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A. I. Root mentioned that Dr. Miller 

 had secured large quantities of honej' 

 from 200 acres of cucumbers raised 

 near him. This showed that honey 

 could be secured from that plant. 



Dr. Miller — I think no one person, 

 unless it is Mr. Root, has done so much 

 planting for honey as I have. Because 

 Prof. Cook finds some plant valuable 

 for honey, it does not follow that we 

 shall all find it valuable ; still, we are 

 glad he is doing something in this line. 

 Does the Professor expect to cultivate 

 his Rocky Mountain honey-plant ? 



Prof. Cook — No ; we cannot do much 

 in the line of cultivation. A plant to 

 be of value must be able to take care 

 of itself, a sort of " root hog or die " 

 plant. 



A. I. Root — What better does Prof. 

 Cook expect to find the Rocky Moun- 

 tain honey-plant than is buckwheat ? 



Prof. Cook — It will stand drouth. It 

 is brought up on dry weather. A dry 

 locality is its home. 



Dr. Mason said that he had been in 

 attendance at the Ohio Centennial for 

 the past five weeks, and it was aston- 

 ishing to see the amount of belief there 

 is in the adulteration of honey. 



R. F. Holtermann then gave the fol- 

 lowing address on the 



Talue of United Experiments 

 in Apiculture. 



Who amongst bee-keepers does not 

 look back with deep and heartfelt 

 gi'atitude to such men as Huber, Dzier- 

 zon, Langstroth, Quinby, and a host 

 of others ? and it takes but a moment 

 of reflection to bring to our mind's 

 eye a picture of these men toiling day 

 after da}', yes, year after year, to gain a 

 perfect and reliable knowledge of the 

 natural history and habits of the 

 honey-bee. What vast benefits api- 

 culture has derived, and what great 

 strides it has made to make it an im- 

 portant branch of agriculture, not 

 only the bee-keeper but every well- 

 informed citizen knows. 



Whj' is it that so much credit is due 

 these men ? Because they stand out 

 and above otlier men of their day — 

 because thej- were leaders and bene- 

 factors. True, they stood compara- 

 tively alone, and had to follow their 

 researches too often unaided, and not 

 only with no one to cheer and help 

 them, but rather, with those about 

 them to sneer and misunderstand. 

 Now these men are leaving, and have 

 left, a rich legacy to prosterity. They 

 have not followed their own selfish 

 aims and ambitions, but in some in- 

 stances have gained no temporal ad- 

 vancement, and for our benefit. 



Are we then making the best use of 

 our advantages ? Are we doing our 

 duty faithfully, are we making use of 

 that intelligence which we so right- 



fuUj' claim as characteristic of bee- 

 keepers, and are we with these advan- 

 tages — so much greater in our age 

 than those of our fatlicrs — preparing a 

 legacy for posterity ? We are doing 

 much, but not all that we might. 



The Manager of our Bee-Keepers' 

 Union uses the old and true motto, 

 " In union there is strength ;" this is 

 pre-eminently true of researches or ex- 

 periments. We have not the plea that 

 our forefathers had ; we have numbers 

 who are only waiting to do such work 

 in union, and we have organizations 

 and means of advertising and reaching 

 them, that our fathers never had. Let 

 us then organize and do the most that 

 skill and energy can devise. 



Every branch in agriculture is ahead 

 of us. How many associations are 

 performing experiments through its 

 members. Let us then cast aside in 

 this matter all other motives, and to- 

 gether aim at the elevation and per- 

 fection of our chosen pursuit, laying 

 aside all petty jealousies, all desires to 

 self-elevation, and in union conduct 

 the experiments decided upon to in- 

 vestigate, no matter who may have 

 led us in that direction. 



I believe that one of our greatest 

 failures has been, coming to conclu- 

 sions too rapidly. A new and (as far 

 as theory goes) grand idea impresses 

 us, or the result of one season's experi- 

 ence leads us to believe we have made 

 a discovery which will immortalize our 

 names, and we advance and defend 

 that discovery only to lead others and 

 ourselves astray. Now if we want to 

 be of the greatest use, we must keep 

 under, these our sanguine and selfish 

 dispositions, and in the calm light of 

 reason and lofty desire to advance and 

 elevate apiculture, unite and decide 

 upon some line of experiment ; and 

 right here is the ditticult question to 

 decide, what shall that be ? 



I had the honor of being appointed 

 one of a committee by the " Ontario 

 Agricultural and Experimental Union," 

 to decide upon a line of experiment 

 for those of its members interested in 

 bee-keeping. After study the commit- 

 tee felt that so important was it to de- 

 cide upon the most practical and easily 

 conducted experiments, that we de- 

 cided upon consulting the memliers of 

 the North Ameriean Bee - Keepers' 

 Society, and the members of the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association in 

 convention, before taking any decided 

 .step in the matter. 



The thought was, to iiave two or 

 three lines of experimentation, and 

 the.se for the dift'ereut seasons of the 

 jear. For instance, we have men who 

 are »ble, and have the time and means 

 at their disposal, to make minute and 

 scientific researches of practical value. 

 Again, we have those who have many 



colonies who can conduct researches, 

 where a large number of colonies arc 

 advantageous, but who cannot under- 

 take anything which will require a 

 great outlay of time. 



Again, those who have fewer colo- 

 nies, who are plain, practical men, and 

 could conduct ordinarily careful ex- 

 periments, in spring, summer, autumn 

 and winter, and those again who could 

 only conduct them during one or more 

 of these seasons. Every opportunity 

 should be given to every bee-keeper to 

 join in .something. In wintering bees, 

 especially, there should be no drones 

 in the hive. I hesitate to set forth 

 what we shall experiment upon — my 

 desire is rather to rivet your attention 

 upon the grand possibilities before us, 

 knowing that practical minds liere, 

 will do the rest. 



Of course we can never take the 

 place of a man who can devote his 

 life's energies to experimental work, 

 and can secure what necessary means 

 are required to conduct his labors 

 properly — at the same time we can at- 

 tain results that he never can, and in 

 a shorter time. 



Let us lose no time. Let a line of 

 work be decided upon for the coming 

 winter and the coming j-ear. How 

 vast a work can we accomplish, how 

 great our sphere of usefulness by 

 eanest,careful and conscientious work ! 



In one year, in certain directions, 

 we can make more progress by this 

 method, than before in ten. But I 

 need not point out to a bee-keeper the 

 advantage to be secured bj' united, 

 whole-souled organization to accom- 

 plish any work ; no more fitting ex- 

 ample of this can be found than in the 

 homes, the occupants of which we are 

 the " masters." R. F. Holtermann. 



The convention then adjourned until 

 p.m. 



OHIO. 



The Report of tiie Ohio State 

 Convention. 



The Ohio State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation held its sixth annual meeting 

 in conjunction with the North Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keepers' Society on Oct. 3, 4, 

 and 5, 1888, at Columbus, O. A special 

 I business session was held on Oct. 4, 

 for the election of officers for the com- 

 ing year, which resulted as follows : 



President, H. R. Boardman, of East 

 Townsend ; Vice-President, John Cal- 

 vert, of Medina ; Secretary and Treas- 

 urer, Miss Dema Bennett, of Bedford. 



On motion the convention adjourned 

 to hold the next annual meeting at 

 Cleveland, O., on the call of the eT- 

 ecutive committee. 



Fkank a. Eaton, Sec. 



