THE AMERICA]!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



679 



behalf, to address a circular to all the 

 bee-keepers of North America, urg- 

 ing the formation of neighborhood, 

 county. State, territorial and provin- 

 cial associations, auxiliary to this 

 society. 



A circular was accordingly address- 

 ed " to the bee-keepers of North 

 America," which will be found ou 



Sage 170, Vol. VIII of the American 

 lEE Journal. Some attempts have 

 been made since to realize this ideal, 

 but without any great success. Our 

 meetings have always been largely 

 local, and not sufflcienlly representa- 

 tive. The constituency is so extended 

 that it is difficult to avoid this, except 

 on the delegation plan. A State, 

 province or territory could easily 

 afford to send one or two representa- 

 tives, when the expense individually 

 would be oppressive. Let all who 

 can come outside the official delega- 

 tion, do so, but let the whole conti- 

 nent be represented in this great 

 apicultural congress. 



As to the future, I would urge that 

 the association work along tlie old 

 lines, with the added feature I have 

 been recommending. There are some 

 who consider the organization un- 

 worthy of preservation. A tew think 

 it an evil because it discloses the 

 secrets of the craft, while here and 

 there one falsely accuses it of being 

 managed by a ring. I have no sym- 

 pathy with any of these views. If the 

 association has been promotive of tlie 

 interests of bee-culture in the past, 

 and I have shown, I think, conclu- 

 sively that it has, there is no good 

 reason why it may not be equally, and 

 even more useful in the days to come, 

 if managed with that broader wisdom 

 ■which we may expect to come with 

 the progressive intellectuality of the 

 age. The fear of disclosing secrets, I 

 regard as a mere nervous weakness. 

 You may blurt out all you know, and 

 still bee-keeping is an art which can- 

 not be learned by the million. It re- 

 quires a peculiar combination of char- 

 acteristics which few men, and still 

 fewer women, possess. The mere 

 knowledge of all that is known by 

 Heddon, Jones, Doolittle, Hutchin- 

 son, or "Cyula Linswik " is not suffi- 

 cient to produce second editions of 

 theseaccomplished bee-keepers : there 

 is a " knack " which is the result of a 

 peculiar compound of mental quali- 

 ties only found in here and there one. 

 The difference between knowledge 

 possessed and knowledge applied, is 

 that between a cyclopaedia and a 

 Morse or an Edison. Cyclopoedias are 

 plentiful, but Morses and Edisons 

 are scarce. 



As to the association being man- 

 aged by a ring, there never was a 

 more gratuitous libel against an 

 organized body than this. It has no 

 " spoils" to attract" victors." "Where 

 the carcass is, there will the eagles 

 be gathered together." In this case 

 there is no carcass, and consequently 

 no birds of prey ready to devour. On 

 occasions when there has been temp- 

 tation and opportunity for a clique to 

 usurp authority, there has been aris- 

 ing above all selfish interests. Notably 

 was this the case two years ago at 

 Rochester, when by the non-attend- 



ance of Western bee-keepers the 

 Eastern men had it all their own way. 

 I am witness with what noble self- 

 abnegation they arose to the duty of 

 the hour, and made such manage- 

 ments as issued in the best bee-con- 

 vention ever held on this continent, 

 and perhaps in the world. I refer to 

 the Detroit meeting last December, 

 the memory of which will long be 

 green, fresh and fragrant in the 

 minds of all who were present at that 

 remarkable gathering. No, there is 

 no ring, never has been, to rny knowl- 

 edge, and few know the association 

 better than I do. The first and only 

 .attempt at cliquing was effectually 

 squelched, as I have narrated in my 

 brief history. In the same impartial 

 way I hope and believe the society 

 will go on, increasing in usefulness as 

 the years pass along, until we meet 

 in a purer, happier and everlasting 

 fellowship : — 



" Where thrilHne music through the welkin ringa, 

 And nectar sweet is g.athered without stings." 



I canfiot close without giving ex- 

 pression to the pleasure I feel in being 

 once more assembled with you at 

 Indianapolis. It is like going back 

 to one's birth-place, for here our asso- 

 ciation was born. What I said from 

 the President's chair in 1872, 1 here 

 beg to repeat with all the added em- 

 phasis which the lapse of 14 years can 

 give: 



" It is very fitting that we should 

 meet on the present occasion in this 

 city, where the initiatory organization 

 was formed, and the plan of consoli- 

 dation conceived and proposed ; 

 where, too, we received at the outset 

 such tokens of appreciation from the 

 citizens, the press, and the civic au- 

 thorities, especially in the free use of 

 the fine Senate Chamber, in whose 

 honorable seats even our lady bee- 

 keepers could feel for the time that 

 they were not only suffragists but kg- 

 islators, and now in this Supreme 

 Court room, where we can feel that 

 we have attained judicial elevation. 

 From its peculiar and central position 

 the cordial spirit of its officers, edi- 

 tors, and people, and the number of 

 such bodies that have seemed to come 

 here as by some law of gravitation, 

 Indianapolis deserves to be styled 

 Convention City, and if it has not 

 formally received that name, I pro- 

 pose that the bee-keepers here assem- 

 bled do so christen it, forthwith." 



The selection of the location for 

 holding the next meeting was then 

 declared to be in order, and Chicago, 

 Ills., was, by vote.r^elected. 



Adjourned until 2 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 

 2 p.m.. President Cutting in the chair. 

 The first business transacted was the 

 election of officers, which resulted as 

 follows : 



President, Dr. C. C.Miller, Marengo, 

 Ills. 



Secretary, W. Z. Hutchinson, Rog- 

 ersville. Mich. 



Treasurer, Chas. F. Muth, Cincin- 

 nati, O. 



Rev.W. F. Clarke, Dr. A. B. Mason, 

 and Mr. R. L. Taylor were appointed 



a committee to report names for the 

 Vice- Residents. 



HONEY-PLANTS. 



Mr. A. I. Root gave a talk on 

 honey-plants as follows : If possible 

 those plants should be raised for 

 honey that have value aside from 

 honey-production. Alsike clover 

 stands at the head of the list ; buck- 

 wheat next. Following these are 

 rape and raspberries. I do not, at 

 present, know of any plant that I am 

 certain that it will prove profitable to 

 raise for honey alone. It is possible 

 that there are four plants that it will 

 be profitable to raise for honey alone, 

 viz : sweet clover, figvport, spider- 

 plant, and the Chapman honey-plant. 

 The latter will continue to yield 

 honey during a drouth better than 

 any plant of which I know. It is 

 biennial, resembles a thistle, blossoms 

 just after basswood, and continues in 

 bloom about three weeks. It is self- 

 seeding, and requires no attention 

 after it is once started. The seed 

 should be sowed in early spring. 

 When the committee which was ap- 

 pointed to visit Mr. Chapman and 

 learn more about this plant, was at 

 Mr. Chapman's place, he had two 

 acres of the plant in bloom. He also 

 had 130 colonies of bees, and they 

 were gathering honey in such quanti- 

 ties from the plant that they were 

 building comb and storing honey. 

 The honey is light colored, not high 

 flavored, being of almost a pure sweet 

 taste, 



T. F. Bingham— It is not an un- 

 common sight to see as many as from 

 6 to 10 bees upon each blossom, and 

 this continues from daylight until 

 dark, let the weather be wet or dry. 

 The stalk is of a very fibrous nature, 

 and it is possible that the fiber might 

 be used in making straw paper. 



H. Chapman— I ground 2)^ pounds 

 of seed and pressed from it 9 ounces 

 of fine, clear oil. 



The committee appointed to select 

 suitable persons for vice-presidents, 

 would report, recommending that 

 only those States, Provinces and Ter- 

 ritories have vice-presidents appoint- 

 ed, who are represented either by the 

 presence of delegates or the trans- 

 mission of reports. 



The following were then appointed 

 Vice-Presidents for the ensuing year: 



VICE-PRESIDENTS. 



Florida— W. S. Hart. New Smyrna. 

 Georgia— Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta. 

 Illinois— Mrs. ij. Harrison. Peoria. 

 Indiana— Jonas Scholl. Lyon's Station. 

 Iowa— Kugene Secor. Forest City. 

 Michigan -R. 1j. Taylor, l.apeer. 

 Missouri— Jno. Nebel, High Hill. 

 Nebraska— Wm. Stolley Grand Island. 

 New Yorli-L. C. Roftt Mohawk. 

 Ohio— A. B. Mason, Wagon W >rk8. 

 Oregon— Frank S. Hardinir. Portland. 

 Ontario— R. F. Iloltermann, Brantford. 

 Pennsylvania— Arthur Todd, Germantown. 

 Quebec-H. K. Hunt. Villa Mastai. 

 Vermont-B. O. Tuttle, Bristol. 



The committee on resolutions re- 

 ported the following, which were 

 adopted : 



We the members of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society desir- 

 ing to express our sense of the obli- 

 gation we are under to our officers and 

 others for the aid given in making 



