Mr. Beech, 

 had disturbed his in December, and 

 some which he had out of doors were 

 in better condition in the spring than 

 those he had placed in the cellar. 

 There were dead bees found in the 

 hives left in the cellar, and he did not 

 pay much attention to the hives there. 

 The cellar was well ventilated, for his 

 family used it for ordinary purposes. 

 They kept potatoes beside the hives, 

 and the bees kept beside the potatoes, 

 and kept well. 



While the discussion of wintering 

 was in progress, His Worship, the 

 Mayor, entered, and was given a seat 

 beside the President. 



It was moved by Dr. Nugent, 

 Strathroy, and seconded by Mr. Wal- 

 lace, " That the Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, in Convention assembled, de- 

 sire to express their appreciation of 

 the efforts of the Industrial Exhibi- 

 tion Association, of Toronto, to pro- 

 vide suitable accommodation for the 

 proper display of the products with 

 which they are mostclosely identified, 

 but also of all classes of agricultural 

 and manufacturing products, and to 

 further express their opinion, that if a 

 Dominion Exhibition is held in the 

 year 1882, it should be held in the city 

 of Toronto, and that aid should be 

 granted thereto by the Dominion and 

 Ontario Governments." Carried. 



After a limited discussion of several 

 of the other subjects, the meeting ad- 

 journed. 



A very interesting open air meeting 

 of bee-keepers, was held in the morn- 

 ing in the tent adjoining the building 

 devoted to the apiarian display on the 

 exhibition grounds. Among the sub- 

 jects discussed, was the difficulty in 

 feeding up queens so as to get them 

 to breed again, after they have ceased 

 breeding in the fall ; the proper dis- 

 tance between combs for wintering ; 

 keeping out moisture and mice ; treat- 

 ment for foul brood ; queens laying 

 drone eggs in worker cells; feeding 

 bees ; the existence of "honey dew," 

 and how it is formed, and many other 

 interesting topics. 



Mr. Jones exhibited a number of 

 frames containing queen cells in dif- 

 ferent stages of development. The 

 discussions were also listened to by a 

 goodly number of persons who are de- 

 sirous of learning something about 

 bee culture, and the keenest interest 

 was manifested by all. 



THIRD EVENING. 



After discussing the various ques- 

 tions which were placed before the 

 meeting, Mr. McKnight suggested the 

 necessity of taking steps to secure an 

 Act of Incorporation. 



Mr. S. Webster then moved, sec- 

 onded by Dr. Nugent, that the Presi- 

 dent and Secretary of this Associa- 

 tion, be instructed to take the neces- 

 sary steps to secure an Act of Incor- 

 poration from the Ontario Legisla- 

 ture, in the names of the officers of 

 the association for the coming year ; 

 also to use their endeavors to obtain a 

 grant in aid of this organization, and 

 to put it on the same footing as the 

 Dairymen's Association, Fruit Grow- 

 ers' and Poultry Associations of the 

 Province of Ontario. Carried unani- 

 mously. 



The following gentlemen were ap- 

 pointed honorary members of this as- 

 sociation : The Mayor of Toronto, 

 the President of the Toronto Exhibi- 

 tion Association, Mr. Withroy, Mr. 

 Jas. Mills, Principal of the Guelph 

 Agricultural College, Prof. Brown, 

 Guelph, and whatever other gentle- 

 men the Executive Committee deem 

 advisable. 



The following resolution was car- 

 ried : Resolved, " That the encour- 

 agement to the bee-keeping interest 

 of the country by the Toronto Indus- 

 trial Association, is an example that 

 ought to be followed by all similar 

 bodies throughout the Province of 

 Ontario and the Dominion of Canada, 

 to secure which desirable result this 

 meeting urges upon the bee-keepers 



ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



The President begged to remind the 

 members that he was not a candidate 

 for re-election ; indeed, he would re- 

 gard it as a great favor to lie allowed 

 to retire, on account of the large 

 amount of private business which he 

 had to attend to. 



The election of officers for the en- 

 suing year, resulted as follows : Hon. 

 Lewis Walbridge, Belleville, Presi- 

 dent; Mr. J. B. Hall, Woodstock, 

 first Vice-President; Rev. W. F. 

 Clarke, Listowel, second Vice-Presi- 

 dent; Mr. R. M. McKnight, Owen 

 Sound, Secretary and Treasurer ; and 

 Messrs. D. A. Jones, Beeton. Dr. 

 Nugent, Strathroy, W. C. Wells, 

 Phillipstown, Dr. Shaver. Stratford, 

 and S. Cornell, Lindsay, Committee. 



Mr. D. A. Jones, and Rev. Mr. 

 Clarke were appointed a delegation to 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, to be held at Lexington, 

 Ky., Oct. 5-7, 1881. 



Mr. Jones vacated the chair, and 

 Mr. Hall, first vice-president, took 

 the same. 



A unanimous vote of thanks was 

 passed to the retiring President, Mr. 

 Jones, for the able way in which he 

 had discharged his duties during the 

 past year. 



Mr. Jones thanked his friends, and 

 promised to do all in his power for the 

 association in the future, as he had 

 done in the past. 



A vote of thanks was also passed to 

 the Secretary and Treasurer, for his 

 valuable services during the year. 



Mr. Jones then moved that the 

 hearty thanks of the association be 

 passed to The Mail and The Globe for 

 the excellent reports which had been 

 given of the meetings of the conven- 

 tion, both at the City Hall, and on the 

 grounds during the exhibition. The 

 motion was carried unanimously. 



A vote of thanks was passed to the 

 Mayor and Corporation, for the use of 

 the room in which the meetings had 

 been held. 



On motion of Mr. Jones, it was re- 

 solved to hold the next meeting of the 

 association in Toronto, during the ex- 

 hibition of next year. The meeting 

 then adjourned. 



Kentucky lice-Keepers' Association. 



— The second annual convention of 

 the Kentucky State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, will be held in the Exposi- 

 tion Building, in Louisville, Ky., on 

 Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 12 

 and 13, 1881. 



A fine display of bee-keepers' sup- 

 plies, honey, etc., is expected, and 

 some of the most prominent bee-keep- 

 ers in America, who will be in attend- 

 ance at the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention, at Lexington, Oct. 5, 6, 

 and 7, are expected to attend. All 

 are invited. N. P. Allen, Pres. 



l^" The Southwestern Wisconsin 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will hold its 

 next meeting in Platteville, GrantCo., 

 Wis.. Nov. 30, 1881. 



N. E. France, Sec, Platteville, Wis. 



<^° The Michigan State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, will convene at Bat- 

 tle Creek, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 1881. 

 We have reason to expect one of the 

 largest and most interesting meetings 

 we have ever "held. Let all arrange 

 to be present. All District Associa- 

 tions should send delegates. Each per- 

 son should come with their best ex- 

 perience in their hands, ready to hand 

 it over to the others of the fraternity. 

 It is hoped that all will bring the full- 

 est report possible from their region. 

 Commutation rates are expected on 

 railroads. A. J. Cook, Pres. 



T. F. Bingham, Sec. 



