90 



THE JCME'MICMf* ®E® JQUmnmi^. 



SECOND DAY. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 9 a.m., and after the usual business, 

 a communication was read upon a 

 "National Organization," from John 

 Aspinwall, Barrytown. N. Y. 



" How does bee-keeping pay com-, 

 pared with other occupations ?" was 

 the subject of general discussion 

 among the members. It was the gen- 

 eral opinion that bee-culture could be 

 made profitable if the proper means 

 were adopted. 



J. N. Heater read a communication 

 from E. M. Hajhurst, of Kansas City, 

 upon " Results of spring work with 

 bees." This closed the morning ses- 

 sion. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



A joint meeting of the bee-keepers 

 and the Horticultural Society was held 

 in the afternoon. Prof. Charles E. 

 Bessey, Ph. D., professor of botany at 

 the university of Nebraska, read an 

 essay upon "Some honey-plants of 

 Nebraska," in which he said : 



If we carefully examine the structure 

 of a nectar-bearing flower, we find in- 

 variably that the nectar glands have a 

 definite jiosition in relation to the 

 organs of fertilization. While there is 

 an almost infinite variety in the de- 

 tails, j'et it may Ije stated in a general 

 way that the nectar is always so placed 

 that insects in gathering it are com- 

 pelled to come in contact with one or 

 more of the organs of fertilization. The 

 nectar is the bait by means of which 

 insects are made to visit the flowers, 

 in order that the pollen may be car- 

 ried from ijlant to plant. This is its 

 only use, as has been abundantly 

 proved by wide observation of many 

 careful students of this department of 

 nature. 



Now, inasmuch as all flowers have 

 to be fertilized, it- might be assumed 

 that all flowers must have nectar. 

 Such, however, is by no means the 

 case. If we examine carefully the 

 flowers of plants, we find that a great 

 many have the jjollen carried from 

 plant to plant by the wind. Such are 

 said to be wind fertilizers, and obser- 

 vation has shown that in all instances 

 they are destitute of nectar, or nearly 

 so. Again, there are some plants 

 which have such a structure that the 

 pollen of its stamens comes easily into 

 contact with their stigma, and thus 

 fertilization is efl'ected without the in- 

 tervention of any outside agents. 

 Such are called self-fertilized flowers, 

 and here again the nectar is absent. 

 Finally wc have the plants whose num- 

 bers can only be expressed by tens of 

 thousands, in which the structure is 

 such that fertilization can only be 

 secured by the intervention of insects, 

 or in some eases of nectar-loving birds, 

 as the humming birds. 



In these plants which depend upon 

 insects for carrying the pollen from 

 fl(jwer to flower, it is found that some 

 parts of the floral mechanism is ])ecu- 

 liarly adapted for the purpose. Gen- 

 erally there are such structures as 

 compel the insect to enter the flower 

 in a particular way.and thus it touches 

 the pollen-sacs with some part of its 

 body, and carries some of the jjollen to 

 the next flower it visits. This it does 

 while trying to secure the honey, and 

 the contrivances to secure this result 

 in diflerent plants are among the most 

 remarkable and interesting in the 

 whole vegetable kingdom. 



Rev. E. T. A1)bott, of St. Joe, fol- 

 lowed Prof. Bessej' with a few practi- 

 cal remarks upon bee-culture and 

 honey plants. 



Mrs. Heater read a very concise and 

 carefully-prepared essay on " How to 

 prepare honey for display and the 

 market," for which the associaticm very 

 gracefully passed resolutions of thanks. 

 The fact was then brought out that 

 Nel:)raska honey commanded 2 cents 

 more per pound than honey produced 

 in Iowa and other eastern States. 



The question whether honey should 

 be judged from appearance or taste, 

 was discussed at some length, and was 

 compromised by the decision that both 

 appearance and taste should be taken 

 into consideration. 



"Fall Breeding" was the subject of a 

 very interesting paper by Mr. Heater. 

 The success of bee-culture depends 

 largely upon the fall breeding. Mr. 

 Heater advised feeding in the fall, but 

 not later than the latter part of Sep- 

 tember. The young bees should have 

 their cleansing flight before going into 

 winter quarters. 



This subject was discussed in its dif- 

 ferent phases, and the meeting ad- 

 journed until evening. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Only a few members braved the 

 storm and attended the meeting. 

 These did not lack enthusiasm, how- 

 ever, and entered heartily into the dis- 

 cussions. The questions which were 

 brought forward were: "Can the 

 swarming impulse be controlled ; if so, 

 how ?" and "Which is best, to divide 

 for increase or natural swarming ?" 



The following ofiicers were elected 

 for the ensuing two years : President, 

 M. L. Trester ; Vice-President, R. V. 

 Muir ; Secretary, J. N. Heater ; Treas- 

 urer, T. Johnson. 



THIRD DAY. 



The closing session was mainly oc- 

 cupied by the reading of a very inter- 

 esting essay by Rev. E. T. Abbott, of 

 St. Joseph, Mo., on the " Honey Bee ; 

 its anatomy, the products of its opera- 

 tions, and its relations to flowers and 

 plants." [This essay will be pub- 



lished as soon as we can find room for 

 it.— Ed.] 



The committee on examination of 

 the sample of honey brought in by a 

 citizen of Lincoln, reported as follows: 



"Your committee, to whom the jar 

 of California honey put up by J. H. 

 MeDermott, of Chicago, was referred, 

 pronounced it in their opinion impure 

 and unfit for family use ; and think 

 that the man should meet with [public 

 condemnation for putting sucli an 

 article on the market as honey." 



The meeting then passed resolutions 

 of thanks to itif retiring officers, and 

 to Mrs. J. N. Heater, Prof. Bessey, and 

 Rev. E. T. Abbott, and extended to 

 the latter a special invitation to meet 

 with the society at their next [annual 

 convention. | i 



Adjourned to meet at Lincoln in the 

 second weeTi in Januarj', 1889. 



J. N. Heater, Sec. 



VERMONT. 



Convention lield at Bnrlington, 

 on Jan. 1§ and 19, 1S88. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY MAKCIA A. DODGLAS. 



According to programme, the con- 

 vention was opened on Wednesday 

 afternoon ; the President, P. E. Abbey, 

 in the chair. 



After reading the. minutes of the last 

 annual meeting, the Constitution, etc., 

 the convention listened to a poem en- 

 titled "Vermont Bees," by F. H. 

 Wheatley, of St. Johnsbury, Vt, which 

 was followed by a discussion, the gen- 

 eral opinion being that there are two 

 races of what are called " black bees." 



One member related a visit to a 

 neighbor's apiary who complained that 

 a part of his bees were not good honey 

 gatherers, but were lively and cross, 

 making it difficult to manage them, 

 while others in the same yard were of 

 a more peaceable disposition, and bet- 

 ter workers. On examination it was 

 found that the former were small black 

 bees, while the latter were the brown 

 German bees. 



Mr. A. E. Manum was asked what 

 he thought of the Holy Land and 

 Cyprian bees. He said he was favor- 

 ably impressed with the Holy Land 

 variety, but not with the Cyprians, be- 

 cause they are too cross. 



One member stated that in one sea- 

 son his Italians produced 30 pounds 

 per colony more than the blacks ; and 

 the stings were more numerous from 

 black bees. 



Mr. Manum was asked if he had 

 Italians that would work on red clover. 

 He replied that he had, and gave some 

 proofs in his experience ; he thought 

 that they would not work as well in 



