THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



791 



of Lithuania, this substance and lin- 

 den rtoweis afford the finest honey in 

 the world." 

 Baltimore, Md. 



The Transformations of Life. 



CHARLES J. BEATTIE. 



Though living forces teem with livtnK strife, 

 Aii Nature sings one song of deathless life. 

 Grass, flower, iind shrub, and tree of every name — 

 Ail living things-a deathless life proclaim. 

 The tiny song-bird 'mid the boughs and leaves. 

 Builds its warm ne-twith sitillful ease, and weaves 

 With bramble, twig, and leaf, its castle free— 

 A jocund homestead in the growing tree. 

 To keep Its feathered darlings snug and warm. 

 Safe from the cold and sheltered from the storm. 

 The restless bee rears its Industrious home, 

 And fills with treasured sweets its honey-comb— 

 The strange chryaaiie that nssumes to die. 

 Rises to life a gorgeous butterfly. 

 Night's radiant Queen, the everlasting Moon, 

 Changeful, vet changeless as eternal noon— 

 The lesser orbs which light the night or day. 

 The constellations of the Milky- Way, 

 And every star that shines from pole to pole. 

 Are sentinels that watch the ages roll. 

 Chicago, November, 188:;. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1883. Time and Place o} Meeting. 



Jan. 9.— Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. T. 



M. C. Bean, Sec, McUrawville, N. Y. 

 9.-Ohlo State, at Columbus, Ohio. 



1). Spear, Sec, Cardington, Ohio. 

 9-11, Northeastern, at Syracuse, N. Y, 



G. W. House. Fayetteyille, N. Y. 

 II, Nebraska State, at Wahoo. Neb. 



Geo. M. Hawley, Sec. 

 16.— Bantern N. Y.. at Albany. N. Y. 



E. Quakenbush. Sec, Barnerville, N. Y. 

 18. Chamolain Valley, at Middleburg, Vt. 



T. Brookins. Sec. 

 19, 20.— Mahoning Valley, at Berlin Centre, O. 

 Li. Carson, Pres. 

 Feb. 3.— Northern Ohio, at Norwalk, O. 

 8.— Maine State, at Dexter. 



Wm. Hoyt, Sec. 

 April 5.— Utah, at Salt Lake City. 



E. Stevenson, Sec. 

 May 1 1.— Iowa Central, at Winterset. 



J. E. Pryor.Sec. 

 — , —Texas State Convention, at McKinney. 

 Dr. W. K. Howard, Sec. 

 Oct. 17, 18.— Northwestern, at Chicago. 111. 



ThomasG. Newman, Sec. 

 Dec. &-€, Michigan State, at Flint. 



U. D. Cutting, Sec, Union, Mich. 



V^ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— ED. 



i^"The annual meeting of the Ma- 

 honing Valley Bee-keeuers' Associa- 

 tion will be held at Jierlin Center, 

 Mahoning Co., O., in the town hall on 

 Friday and Saturday the 19th and20tli 

 of January, 1SS3. All bee-keepers are 

 invited to attend and send essays, pa- 

 pers, implements, or any thing of in- 

 terest to the fraternity. A full at- 

 tendance is requested of all who are 

 interested. In fact, the meetings will 

 be so interesting that you cannot 

 afford to miss them. We expect a 

 lecturer from abroad on the evening 

 of the 19th. L. Causon, Frts. 



Michigan State Convention. 



The 17th annual meeting of the 

 Michigan Stale Bee-Keepers' Society, 

 was held at Kalamazoo, Mich., on 

 Dec. 0, 7, ltSS2, commencing Wednes- 

 day at IO:tO a. in.. Vice President 

 Southard, M. D., in the chair. There 

 was a very fair attendance and those 

 present indulged in a free and easy 

 kind of a talk on various subjects, 

 awaiting the arrival of the trains at 

 about 1100", which augmented the 

 number quite considerably. 



The chairman said that President 

 Ileddon vvas in favor of proceeding 

 without a programme, leaving those 



Ereseiit to suggest subjects which could 

 e accepted or refused by vote of the 

 convention. 



Dr. Miller, of Marengo, 111., said 

 as president of the Northwestern con- 

 vention he prepared a programme 

 which covered all the points of inter- 

 est, and vvas faithfully adhered to. 

 He said that all wanted to know about 

 some point, and lie would suggest that 

 slips of paper be handed around for 

 the members to name subjects for 

 discussion. 



Dr. Southwick, A. C. Balch and 

 others desired to have topics to be dis- 

 cussed arranged, and a committee was 

 appointed consisting of Dr. Miller, Dr. 

 Ranney, Dr. Southwick, and Mr. A. I. 

 Root, to arrange a programme. Ad- 

 journed to 2 p. m. 



The afternoon session was called to 

 order by President Heddon, and the 

 minutes of the last annual convention 

 at Battle Creek was read and approved. 



President Heddon said that the 

 president's address was Hrst in order 

 but as he believed that discussion 

 would be far better than an address, 

 he would at once proceed to business. 



The committee reported a "pro- 

 gramme" which was adopted, and 

 the convention proceeded to take up 

 the hrst topic as follows : 



How Shall We Begin to Keep Bees f 



Dr. Southwick said he would look 

 about and Iind the bees that produced 

 the most honey. 



Dr. Miller remarked that disaster 

 might be occasioned by the location 

 and not from the kind of bees. lie 

 bought his beesof Adam Grimm, who 

 never liad a large crop, on account of 

 having a poor location. He had tried 

 the Cyprians, but would not like *to 

 say which was best — the Cyprians or 

 the Italians. 



A. C. Bak'h wished to know if the 

 best colony would duplicate itself in 

 its progeny V 



A. I. Root did not believe that 

 queens would duplicate themselves. 



Mr. Kazartee, of Cicero, said bee- 

 keeping was like farming ; one man 

 would tlo well while others would fail. 

 He had never tried the Cyprians, but 

 believed that black bees made the 

 whitest combs. 



Prof. Cook introduced Mr. W. Z. 

 Ilutchinson, who had just arrived. 



Dr. Miller remarked that hehad lots 

 of bare-headed bees, and asked, what 

 shall I do V Pinch the queen's head 

 or let them alone. 



A. I. Root had seen such bees, but 

 had noticed no difference in their work 



A. C. Balch did not want the bees 

 uncapped by moth millers. Black bees 

 were troubled in this way more th-an 

 Italians. 



Prof. CJook said we should prove all 

 things and hold fast totliat which was 

 good. lie agreed perfectly with Mr. 

 Geo. Thompson in his speech at the 

 Chicago convention about the new 

 races of bees. Such thoughts were 

 valuable. 



President Ileddon would advise be- 

 ginners to get the Italian bees — the 

 ligtit-colored ones are the most gentle, 

 but the leather-colored ones were the 

 best workers. 



Prof. Cook : Like others, he would 

 say, if there is a better bee he wanted 

 it. 



Dr. Miller could not discover any 

 difference. His Syrians did not reacn 

 the average Italians. 



The president said that good judges 

 could not tell the difference between 

 Cyprians and Italians ; at least one did 

 not when a bottle of Italians in alco- 

 hol was produced at the Cincinnati 

 convention, for he said they were 

 Cyprians. 



Prof. Cook said Syrians were easily 

 discerned — the queens of the Syrians 

 had bars across tlie abdomen by which 

 he could distinguish them very readily. 



Secretary Bingham gave the ColviD 

 test for pure Italians : that of placing 

 the hand over an open hive of bees and 

 with a sudden jerk, let it fall about 8 

 inches toward the frames. If the bees 

 were pure Italians they would not be 

 disturbed; if blacks or hybrids, they 

 would at once commence an attack. 

 He thought it a good test of Cyprians 

 also. They would act like the liybrids. 



A. I. Root said, at (irst he coiildnot 

 tell them apart at sight, but he could 

 do so by the amount of brood and 

 their dislike of jars ; they were very 

 irritable. The drones are much alike. 



Prof. Cook : You can go close to 

 the hive and the Syrians will not in- 

 terfere with you, unless you molest 

 them; but when thoroughly aroused 

 they will follow you into the house, 

 and even into a bedroom, so intent are 

 they upon slinging. 



A. C. Balch said that H. E. Bidwell 

 obtained 21 ti lbs. of comb honey fmin 

 one colony of Syrians. 



President Heddon said that E. J. 

 Oatmaii remarked at the Chicago con- 

 vention that the honey produced by 

 Syrian bees was of iiifeiior quality. 



"Prof. Cook said he had not noticed 

 that the honey capped by the Syiians 

 was inferior, and would like to know 

 more on that point. 



The president said that Mr. New- 

 man, editor of the Ameiucan Ukb 

 Journal, had just come in, and, no 

 doubt, he could give some light on the 

 point as to the value of the honey pro- 

 duced by Syrian bees, in the Chiu.igo 

 market. 



T. G. Newman, being called for, 

 said that Mr. Oatman remarked some- 

 thing of the kind at the Chicago con- 

 vention, and the best he could do 

 would be to read it; as he happened 

 to have a report of that convention in 

 his pocket. He read as follows : " E. 

 J. Oatm:n : We have found that the 

 half-bloods (Syrians fertilized by Ital- 

 ian drones) gave us the most honey. 



