.<!». 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 26, 1883. 



No. 39. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor. 



The North American Bee -Keepers' 

 Association. 



The representative of the Bee 

 Journal, Mr. W. F. Clarke, furnishes 

 the following report of the proceed- 

 ings of the Convention : 



The Association met in the City 

 Hall, Toronto, Ont., on Tuesday, 

 Sept. 18, at 10 a. m., the President, D. 

 A. Jones, in the chair. 



There was a large attendance for 

 the initial meeting, but as the Secre- 

 tary, Mr. A. I. Root, had not yet 

 arrived, routine business was de- 

 ferred, and reports were invited from 

 various parts of the Continent, which 

 were listened to with much interest. 

 [These Reports, together with the ad- 

 dress of the President and some other 

 papers and discussions in detail, will 

 be given in our next issue.— Ed.] 



This meeting of the Association had 

 some peculiar features : 



1. It was held for the first time in 

 the history of tlie Association on 

 Canadian soil. From the outset this 

 body has been international and conti- 

 nental, and comprised both countries. 

 Canadian bee-keepers have been de- 

 lighted to have this meeting on their 

 side of the lines, and the feeling man- 

 ifested all round was very cordial. 

 The term "brother" was so uniformly 

 employed, that one might easily have 

 imagined that the gathering was an 

 Ecclesiastical rather than an apicul- 

 tural one, but for the topics discussed. 



2. The almost total absence of 

 papers specially prepared for the con- 

 vention. In the past there have prob- 

 ably been too many papers ; this time 

 there were too few. A little more 



heavy ballast would probably have 

 steadied the ship, which sometimes 

 appeared in danger of keeling over 

 with exuberance. The discussions 

 were occasionally rather superficial for 

 want of being opened by a thorough 

 treatment ot important topics. Most 

 of the " vexed questions " among bee- 

 keepers got the go-by, and the meet- 

 ing had more the character of a happy 

 reunion, than of a debating society. 

 Many points of interest to advanced 

 bee-keepers failed to come up, and 

 scarcely any strong diversities of 

 opinion presented themselves. Two 

 or three papers from men who have 

 strong convictions on certain topics, 

 would have at least made more variety. 



3. There was no committee on busi- 

 ness, or indeed on anything. How 

 the convention was run, or whether it 

 ran alone, deponent sayeth not. A 

 prominent member asked on the third 

 day, "who is running this thing?" 

 but though he spoke out loud in meet- 

 ing, there was no reply. It will prob- 

 ably remain an unexplored and unex- 

 plained mystery to most of tlie mem- 

 bers, how the machine was guided. 

 To all appearance, it went like a 

 balloon, and was influenced by unseen, 

 aerial currents, but at any rate, if it 

 were so, the aeronauts' had a very 

 pleasant voyage, and got down to solid 

 ground safely. All present were 

 unanimous in declaring that they had 

 "a good time." 



4. Last, but not least, there was 

 the presence of the Nestor of modern 

 bee-keeping. Rev. L. L. Langstroth, 

 the state of whose health has not ad- 

 mitted of his attendance at such a 

 meeting since 1870. His friends all 

 over the Continent of North America, 

 and elsewhere, will be glad to learn 

 that he declares himself to be better 

 in health than he has been for twenty 

 years. He spoke with great force and 

 effect, several times proving himself, 

 " the old man eloquent." His presence 

 added a great charm to the meeting, 

 as well it might, and did much to give 



it that character of a happy reunion 

 to which allusion has already been 

 made. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



A large number convened in the 

 afternoon, when it was thought ad- 

 visable to discuss miscellaneous ques- 

 tions, pending the arrival of the 

 Secretary, and other expected mem- 

 bers of the Association. The first 

 asked was the most desirable thick- 

 ness of comb foundation for section 

 boxes. Prof. Cook, Dr. Miller, 

 Messrs. Vandervoort, Taylor, Jones, 

 and several others gave their views, 

 v?hich were pretty unanimous as to 

 about 7 square feet per pound being 

 the most desirable size. " What is 

 'the cause of fertile workers being de- 

 veloped V" was next discussed, and 

 some difference of opinion made it 

 lively. Prof. Cook thought the desire 

 for eggs in the absence of a queen, 

 stimulated the laying propensity in 

 the workers. Dr. Brown was of the 

 opinion that food had much to do with 

 the matter, and read a brief paper 

 giving his observations concerning 

 fertile workers for two or three years 

 past, confirmatory of that opinion. 



President Jones said, he had seen 

 abundant proof in his apiary, that 

 feeding had nothing whatever to do 

 with developing the laying instinct in 

 workers. After a free interchange of 

 opinions, the subject was dropped, 

 whereupon the question of bee forage 

 was introduced. This created much 

 interest, many of the members pres- 

 ent giving their observation and ex- 

 perience in relation to honey-produc- 

 ing plants. The general feeling 

 seemed to be that this matter was one 

 of great practical importance, to 

 which bee-keepers must give more 

 attention hereafter. The nexf: ques- 

 tion propounded was, " What precau- 

 tions are necessary to prevent young 

 queens mistaking their hives on re- 

 turning from their bridal tour?" Dr. 

 Andrews would set his hives at vary- 

 ing angles. President Jones thought 

 no precautions were necessary pro- 

 vided tlie hives were not too close to 

 each other. They should be fully 6 

 feet apart. One member suggested 

 the use of a narrow board in front of 

 hives, from which young queens 

 might issue. " What is the most de- 

 sirable width for section boxes ?" 

 was the next question. Mr. Pettit 

 said, the best comb honey at the 

 Toronto Exhibition was in sections 

 about an inch and a half in width. 



