THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



729 



some have fallen by the way; but 

 still many in our midst that in the 

 past took an active part in tliis move- 

 ment can look backward with joy and 

 tliankfuhiess on the results of their 

 labors, and with hopefulness can con- 

 template the future that still lies be- 

 fore them. The sight of so many 

 bee-keepers thus brought together- 

 representatives of tne respective 

 places in which the lot of each is cast 

 —will cause them "to renew their 

 strength," and with firmer steps and 

 with more determined resolve proceed 

 on their onward way, and strive to 

 overtake their still un finished work. 



The day of the Conference at South 

 Kensington will be one that will ever 

 be remembered by those present on 

 the occasion. The arrangements were 

 most satisfactory. The feelings that 

 predominated in the breasts of British 

 bee-keepers towards their Canadian 

 brethren were hearty and sincere, and 

 those feelings found a ready response 

 in the hearts of those whom on this 

 day they delighted to honor. Though 

 embarked in the same pursuit, there 

 will be, we are assured, no undue 

 rivalry, but both, Canadians and 

 British, will combine with all their 

 strength to extend and increase the 

 industry wliich they have so much at 

 heart ; and we may argue, from the 

 spirit that pervaded the meeting, that 

 these endeavors will not be without 

 their full realization. 



At the banquet there were about 

 100 ladies and gentlemen, including 

 the principal apiarists of Great 

 Britain. We quote again from the 

 British Bee Journal, as follows : 



The chairman, in proposing the 

 the toast of the Queen, said he was 

 sure that the spirit of loyalty to Her 

 Majesty was equally as strong in the 

 hearts of their Colonial friends as in 

 those of Englishmen generally. Every 

 bee-keeper knew that if he wished to 

 have strong colonies he must have a 

 good queen. Fortunately, in England 

 they had a good Queen, and it was 

 during her reign that Britain's colo- 

 nial possessions had grown to gigantic 

 power and strength. (Loud cheers.) 



The Hon. and Rev. Henry Bligh 

 proposed the health of the Prince and 

 Princess of Wales and the other 

 members of the Royal Family. He 

 said that the thanks of all bee-keepers 

 were specially due to the Prince of 

 Wales, who was President of the 

 Executive of the Colonial Exhibition, 

 for his kindness in giving the neces- 

 sary permission for the holding of 

 their recent Honey Show, which was 

 a grand success, and of which the 

 meeting held that day was the out- 

 come. Not many weeks before their 

 Royal Highnesses, the Prince and 

 Princess, had attended the bee-exhi- 

 bition held at Norwich, where they 

 evinced the greatest interest in the 

 wonders of the bee-tent. Later on in 

 the year, and in another part of the 

 country. Princess Beatrice had kindly 

 assisted their cause by opening the 

 Bee-Show held at Southampton, where 

 she gave the prizes to successful ex- 

 hibitors. He thought the work in 

 which they were engaged was a na- 



tional one— he might almost say an 

 imperial one, for they took the great- 

 est pleasure in laboring hand in hand 

 with their brethren in all parts of the 

 British Empire. 



The Rev. (J. Gaynor, in proposing 

 " Prosperity to the Colonies," said he 

 tlioughttlie Colonies were certain to 

 be prosperous, because they contained 

 a population possessed of all those 

 characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon 

 race, which had shown such wonder- 

 ful ability for colonizing, far greater 

 than any other nation of the globe. 

 When Englishmen looked on and saw 

 the wondrous productions of their 

 Colonies (Greater Britain, as they had 

 been termed) they might well doubt 

 whether the mother country would 

 compete with her Colonies of that 

 day. What the future would develop 

 no one could tell, but when they saw 

 that the Colonies could bring to an 

 Exhibition like the present one forty 

 tons of the most superb comb and 

 extracted honey, it behooved the 

 mother country to look around and 

 exert all her energies to keep pace 

 with her children. The difficulty of 

 doing so was apparent in many ways, 

 and not least when they looked at the 

 productions of wheat grain in the 

 Colonies of Australia and New Zea- 

 land — far finer than anything that 

 could be produced in Britain. Thirty- 

 five years ago in Kangaroo Island, 

 which was at the present time devoted 

 to the breeding of Italian bees in their 

 pure state, the Legislature of South 

 Australia prohibited the introduction 

 of any other race of bees in that 

 island. They could boast of nothing 

 like that in the old country. They 

 imported Italian bees, but did not 

 attempt to keep the race pure. He 

 thought it was very likely that the 

 Exhibition would become a perma- 

 nency, in which event they would, he 

 was delighted to say, have many 

 opportunities of fraternizing with 

 their brother bee-keepers from the 

 otlier side of the Atlantic, which he 

 hoped would tend to increase the 

 bonds of amity between the mother 

 country and her children. 



Dr. May (commissioner for educa- 

 tion, Canada) said he could not find 

 adequate words wherewith to express 

 his acknowledgements of the kind 

 manner in which the toast had been 

 proposed and accepted of " Prosperity 

 to our Colonies." The first thing 

 upon which he must congratulate the 

 British Bee-Keepers' Association was 

 that they had a taste for the beauti- 

 ful, which was evident by the pres- 

 ence of so many ladies at their gath- 

 ering—a proof tliat bee-keepers were 

 loyal to other queens besides the 

 queen-bee. (Laughter.) On behalf 

 of the Colonies he was glad to say 

 they were a prospering colony who 

 were proud of their Qonnection with 

 tlie parent colony, and far from en- 

 tering into rivalry they wished to 

 work hand in hand with the mother 

 country. He hoped they would not 

 think him egotistic if he spoke of his 

 own colony in particular. Very little 

 had been known hitherto about Can- 

 ada in the old coiuitry. Canada had 

 been described, only recently, as being 

 fifty miles wide, and separated by a 



belt of trees from the North Pole. 

 (Laugliter.) Tliat was an extraordi- 

 nary statement. Tlie fact was, that 

 they had an area of about 3,.500,000 

 square miles, wliich made their ter- 

 ritory something like the size of 

 Europe. They had a climate which 

 was often spoken of as six months of 

 winter and six months of summer. In 

 that section of Ontario from which 

 their friends, the honey-producers 

 came, the winter commenced in the 

 latter part of December and termi- 

 nated in March. If they could draw 

 a line straight across the Atlantic 

 from South Ontario, it would be found 

 to strike somewhere about the lati- 

 tude of Rome. They would, there- 

 fore, understand that Canada was a 

 tract of land which was very prolific 

 and literally flowing with milk and 

 honey. They were a most hospitable 

 people there, and he was sure that if 

 any of their ifriends in England would 

 pay a visit to Canada, they would find 

 that to be a fact. With regard to 

 the honey of his country, their En- 

 glish friends would be enabled to 

 judge for themselves. There was no 

 doubt that Canadians were a people 

 full of indomitable perseverance and 

 energy. They were not content to 

 sit down and be satisfied with present 

 successes. Mr. Jones, as they aU 

 knew, had done very much for bee- 

 keeping. He was called the king-bee 

 in his own country. In spite of his 

 unique position in the bee-world, he 

 was not satisfied, because he could 

 not find a bee with a proboscis sufli- 

 ciently long to enable it to gather 

 honey from all sources. He had been 

 all over the world in search of such a 

 bee, which he was determined to find 

 or breed if possible. If they could 

 not discover a bee with the desired 

 proboscis, they must endeavor to 

 gain their purpose by giving artificial 

 aid to the little insect. (Laughter.) 

 He then referred to the excellent sys- 

 tem of free education which prevailed 

 in Ontario, whereby the sons and 

 daughters of rich and poor were ed- 

 ucated alike, by which means latent 

 talent, which was frequently to be 

 met with in the children of the poor- 

 est classes, was given free scope for 

 development. They also had a Me- 

 chanics' Institute, supported by the 

 Government for the instruction of 

 adults. He was sorry his education 

 in regard to bees had been very much 

 neglected, but he remembered that 

 little poem whicn began, " How doth 

 the little busy bee," etc., and if they 

 would allow him to improvise upon 

 that, he would say :— 



Canada i8 a Rreat country for honey. 



It 13 there farmers and bee-keepers make lots of 



money. 

 Our hees extract nectar from flowers so sweet, 

 That all nations consider our honey a treat. 



(Loud laughter.) With regard to the 

 loyalty of the Canadian people, they 

 claim to be in no way inferior to their 

 English brethren. Anything that 

 affected the liberty of England was a 

 matter of the greatest interest and 

 solicitude to her children across the 

 ocean, who were justly proud of their 

 illustrious parentage. (Loud cheers.) 

 Mr. Stewart proposed the toast of 

 the " Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion," coupling with it the names of 



