AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



187 



Topics of Interest. 



Ontario Bee-Keepers' Conyention, 



The first session was called to order 

 by President Allen Pringle, in the Court 

 House, St. Catharines, at 3 p.m., on Jan. 

 7, 1891, witj^ about 60 bee-keepers 

 present. Owing to the duties of the 

 auditors not being completed at the 

 specified time, the regular programme 

 was not proceeded with, and an informal 

 meeting was held for half an hour. The 

 President called for questions. 



PAEIS-GREEN ON POTATOES. 



F. A. Gemmell wished to know which 

 was the most injurious, the sprinkling of 

 Paris-green on potato-vines or on the 

 fruit bloom. He had noticed a statement 

 in the CmiadianBee Journal to the effect 

 that more, bees were destroyed by par- 

 taking of Paris-green on potato-vines, 

 than from the other source, and he 

 wished to know if any one had ever seen 

 bees at work on potato-vines ? 



W. J. Brown had never seen them. 



J. B. Hall had seen them frequently 

 gathering dew off the potato-plants. 



J. G. Gray — If it once dries on the 

 leaf, the bees will chew the leaf. 



J. B. Hall — The dew moistens it. 



The President — Spraying fruit trees 

 should be done when the bees will not be 

 injured — just after the blossoms drop off. 

 To have its legitimate effect in preserv- 

 ing the fruit, it must be put on just as 

 the bloom is over. He had never seen 

 bees sipping it off potato-vines. 



Mr. Shantz — At a meeting of the 

 Fruit-Growers' Association" the other 

 day, Mr. Beadle said that spraying 

 should be done just before the fruit 

 bloom. 



The President — There is certainly 

 some misunderstanding there. 



J. K. Darling — The spraying should 

 be done just after the petals fall — when 

 the insect deposits its eggs there. If 

 done at this time, no harm will result to 

 the bees. 



ROUTINE BUSINESS. 



The Secretary and Treasurer having 

 come in while this discussion was in pro- 

 gress, the formal business of the Asso- 

 ciation was taken up. 



The minutes of the former meeting 

 were read and confirmed, when followed 



THE director's REPORT. 



The Board of Directors beg to report : 



During the year there have been three 



meetings of Directors — the first at Belle- 



ville, immediately following the last an- 

 nual meeting, for the purpose of appoint- 

 ing the officers and committees, and to 

 arrange for a premium to be given to 

 members of the Association for the year 

 1890, which, as you are all aware, was 

 a No. 2 smoker, supplied by the D. A. 

 Jones Company. 



The President, Secretary and Treas- 

 urer were appointed an Executive Com- 

 mittee, and they ,gave grants to the 

 Toronto Industrial Exhibition ($20), 

 and to the Western Fair Association 

 ($10), to be expended in prizes for 

 honey, etc., and arranged the programme 

 for the present meeting. 



Mr. McKnight and Mr. Emigh were 

 appointed as the representatives of this 

 Association on the Board of the Toronto 

 Industrial Association. 



Mr. Gemmell represented this Associa- 

 tion on the Board of the Western Fair 

 Association. 



St. Catharines was chosen as the place 

 of meeting. 



The President and Secretary were 

 appointed a printing committee, and a 

 thousand circulars were sent out through 

 the Province inviting membership in the 

 Association, with good results. 



A special meeting of the Directors was 

 called in Toronto, for the purpose of 

 appointing an Inspector and Sub-Inspec- 

 tor under the "Act for the Suppression 

 of Foul-Brood," when Messrs. Wm. Mc- 

 Evoy, of Woodburn, and Samuel Bray,of 

 Alliston, were appointed to the positions 

 of Inspector and Sub-Inspector, respec- 

 tively. It was thought advisable that a 

 committee be appointed to arrange for 

 the distribution of a pamphlet regarding 

 "Foul-Brood, its Cause and Cure," and 

 F. A. Gemmell, F. H. Macpherson, D. 

 A. Jones and the President were detailed 

 to this duty. This committee waited on 

 the Minister of Agriculture, and ar- 

 ranged for the distribution of such a 

 pamphlet, embodying the Act which had 

 just been passed, and these formed the 

 subject matter of an official Bulletin 

 (No. 33) which was distributed to some 

 6,000 or 7,000 bee-keepers throughout 

 the Province. An edition in German 

 was also printed. 



By-Laws for the guidance of the In- 

 spectors, was also passed at this meeting. 



The third meeting of the Directors has 

 been held to-day, and the accounts for 

 the year closed. 



The membership for the past year has 

 been the largest since its Inception, 

 numbering 323, and up to this date the 

 renewals of membership for 1891 (85) 

 are the largest ever before reported at 

 an annual meeting. 



