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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Eoot was wrong in his ideas of 

 patents. He thought Mr. Root was 

 inducing people to look with suspicion 

 upon other people's property in the 

 shape of patents. He thought when we 

 taught people to look with suspicion 

 upon patents, we were making a mistake. 

 He said, do not let us talk against 

 patents, but let us educate people to use 

 good judgment, and be convinced that 

 they have merits before investing in 

 them. 



Mr. Root asked for assistance to decide 

 matters. He had so much to contend 

 with. Inventors would not agree as to 

 which was the real inventor. 



Dr. Mason thought that Mr. Root had 

 permeated Oleanings with the idea that 

 it was wrong to patent anything in bee 

 culture. 



Mr. Berg asked, "Is it right to 

 encourage men to patent inventions and 

 then charge enormous prices to those 

 who think they must use them ? " 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Question Box. — How much is it worth 

 to put sections together and put starters 

 in them ? 



Mr. Taylor said that he got his sections 

 put togetlier for 5 cents per 100, and 

 he could put in 1,000 starters per hour. 



president's address. 

 Ladies and Qentlemen : 



Another year has passed, and while 

 we cannot rejoice in exceeding pros- 

 perity, we can felicitate ourselves and 

 each other in the fact of continued good 

 health, and that we are all spared to 

 meet again. We rejoice that '-man does 

 not live by bread alone," and that con- 

 scious of duty well performed, we can 

 smile in the face of ill-success, and hope 

 in the proverbs — oft proved true — that 

 " It is a long lane that has no turn," and 

 "Every cloud has a silver lining." 



Three successive poor seasons, and 

 two very poor, are quite enough to make 

 bee-keepers sober and thoughtful at 

 least, and we cannot doubt that our ex- 

 perience will have its uses ; and possibly 

 we shall all be stronger and win a better 

 success in the end, because of this 

 eclipse in our fortunes. 



We are taught to simplify our methods, 

 that we may accomplish more, even 

 though we expend less labor and energy. 

 We study new ways to fence against ill- 

 fortune, and seek to discover how we 

 may bridge aver the stream of failure, 

 even though broadened out by a partial 

 or complete failure in the honey harvest. 



Thus, some of our bee-keepers are 

 learning to care for two or three hun- 



dred colonies instead of one ; and prac- 

 ticing the plan of establishing out-api- 

 aries. In this way they hope to win 

 complete success, even with but one- 

 third of a harvest. Again, by these out- 

 apiaries, it is hoped to profit by the local 

 variations in nectar-secretion ; for it is a 

 well recognized fact, that often while 

 there is a complete honey dearth in one 

 locality, there may be a fairly good 

 harvest a few miles distant. 



Thus the subject of simplifying our 

 practice, and founding out-apiaries, has 

 become one of exceeding importance, . 

 largely, perhaps, through the very re- 

 verses that have come upon us. I hope 

 both subjects, "simplifying methods" 

 and "out-apiaries," may be fully dis- 

 cussed at this meeting. 



Another subject brought into promi- 

 nence, greater than it had previously 

 received, is that of adding some other 

 employment to that of apiculture. That 

 is to have "two strings to our bow," so 

 that we may still shoot, even though one 

 string snaps asunder ; or " put our eggs 

 into two baskets," that we may still have 

 our breakfast, even though one basket 

 comes to grief. 



May we not profitably discuss this 

 question ? Shall the apiarist seek to 

 combine some other pursuit with apicul- 

 ture ? And if so, what shall it be ? 



The subject of bee-pasturage is also 

 brought to the front, by these seasons of 

 reverses. Are there plants that secrete 

 nectar, despite weather and climate ? 

 If so, what are they ? Have they value, 

 aside from nectar ? If not, will it pay 

 to grow them? We, at the College, are 

 working at this problem, and though no 

 considerable success has waited on our 

 efforts this year, yet we shall not desist 

 from our undertaking, until we have 

 settled the question for or against special 

 planting for honey. 



Next season I shall continue the ex- 

 periments already tried, and shall also 

 try melilot and rape, to see not only if 

 they are weather-proof as honey-plants, 

 but also to see if they have other uses 

 that will make them profitable to grow 

 in the United States, even should they 

 fail to attract the bees. 



Some topics have attracted unusual 

 attention during the past season : such 

 as fixed spaces for frames, and deep top- 

 bars to frames. Possibly, it will be well 

 to discuss both of these topics. Shall we 

 widen our end-bars until they touch ? 

 and, if so, how wide shall they be ? 

 And shall we supersede the slatted honey- 

 board with the very deep top-bars'? 

 These are pertinent questions, and may 

 well be discussed. 



