>• ■:;,— -Jr^^K ■^yVtffiS^'yii^f^---''^.''' :■ ^''i^"/?^'- 



154 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



On motion of Mr. York, the Con- 

 vention adjourned to meet at 1:30 

 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



At 1:30 p. m. the President, Mr. 

 Hilton, took the chair, and, having 

 asked the Convention to came to or- 

 der, called for the report of the Com- 

 mittee on rules, which was presented 

 by Mr. York as follows: 



1. Ordinary parliamentary rules are 

 to govern the proceedings of this 

 Convention. 



2. Time of opening sessions: 9 a. m., 

 1:30 p. m. and 7:30 p. m. 



3. Discussions: No one to speak 

 longer than five minutes on any one 

 subject, nor more than once, unless 

 with consent of the Convention. 



4. Each speaker will first address 

 the President, and be recognized by 

 him by name or numoer before pro- 

 ceec'ing, so that the reporter may 

 know jusr. who is speaking. 



(Signed) GEORGiE W. YORK, 

 C. J. BARBER, 

 O. O. POPPLETON, 



Committee. 



On motion of iMr. Dadant, seconded 

 by Mr. Kretchmer, the report of the 

 Committee on Rules was adopted, and 

 the Committee discharged. 



The 'Piesident then addressed the 

 Contention as follows: 



To the Bee-Keepers of the United 

 States and the Dominion of Canada, 

 Greeting. 



In endeavoring to prepare some- 

 thing in the form of an annual ad- 

 dress for the fortieth annual meeting 

 of an oiganization representing cwo of 

 the greatest nations on earth, I can 

 not but feel my incompetency for the 

 task. 



Then, too, the varying conditions 

 contanied in these two vast domains 

 make it practically impossible to say 

 anything except in a general way, 

 extending as we do from the Tropical 

 coiiditions of our southern posses- 

 sions to as near the Arctic circle as 

 the industry of our chosen pursuit 

 can be made profitable. No Associa- 

 tion on earth covers so many miles of 

 teiritory, or such a wide expanse, in 

 which agriculture is the leading fea- 

 ture. And in what I shall say I shall 

 be largely indebted to our United 

 Slates Department of Agriculture in 



gereral, and to Dr. E. F. Phillips, in 

 particular. 



Few people realize the magnitude, 

 inioorrance and possibilities of the 

 present bee-keeping industry in the 

 United States. Those who are con- 

 versant with the pursuit, and even 

 thosr, who are extensively engaged in 

 it, geiierally fail to comprehend what 

 an important factor in the agriculture 

 of the country apiculture is as a 

 whole, or how much the honey bee, 

 by collecting nectar and storing to pro- 

 duce a commercial product, is instru- 

 mental in saving our resources. The- 

 All Wise Creator, in placing the drop 

 of nectar in the corolla of the flower, 

 intended that it should attract the in- 

 sect kingdom for the purpose of fertil- 

 ization and cross fertilization. But 

 man has taken advantage of these 

 conditions, and in causing the bee to 

 convert this wise provision into an 

 article of commerce, has assisted In 

 canyin£- out this wise provision. And, 

 although the total value of the bee 

 products is small as compared with 

 the value of the products of many 

 other branches of agriculture, it 

 nevertheless has an importance which 

 should not be overlooked. 



Few rural pursuits have made 

 greater progress during the past half 

 a century than has this one. Before 

 that time the bees of this country 

 were kept in box hives, and as a re- 

 sult the. annual average crop of honey 

 per colony was small. In addition to 

 this handicap in not being able to 

 manipulate the bees as was needed, 

 bee-keepers generally lacked a knowl- 

 edge of the methods of caring for 

 them. With the invention of the 

 mcveable-frame hives by Langstro.h 

 in 1851 it became possible to care for 

 bees properly and to manipulate in 

 such a way as to get the best crop. 

 As the use of this type of hive and of 

 the hqr.ey extractor became general, 

 bee keepers become better educa'.ed 

 in modern methods of manipulation, 

 and the industry has advanced from a 

 n«jgl;gible quantity to its present im- 

 portant place in agriculture. 



In t!he vast majority of cases, bee- 

 keeping is not the principal occupa- 

 tion, but is carried on in conjunction 

 with some other business. 



According to the census of 1900 the 

 average number of colonies to the 

 farm in the United States was less 

 than six, and valued at $14.40 — a very 



