AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



571 



Report of the Illinois §tate Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation held its third semi-annual meet- 

 ing on Oct. 18th and 19th, 1892, at 

 the Commercial Hotel in Chicago. 



The convention was called to order at 

 11 a.m., with President J. M. Ham- 

 baugh in the chair. 



The following members paid their 

 dues : 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich. 



James A. Green, Dayton, Ills. 



J. H. Larrabee, Agricultural College, 

 Mich. 



George W. York, Chicago, Ills. 



W. A. Vance, Glencoe, Ills. 



G. Ruff, Burlington, Iowa. 



W. C. Lyman, Downer's Grove, Ills. 



A. Y. Baldwin, De Kalb, Ills. 



A. L. Kildow, Sheffield, Ills. 



J. C. Wheeler, Piano, Ills. 



Geo. Thompson, Geneva, Ills. 



N. L. Stow, South Evanston, Ills. 



Frank Benton, Washington, D. C. 



M. H. Mandelbaum, Chicago, Ills. 



M. M. Baldridge, St. Charles, Ills. 



Frank Blecka, Elgin, Ills. 



C. M. Baall, Clayton, Ills. 



LADY MEMBERS. 



Mrs. L. Harrison, Peoria, Ills. 



Mrs. N. L. Stow, South Evanston, Ills. 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 



Wm. F. Clarke, and afterwards Frank 

 Benton, were made honorary members. 



Thomas G. Newman, the first honorary 

 member of the association, was present. 



The light crop of honey, and the fail- 

 ^ ure to get the advantage of the reduced 

 rates, made the attendance smaller than 

 usual. It was supposed there would be 

 reduced rates during the whole " Dedica- 

 tion week," and by holding the conven- 

 tion early in the week, it would allow 

 the members more time for sight-seeing, 



but the reduced rates did not go into 

 effect until Wednesday,, the last day of 

 the convention. 



Apiarian Exhibits at the World's 

 Fair. 



It might be safely said that one-half 

 the time of the whole convention was 

 used in discussing the prospects of hav- 

 ing an Illinois show of bees and honey 

 at the coming Columbian Exposition. 

 President Hambaugh recited at some 

 length the trials and troubles he had 

 borne in the way of correspondence with 

 the "powers that be," in attempting to 

 learn something definite in regard to 

 whether any of the money appropriated 

 by the State for the purpose of making 

 a showing of agricultural products was 

 to be given to the bee-keeping interests. 

 Only one-half of one per cent, had been 

 asked for, yet even that would not be 

 granted — at least no definite promise 

 would be given. 



Mr. Thomas G. Newman had met with 

 the members of the Agricultural Board, 

 and with Mr. Reynolds, and he (New- 

 man) believed that nothing would be 

 done. These men were all full of quib- 

 bles. Most of the objections were upon 

 technical grounds. For example, they 

 said that a display of honey would not 

 be educational. Another reason was 

 that they considered honey a martin 

 factured article. This is a disputed 

 point. Some do say that bees make 

 honey. Professor Cook says it is 

 " digested nectar." Of course he is a 

 Professor, and I am not, but I cannot 

 agree with him. Honey is certainly an 

 agricultural product in contradistinction 

 to manufactured articles. Mr. Newman 

 doubted if the Board of Agriculture 

 would allow any money to be used in 

 making an apiarian exhibition. 



Mrs. Harrison contended that an api- 

 arian exhibition would be educational. 

 Some people think extracted honey is 

 some sort of an " extract." An exhibi- 

 tion of an extractor, and the ' manner in 

 which it is used, would educate people. 



Mr. Newman said that Mr. W. I. 

 Buchanan, Chief of the Department of 

 Agriculture in Columbian Exposition, 

 is a nice man, but, of course, is not an 

 expert bee-keeper. He wrote to about 

 twenty persons prominent in apiculture, 

 asking for their views as to how an ex- 

 hibit ought to be made. He thus secured 

 their ideas, and he then proceeded to 

 approve of some and reject others ; but 

 he did not always hold the same views. 

 Each time that he was called upon he 

 had completely upset former plans. Bee- 



