486 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



North American Bee Convention. 



KEFORTS OF VICE-PRESIDENTS. 



The first report was from Dr. Miller, 

 of Illinois. The season in that State. 

 he said, was unfavorable. Even when 

 white clover came, the bees lacked 

 energy to go out and gather honey. 

 Those who had fed bees during the 

 winter did very well. The flow of 

 honey from clover closed up earlier 

 than usual, and since then they had 

 none. About three-quarters of a crop 

 had been obtained. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Augusta, 

 Ga., gave a fairly favorable report. 

 The last report of the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture in this State showed a 

 product of only 27 pounds per colony. 

 The horsemint, on which they de- 

 pended largely, yielded not a single 

 drop of honey, so far as he knew. A 

 succession of heavy frosts in April 

 had killed the bloom. The honey in 

 Georgia generally was of amber color, 

 and, for some reason which he did not 

 quite understand, it was a few shades 

 fighter this year than usual. 



Judge Andrews, of Texas, stated 

 that in North Texas the crop was 

 very light, not more than 10 pounds 

 per colony, but the honey was of very 

 superior quality. It was obtained 

 chiefly from rattan and honey locust, 

 which came into bloom early in May. 

 During the horsemint season (that 

 plant yielded little or nothing) there 

 was the most intense excitement 

 among the bees if the hives were 

 opened, or any attempt made to take 

 the honey. In middle Texas there 

 had been on the whole a good flow— a 

 finer crop he had never seen. In West 

 Texas the country had been settled 

 for only three or four years, and few 

 bees were kept. 



Mr. O. O. Poppleton reported for 

 Iowa. The yield of white clover 

 honey in that State was heavy, but 

 since that, there had been nothing. 

 This was the worst season for robbers 

 he had ever known. 



Mr. Hart, of Florida, gave a very 

 interesting report of bee matters in 

 his State. The yield was an average 

 one, but was from rather different re- 

 sources than usual. Some of the bees 

 swarmed as early as the 16th of Feb- 

 ruary. In March came a drought, 

 and the honey flow ceased almost en- 

 tirely. In May the bees began to 

 gather from the palmetto, bay and 

 mullberry, but the crop from the last- 

 named was very small. The bees 

 took in the coast counties, took large 

 quantities from the black mangrove 

 which grows along the shore, and the 

 roots of which are covered at high 



Prof. Cook, of Michigan, reported 

 that so far as he could learn, Michi- 

 gan had got only half a crop. About 

 50 or 60 pounds per colony would be a 

 fair average, of which one-third was 

 comb honey. The season in the early 

 part of the year was very rainy and 

 very cold, but notwithstanding this 

 the bees were very busy. 



Mr. Jones— Have you many Cana- 

 dian thistles V 



Prof. Cook— I am glad to say we 

 have very few. There was a droughty 



fall, and it seemed there could be no 

 more honey, but still the bees worked 

 hard, and now, even though the frost 

 had come upon them, the honey con- 

 tinued to come in. 



Mr. W. C. Pelhara, of Kentucky, re- 

 ported on behalf of his State. The 

 yield, he said, was much above the 

 average in the white clover region, 

 but in the mountainous region ot the 

 State, it was rather above the average. 



Mr. Porter, of Colorado, reported 

 about an average yield, notwithstand- 

 ing that the spring was unfavorable. 

 About a hundred pounds to the colony 

 would be about the figure. A letter 

 was read from J. L. Peabody, of Col- 

 orada, reporting only half a crop. 

 They had snow in June, and frost in 

 July and August. The Rocky Moun- 

 tain bee plant had come along well in 

 the dry, sandy soil, and the bees got a 

 good harvest from it. 



Mr. C. F. Muth, of Ohio, reported 

 f nllv an average crop, partly from the 

 lociist, but mainly from the white 

 clover. About 130 pounds per colony 

 would be an average. After clover 

 was over, the bees produced no more, 

 in fact, they lost stores. His own 

 bees had not stores enough to winter 

 on, but in the few bright days after 

 the recent frost, they had resumed 

 work. He was sorry to say that 

 honey had been forced upon the mar- 

 ket in Cincinnati. He had been of- 

 fered the best clover honey at 8 cents, 

 or 8J^ cents apound. He had advised 

 the bee-keepers to hold their stocks 

 until the prices got better. 



Mr. McKnight, of Owen Sound, 

 President of the Ontario Bee- Keep- 

 ers' Association, was called upon to 

 report for Ontario. He cordially wel- 

 comed the representatives from a dis- 

 tance. The Ontario Association had 

 been in existence only three years. 

 He explained the system used by the 

 Association in securing statistics, 

 which was, to send to members of the 

 Association slips with questions re- 

 garding the mortality of bees, in- 

 crease, crop, etc. This year 48 out of 

 84 members reported. These reports 

 showed a total yield of 211,772 pounds, 

 an average of 106 pounds per colony. 

 The average yield for the three years 

 was 66 pounds per colony. The sea- 

 son this year was a strange one, the 

 spring was backward, but on the other 

 hand, the fall continued three weeks 

 longer, making up for that to some 

 extent. The principal sources of sup- 

 ply were the white clover, basswood, 

 and Canada thistles. Among ad- 

 vanced bee-keepers there was very 

 little out-side wintering. 



Mr. Vandervort, of Pennsylvania, 

 said he always found it hard to get re- 

 ports. When there was a bad season 

 bee-keepers were too busy to report. 

 The early spring was favorable, but 

 later, the season was wet and pre- 

 vented the bees from working. There 

 was only a half crop of honey, but a 

 fair average of increase. 



James D. Long, of Granby, supplied 

 the report from Quebec. There had 

 been a yield of fully 100 pounds per 

 colony. 



Rev. W. F. Clarke reported for 

 Manitoba. Before doing so, he de- 

 sired, as perhaps the only one from 



Canada who had been present at the 

 foundation of the Association, to ex- 

 press the pleasure it gave him to 

 welcome the delegates to Canadian 

 soil. He had learned since leaving 

 that a few colonies of bees had been 

 kept in the old settlement of St. Boni- 

 face, but had not known anything of 

 them while there. He had seen only 

 one bee while there, a stray Italian 

 who had come from California in a 

 box of fruit. The old friend of the 

 Association, Mr. Wallbridge, was now 

 Chief Justice of Manitoba, and resi- 

 dent in Winnipeg, He had had sev- 

 eral " conventions " with the Chief 

 Justice, and in company with him 

 had examined the flora of thecountry. 

 He had never seen such a magnificent 

 yield of white clover, and was sure the 

 bees would do well on it. Chief Jus- 

 tice Wallbridge was strongly of opin- 

 ion that the steadiness of the climate 

 would be favorable to wintering bees, 

 and he intended to enter upon the 

 practical work of bee-keeping. 



president's address. 

 At the request of President Jones, 

 Mr. McKnight, of Owen Sound, Presi- 

 dent of the Ontario Association, read 

 the President's address, as follows : 



It affords me genuine pleasure to 

 meet with you all in this our usual 

 annual gathering— pleasure for more 

 reasons than one. I am pleased to 

 meet with our American friends, who 

 have honored Canada, and honored 

 Toronto by choosing this as the place 

 of meeting of the National Associa- 

 tion. True, it is a " National " Asso- 

 ciation, but the representation from 

 Canada is usually so small, we had 

 scarcely the right to expect, much less 

 enjoy, the pleasure of having Canada 

 chosen as the place of meeting. I am 

 pleased, because our own Canadian 

 Association has turned out in such 

 force to welcome our American 

 brethren. 



I am also pleased and proud to 

 have, what has always seemed to me 

 one of the things I most desired, and 

 I am sure I only speak the mind and 

 express the feelings of all our Cana- 

 dian brethren, when I say that they 

 have long wished for a chance to 

 welcome to Canada's shores the 

 " Father of Bee-keepers," the great 

 " Huber of America," our venerable 

 friend and brother. Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth. 



Last winter was an unusually severe 

 one to bee-keepers, but it was severe 

 (with few exceptions) only to those 

 who did not take the proper precau- 

 tions in preparing for winter, at least 

 so it has been with Canadian bee- 

 keepers. I venture the assertion that 

 much more care will be taken this 

 fall to prepare for the coming winter. 

 The spring came upon us unusually 

 cold and wet, and this state of affairs 

 was prolonged until nearly the first of 

 June. Had the season opened as the 

 majority of seasons do, many colonies 

 would liave escaped and come through 

 all safe, though then very weak, but 

 the cold and backward season com- 

 pleted the work which the careless 

 bee-keeper began, and these colonies 

 became victims of •' spring dwind- 



