i'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



389 



Explanatory.— The figures defoke the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has liopt bees. Those after, show 

 the uuml.)er of colonies tlie writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the center of the State named; 

 i north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 ♦O west; and thisc$ northeast; X) northwest: 

 o- southeast; and 9 southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Beo JournaL 



Report of tlie National B. K. Union, 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



This official document is now before 

 the constituency of the Union. It is 

 a straight-forward, business-like and 

 satisfactory statement of wliat has 

 been done by the Manager and Ex- 

 ecutive Committee during the first 

 year's administration. The organiza- 

 tion has proved its right to exist by 

 what it has accomplished during one 

 short twelve-month, and that it is 

 needed still, is obvious enough. There 

 is that California suit, in which a new 

 trial has been asked. This case, what- 

 ever it costs, must be kept alive until 

 a decision according to the facts is 

 put on record. It is monstrous that 

 in this enlightened age a court any- 

 where within the realm of civilization 

 should put its judicial seal to such a 

 verdict as the one rendered, based as 

 it is on the testimony of possibly 

 honest, but utterly deluded wit- 

 nesses, who declared on oath they had 

 seen the perforation and destruction 

 of grapes done by the defendant's 

 bees. This thing must be carried, if 

 need be, to the Supreme Court of the 

 United States, and that dull scholar, 

 the public, taught the nature of a 

 bee's tongue, and the impossibility of 

 its heing; used for purposes of fruit 

 destruction. 



I am not sure but I have a case on 

 hand requiring attention from the 

 Union's Manager. Some weeks ago 

 there appeared a statement in the 

 Montreal Witness, Canada's most 

 widely circulated weekly family 

 paper, in reply to a question about 

 glucose as follows : 



" It is also put up directly in trade 

 as honey — with which bees have had 

 nothing whatever to do — being put up 

 by means of api)ropriate machinery, 

 into artificial combs made of paraf- 

 finel" 



In correction of this and other 

 erroneous statements, I wrote an 

 article headed " Spurious Comb 

 Honey," which duly appeared in the 

 3Iontreal Witness of June 9, and at the 

 close of it this editorial note : " The 

 statement in the Witness in answer to 

 an inquiry concerning glucose, was 

 obtained from Appleton's Annual 

 Cyclopwdia, 1881, article Glucose." 



If this is so, attention must be at 

 once given to the matter, and the 

 Messrs. Appleton brought to account. 

 I have not access to the volume 

 quoted, and therefore beg that our 

 Manager will forthwith look up the 

 reference, and shoidd it be as stated, 

 serve a notice on the publishers 

 named, similar to that which brought 

 the editor of the Chicago Advance to 

 time. It is not to be tolerated that 

 an honest industry should be 

 maligned after this fashion. 



Other proofs might be given to 

 show that the '■ Union " still has 

 work to do. Let it therefore be sus- 

 tained. I own to having been some- 

 what disappointed that there was not 

 a more general rally of bee-keepers 

 to the standard of defense, when it 

 was unfurled, manifestly with such 

 good and urgent cause. Still, 324 

 members form a large body of people, 

 and it is not unbecoming or improper 

 for one of their number to say that it 

 is a select body— a " picked and 

 packed " phalanx who mean business, 

 and all of whom will act as recruiting 

 sergeants to get up a vast army of 

 defenders, if circumstances arise to 

 require it. 



After all, there appears to have 

 been members enough for the im- 

 mediate demand, and by marvellously 

 good financiering, the Union has ac- 

 complished a lot of work— all appar- 

 ently that was immediately called for 

 —and there is a balance of $15 in the 

 treasury. " Tres hien /" as the French 

 say. Now let every member promptly 

 renew, and in view of the good show- 

 ing made by the report, let us have a 

 large enrollment of new names. I 

 would like to see a good list from 

 Canada. Our cause is one. Legal 

 decisions in the United States will 

 morally have all the force and value 

 of precedents in the Dominion. The 

 collection of sworn scientific testi- 

 mony will be a service performed 

 equally for both. Criticism and cor- 

 rection of newspapers, cyclopoedias, 

 and other publications is work done 

 for the entire world of literature. 

 Education of the public mind, the 

 prestige of association; and the power 

 of co-operation are influences that 

 pay no attention to inter- national 

 boundary lines. So I hope that the 

 corporal's guard from the Dominion 

 will be swollen into a decent regiment, 

 and that we may have during 1886-87 

 an army of at least a thousand strong. 



I beg to move the following resolu- 

 tions, and I wish I had been "right 

 smart " and done it immediately on 

 receiving the report in the Bbk 

 Journal of June 9. However, those 

 who have sent in their votes, will not, 

 I think, begrudge a postal card in 

 support of the following : 



1. Resolved, That the report of the 

 General Manager be accepted and 

 approved ; also that the thanks of the 

 membership are due and are hereby 

 tendered to the Executive, and es- 

 pecially to the Manager, for their 

 efficient services. 



2. Resolved, That the Bohn case be 

 followed up until a judicial decision 

 in accordance with truth and justice 

 be inscribed among the national 

 archives for all coming time. 



.3. Resolved, That there be an hon- 

 orary life membersliip in the Union 

 to be accorded to such as have ren- 

 dered eminent service that cannot 

 well be otherwise acknowledged, and 

 that the roll be commenced with the 

 following names : 



Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who, if he 

 had been properly defended in his 

 rights, would now have been in cir- 

 cumstances to which his merits en- 

 title him. James Heddon, as founder 

 of the Union. Thos. G. Newman, in 

 recognition of the ability and zeal 

 shown by him as General Manager. 

 G. W. Demaree in grateful acknowl- 

 edgement of his having donated his 

 "brief" to the "Union Defense 

 Fund " in connection with the first 

 trial case. 



Properly speaking, the Manager, on 

 whom the chief labor has thus far 

 devolved, and who as a business man 

 has a right to payment for his time, 

 ought to have a salary, but we are not 

 in a position to vote him one worthy 

 of his acceptance ; I therefore give 

 notice of a motion to present him 

 with a gold-headed cane at the next 

 meeting of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society to be held at In- 

 dianapolis. 



All of which is respectfully sub- 

 mitted. 



Guelph, Ont. 



[See editorial note on the foregoing 

 article on page 387.— Ed.] 



Read at the Johnson Co.. Ind.. Convention. 



Benefits of Bee-Keeners' Associations. 



niOF. D. A. OWEN. 



The old and familiar adage t?hat 

 " Whatever is worth doing at all is 

 worth doing well," is no truer in any 

 other undertaking than that of the 

 culture of bees. It was thought for 

 a long time that the bee was guided 

 wholly by instinct in the performance 

 of its domestic duties, and that it did 

 the best possible when left alone. But 

 since bee-culture has become a 

 science, it has been found that the 

 bee is capable of reasoning and being 

 taught. 



The bee is much older than Adam, 

 but it was left to the sons of Adam to 

 make it possible for a single colony, 

 which formerly yielded from 50 to 75 

 pounds of honey, to yield from 500 to 

 700 and even 1.000 pounds per annum. 

 While man has enabled the bee to 

 improve upon its old methods of 

 work, and increase its products ten- 

 fold, it has in return taught him not 

 a few important facts. Through ob- 

 servations of this little animal in the 

 field, he has learned the best method 

 of cross-fertilization of all kinds of 

 vegetation. The bee has taught him 

 that a good fruit year does not depend 

 as much upon the fact that it is pre- 

 ceded by a white or black Christmas, 

 as upon the number of bees that sur- 

 vive the winter. 



Bee-culture is a modern science. 

 Thirty years ago a bee-keepers' asso- 

 ciation was scarcely thought of ; to- 

 day they are found in nearly every 

 progressive county of the Union, 



