708 



f HE AMERICAli BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



Time and place of Meeting. 



-Iowa Central . at Winterset, Iowa. 



J. E. Pryor, Sec. 



—■Will County. 111., at Beecher, 111. 



Gustavus Kettering. Sec. 



—Southern Illinois, at Duquoin. Ills. 



K. H. Kennedy, Sec. 



—Mahoning Valley, O.. at Ravenna, O. 



E. W. Turner, Sec. 



—Western Michigan, at Fremont. Mich. 

 Ueo. E. Hilton, Sec. 



Southeastern Mich., at Adrian, Mich. 



A. M. Gander, Sec. 



11.— Michigan State, at Lansing. 



H. D. Cutting. Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



Dec. 12.— Northeastern Kansas, at Hiawatha. Kan. 



1885. 



Jan. 14,— Central Illinois, at Bloomington, Ills. 



W. B. Ijawrence, Sec. 



t^~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- ED. 



1884. 

 Nov. T.- 

 Nov. 10. 

 Nov. 13.- 

 Nov. 14.- 

 NOT. 25. 

 Dec. 3. - 

 Dec. 10, 



Nortli American Bee Convention- 



The fifteenth annual session of the 

 Xorth American Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety convened at the City Hall in 

 Eochester, X. Y., on Tuesday, Oct. 

 28, 1SS4. 



At the hour of 2 p. m., upwards of 

 fifty bee-keepers being In attendance, 

 the meeting was called to order by 

 Mr. L. C. Root, of Mohawk, X. Y., 

 First Vice-President, who proceeded 

 to deliver the following 



ADDRESS OF WELC03IE : 



In welcoming the bee-keepers of 

 North America here to-day, I do it 

 with mingled feelings of pleasure and 

 deep regret. I am indeed thankful to 

 the members of this Society who met 

 one year ago at Toronto, for the honor 

 of being chosen Vice-President of 

 this body of bee-keepers. This appre- 

 ciation is the greater because this 

 position is second only to his whom 

 every progressive bee-keeper delights 

 to honor. 



AVhile I am thankful for the good 

 cheer which comes to me through 

 these associations. I most deeply re- 

 gret that our honored President, the 

 Eev. L. L. Laugstroth, cannot be 

 with us and preside over these meet- 

 ings. I feel that the heart of each 

 one present must beat in sympathy in 

 the sadness which comes to us inthe 

 disappointment we feel in not being 

 able to welcome our veteran friend to 

 his appropriate place. I\\-rote to him, 

 not long since, in the hope of the pos- 

 sibility of his attendance ; but while 

 the reply came in his own hand writ- 

 ing, it was as follows : 



" Oxford. O.. Oct. 6, 1884.— Mr. L. 

 C. KoOT : — My Dear Friend— ^lany 

 thanks for your very kind letter, ^ly 

 head is some better, but not enough 

 so to allow me to do any work. I 

 suffer so much that I lie down most 

 of the time. Under these circum- 

 stances you will see that it is impos- 

 sible forme to attend the Convention. 

 I can only express my good wishes to 



those who atttend. With kind re- 

 gards to yourself and family. Your 

 sincere friend, L. L. L.^n'gstroth." 



I present you this letter that you all 

 may know the condition of our friend, 

 who for so many years has done so 

 much that we of to-day may conduct 

 our bee-keeping according to more 

 scientific and improved practical 

 methods. Let us not fail to be appre- 

 ciative of these privileges, and mind- 

 ful of our aged friend who is worthy 

 of all honor. 



Brother bee-keepers, we are here to 

 represent the best interests of the 

 bee-keepers of the United States and 

 Canada. Let us see to it that our 

 discussions are considerate and just 

 to all ; that they may tend to better 

 methods which shall raise the stan- 

 dard of bee-keeping to a higher, 

 broader, and more permanent plane 

 than it has ever before occupied. 



In belialf of the members of the 

 Xortheastern Bee-Keepers" Associa- 

 tion who have been working earnestly, 

 many of whom are present, and who 

 are anxious to do aU in their power 

 to make this meeting a pleasant and 

 profitable one, I again welcome you 

 all to this beautiful city of our Em- 

 pire State. 



In the absence of Dr. Miller, the 

 Secretary of the Societv, and Mr. 

 C. F. Muth, the Treasurer. Mr. C. F. 

 Benedict was appointed Secretary 

 pro tern, and Mr. R. Bacon Treasurer, 

 pro tern. 



The following committee on pro- 

 gramme was appointed : J. B. Hall, 

 of Ontario ; Ira Barber, W. E. Clark, 

 F. O. Peet. of Xew York, and Arthur 

 Todd, of Pennsylvania. 



A call was made for the minutes of 

 the last meeting, which led to expla- 

 nations to tlie etfect that no official 

 report had appeared, and that the 

 only one available was the report 

 which was published in the Ajleri- 

 CAx Bee Journ.\l. It was further 

 stated that a report was in existence 

 in short-hand, made by a phonog- 

 rapher who was engaged by Mr. D. A. 

 Jones, the e.x-President. for the sum 

 of SlOO ; but that owing to some mis- 

 understanding, the report had never 

 been completed in long-hand, the re- 

 porter considering that he had a 

 claim on the Society for compensa- 

 tion, and the probability was that 

 more would be heard about the mat- 

 ter at a later stage of the meeting. 



The President then produced the 

 A3IERICAN Bee Journal's report. 

 and asked if it was the pleasure of 

 the meeting to have that read by the 

 Secretary, as the minutes of the last 

 meeting. 2S emotion being made on 

 the subject, the Secretary proceeded 

 to read the Ajiericax Bee Jour- 

 nal's editorial summing up of last 

 year's meeting. 



A motion was then made to reduce 

 the membership fee of the Society 

 from .SI to •% cents ; but on a question 

 being raised as to the constitutionality 

 of the motion, there being no copy of 

 the Constitution at hand, the matter 

 was laid on the table to be considered 

 later on. 



The committee on programme re- 

 ported recommending the reading of 



a communication to the Convention,, 

 from ilr. Frank Benton, accompany- 

 ing a sample of his queen shipping- 

 cages, to be followed by a discussion 

 on sending queens by mail. On as- 

 .sent being given to the report, the 

 Secretary read Mr. Benton's essay, 

 after which a number of members 

 spoke on the subject, all expressing 

 their appreciation of Mr. Benton's 

 efi'orts and success. Among these 

 was Mr. Peet, originator of the queen 

 shipping-cage which bears his name, 

 who spoke highly hi praise of !Mr. 

 Benton's device. Mr. W. F. Clarke 

 prepared a resolution, which, at *his- 

 suggestion, was moved by Mr, Peet 

 and seconded by its author. After 

 some highly appreciative remarks by 

 the President and others, the resolu- 

 tion passed unanimosly. The resolu- 

 tion reads as follows : " 



Eesolved, That we have listened 

 with much pleasure to Mr, Benton's 

 essay, and have inspected his sample 

 cage : rejoice in his success in mailing 

 queens to long distances, and we ten- 

 der him our sincere thanks. 



The committee on programme next 

 presented some questions forwarded 

 by mail by A. J. Fisher, of East 

 Liverpool, O. The meeting agreed to- 

 take up the questions seriatim. The 

 first was : '• What is the best and 

 most successful method of prevent- 

 ing first and second swarms V" 



The discussion which arose on this- 

 question took a wide range, and ex- 

 cited considerable interest ; in fact- 

 the meeting began to show signs of 

 warming up to its work. 



Mr. J. B. Hall, of Woodstock, Out., 

 would do all in his power to prevent 

 swarming, but confessed his inability 

 to wholly stop it. His plan was to- 

 put on section-cases early in the sea- 

 son, and do all in his power to coax 

 the bees to work in them. Bees werfr 

 like ladies, they could notbe di'iven, 

 but might be coaxed. 



Mr. Wm. F. Clarke, of Ontario, 

 said that the question under consid- 

 eration seemed to imply that it was. 

 desirable to prevent swarming alto- 

 gether. Is that desirable? Bees irk 

 swarming obey a law of nature which 

 commanded them to increase and 

 multiply. Is not a first swarm a sort 

 of necessity ? We call it '• the swarm- 

 ing fever."' That is not a proper 

 term, unless it becomes a disease, or 

 in other words, is carried to excess. 

 Until it is excessive, it is in obedience- 

 to an instinct whicli we should not 

 wish to entirelv eradicate. 



The President said that he would 

 eradicate it if he could, and makes it 

 a point to prevent natural swarming 

 as much as possible, making his extra. 

 colonies by division. 



Mr. Clarke raised the question 

 whether bees worked with the same 

 will and enthusiasm when divided as. 

 when thev swarmed naturally y Sev- 

 eral members testified that they did 

 not. The President believed that we 

 should bend nature to our own pur- 

 poses, and for practical results in 

 running an apiary, dividing judi- 

 ciously was better than natural 

 swarming. 



Ventilation, air, shade, and intro- 

 ducing young queens when surplus. 



