THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



709 



honey bectan to corae in, were sever- 

 ally "advocated. Finally, the sense of 

 the meetiiiir on the subject was em- 

 bodied in the following, which was 

 moved by Mr. F. 0. Benedict, sec- 

 onded by Mr. Peet, and unanimously 

 carried : 



Besoh-ed. That this Convention can 

 give no fixed rules for the entire pre- 

 vention of swarminu while produc- 

 ius comb honey ; but the following 

 methods tend to its prevention : 

 plenty of room, air, shade, and intro- 

 ducing young queens at the beginning 

 of flie surplus honey harvest, 



"\Vm. F. Clarke drew the attention 

 of the Convention to the desirable- 

 ness of some provision for social in- 

 tercourse among the members of the 

 Society. Some of them were busy 

 reporting, others were occupied w-ith 

 business on committees, or with the 

 introduction and sale of apiarian fix- 

 tures, during the intervals between 

 meeings. Ilis namesake, W. E. 

 Clark, said that last year, at Toronto, 

 the sociality was the best part of the 

 meeting. He wanted to get personally 

 acquainted with the bee-keepers, and 

 he thought that that was a general 

 feeling. The President and others 

 followed up the suggestion, and 

 finally it was moved by \V. E. Clark, 

 seconded by Wm. F. Clarke, and 

 unanimously 



Eesolved, That it be an instruction 

 to the committee on programme to 

 arrange for a social time during part 

 of this evening's session. 



The Convention then adjourned to 

 meet at 7 p. m. 



SECOND SESSIOX. 



The Convention met at 7:30 p.m., 

 First Vice-President, L. C. Root, being 

 in the chair. 



The committee on programme re- 

 ported to resume consideration of the 

 second question transmitted by Mr. 

 A. J. Fisher, viz : " When we as bee- 

 keepers cry down adulteration, are we 

 working to our interests when we use 

 full sheets of foundation in our sur- 

 plus boxes V especially if we use 

 seven or eight feet to the pound are 

 not we ourselves ruining our mar- 

 kets V" 



ilr. Hall, of Ontario, used founda- 

 tion 7 or 8 feet to the pound, and was 

 never troubled with •' fishbone," as it 

 is called. He had tried foundation 

 10 or 12 feet to the pound, but it was 

 difficult to keep it straight ; it would 

 curl. He had used foundation 4 feet 

 to the pound in the brood-chamber, 

 and found that the bees drew it out 

 very thin, so that if you sold a sheet 

 of it to a dealer it cut up into pound 

 and half-pound squares, and gave 

 satisfaction to customers. He had 

 never had any complaint about " fish- 

 bone." 



Mr. Benedict said that bee-keepers 

 must be careful in using very thin 

 foundation in section-boxes, other- 

 wise the sale of honey would be in- 

 jured. 



Mr. S. T. Pettit, of Ontario, thought 

 that we were starting an unreal difti- 

 culty. He heard nothing of " fish- 

 bone " in comb honey, except at con- 

 ventions. He deprecated creating a 

 prejudice when there was no need 

 for it. 



Mr. W. E. Clark, of New York, con- 

 curred with Mr. Pettit. 



Mr. Peet, of New York, narrated a 

 case of objection to comb honey, on 

 the part of a purchaser, because of a 

 hard centre. 



Mr. Locke, of Massachusetts, gave 

 an account of comb lioney with a 

 centre wall that resembled chewing 

 gum when taken between the teeth. 



JSIr. Vandervort, of Pennsylvania, 

 was of the opinion that when thin 

 foundation was used, no one could tell 

 the difference betvt'een comb honey 

 with and that witliout foundation. 

 He and four of his neighbors shipped 

 a car load of comb honey to Aew 

 York, and out of the five lots only 

 (me was natural comb. It was the 

 least salable of any of the lots. The 

 four lots with foundation in them 

 were more salable, and brought a 

 better price in the market than the 

 other lot. 



Mr. C. C. A^an Deusen had tried 

 foundation of various thicknesses, and 

 while some of the thicker samples were 

 characterized by objectionable " fish- 

 bone," the thinner ones were free 

 from the objection. 



Mr. Vandervort said that when 

 the right foundation was used, even 

 an expert could not tell it from the 

 natural comb. He, himself, had been 

 deceived several times. 



President Root thought that much 

 of the objection to foundation in sur- 

 plus sections arose from its being a 

 novelty and an innovation. He re- 

 membered when mowing machines 

 first came around, what opposition 

 there was to them on the part of many 

 farmers. It was so with many things. 

 There was no doubt that in "some re- 

 spects art was an improvement on 

 nature. "We certainly get more at- 

 tractive and marketalile honey by the 

 use of comb foundation, and it was in 

 no sense an adulteration, since both 

 natural comb and comb foundation 

 were alike made of beeswax. 



It was moved by Mr. Peet, and sec- 

 onded by Mr. R. Bacon, " That it is 

 tlie sense of this Convention that it is 

 detrimental to our honey trade to use, 

 in section-boxes, comb foundation less 

 than 10 feet to the pound." 



Mr. Hall, of Ontario, could not con- 

 cur in the resolution, as his experi- 

 ence was against it. He used none 

 lighter than 8 feet to the pound, and 

 he got beautiful comb honey, so nice 

 that Dr. C. C. Miller thought it must 

 have been produced by the use of 

 separators. 



:Mr. Locke had seen Mr. Hall's 

 honey for two or three seasons, and 

 could testify that it was first-class. 



The resolution was put to a rising 

 vote, when a large number voted, 

 many did not vote, and only two rose 

 in opposition. The President, there- 

 fore, declared the resolution carried. 



A motion was made by W. E. Clark, 

 and seconded by S. T. Pettit, that a 

 committee of five be appointed by the 

 chairman to consider what modifica- 

 tions, if any, should be made in the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Society. 



Mr. Wm. F. Clarke, of Ontario, 

 spoke at some length on this resolu- 

 tion. He said that he was the only 

 member present who was at the or- 



ganization of the Society, and claimed 

 the indulgence of the meeting in a 

 brief review of its history, it was 

 first intended to call the Society by 

 the name " National," but at his re- 

 quest it was called "North Ameri- 

 can," so as to include Canada. It was 

 often called the "National Society," 

 but it would be more proper to call it 

 the " Inter-National," for such was 

 its real character, and such he hoped 

 it would continue. At the inception 

 of the Society, there was a ring or 

 clique among bee-keepers, which the 

 organization was the means of break- 

 ing up, and he boldly affirmed that 

 there had never been a ring or clique 

 managing the Society. Some ap- 

 peared to think that the Society had 

 had its day, and that there were those 

 who wished to split it into three 

 fragments, the Northeastern, the 

 Nortliwestern, and the Southern ; per- ■ 

 sonally, he hoped that this would not 

 be done. It was true that the consti- 

 tuency was a vast one, and we usually 

 had a large local attendance with but 

 a small distant representation. But 

 there was a prestige about a Conti- 

 nental body which gave it a good in- 

 • fluence. and rendered its meetings 

 important. It was an educating 

 power wherever held. He would 

 deprecate a division of the Society 

 into three, mainly because it would 

 destroy its international character. 

 Canada and the United States had 

 been happily united in this apicul- 

 tural fellowship, and he hoped that it 

 would continue. He had no doubt 

 that the Society might be modihed 

 and improved in various respects, but 

 he would not like to see it broken up. 



jNIr. Clarke's remarks were well re- 

 ceived, and several members ex- 

 pressed concurrence in the opinion 

 that the integrity of the Society should 

 be maintained, and that it should 

 continue to embrace both Canada and 

 the United States. The resolution 

 was unanimously passed, and the 

 President appointed the following 

 committee : Ira Barber, Wm. F. 

 Clarke, W. E. Clark, Arthur Todd, 

 and J. Van Deusen. 



The meeting then adjourned, and 

 passed about an hour in free, social 

 converse. 



THIRD SESSION. 



The Convention came to order at 10 

 a. m., with President Root in the 

 chair, the attendance being about 

 double that of yesterday. Enrollment 

 of members was the first order of 

 business. It was decided to accept -50 

 cents as the membership fee for the 

 current year. The following then 

 gave in their names to tlie Secretary, 

 and paid their dues, with the excep- 

 tion of the ladies, who are admitted 

 free, according to the Constitution of 

 the .Society : 



Thomas Pierce, Gansevort, N. Y. 



S. B. Wheeler, Union City, Pa. 



U. B. Dodge. Fredonia, N. Y. 



L. C. Root, Mohawk, N. Y. 



G. H. Asht>v, Albion, N. Y. 



W. liilcon, i)i-lta, N. Y. 



V. .1. Di'Tisniore, liivonia Station, N. Y. 



E. ('. Ciiinpliell, Cayuga. Ont. 



G, W. Pattinsr, Scipioville, N. Y. 



K. liaeon, Verona, N. Y. 



O. G. Kussell, Albion, N. Y. 



M. M. Wright, Castile, N. Y. 



