Page images
PDF
EPUB

in his shop, where he has many tools and fine machinery.

BEE-ESCAPES.

I was not at all surprised when Mr. Taylor put his hand into the satchel and brought out a bee-escape-the British call them "super-cleaners." My partner in the stings and sweets in the honey business, says that he does not see how we can keep house without them, though we have had no opportunity of testing their good qualities since the crop was harvested.

I wish my readers could see this one; it is a tin tunnel with an inclined brass walk through the middle, and when the bee gets to the end of it she jumps off.

It is like the spring-board that boys have to dive into the water. When the bee wishes to return the end of the spring-board is in her way, and prevents her doing so. I have quite a museum of bee-escapes, but I am suffering for more.

I have some that stand up and some that lie down, and some in the shape of a star. When I have an opportunity of trying them, I will tell you which pleases me best.

QUEEN-CELL PROTECTORS.

"What is this, mamma?" said an eightyear-old, as she exhibited her forefinger covered with a spiral cone made of wire. "Oh, that's mamma's! You must not touch it. "Mr. Taylor gave it to me. It is a queen-cell protector. The cell is put into it, and the bee cannot bite into the sides of it to destroy the queen; and when she is old enough she comes out of the little hole into the hive. That little handle of wire can keep it from falling down between the combs, or can be stuck into one."-Prairie Farmer. Peoria, Ills.

Indiana State Convention.

E. H. COLLINS.

The Indiana State Bee-Keepers' Association has now been in active existence more than a decade. It was at first organized during the excitement over the introduction of Italian bees. When this

was well accomplished, the bee-keepers continued the meetings for the educational and social advantages they afforded. It is always a happy experience for those directly interested in any occupation to meet and talk.

The attendance and interest at these meetings has been increased for the last year or two. The programme is now

[blocks in formation]

5. Getting bees out of the sections, illustrated, J. T. Dinsmore.

6. Plans and suggestions for Summer meetings of local societies, Mrs. Dr. Herr, Westfield.

7. Winter protection, Chas. F. Muth, Cincinnati, O.

8. A talk to beginners, Geo. C. Thompson, Southport.

9. Hindrance to bee-culture, Walter S. Pouder, Indianapolis.

10. Should the State Board furnish a stenographer for the general State societies? Discussion.

There will be on exhibition many conveniences and interesting specimens to instruct the bee-keeper.

E. H. COLLINS, Pres.

Preparing Bees for Winter.

J. E. POND.

My experience covers over twenty years of time, and has been drawn from a constant series of experiments, the result being that I do not fear cold of itself, and that if the bees can be kept dry they will safely withstand any reasonable degree of Winter weather. The sole secret, in my opinion, being, ample stores and freedom from moisture. I have always wintered bees on summerstands, in all sorts of hives, single and doubled-walled, chaff, etc., and have not met, during the whole time I have had bees, with 1 per cent of loss, and, in fact, the only losses I have ever met with were my own fault, and owing to the want of sufficient stores to carry them through.

My experience teaches me that a large entrance is a necessity; that ventilation should be downward, and when a hive is so prepared that little, if any, moisture is retained, the bees are perfectly safe as far as cold is concerned.

My Winter preparation consists simply in giving from one to two inches of space

between top of frames and the cover or mat; that is, I use only a piece of burlap, or old carpet, to confine the bees, at the top leaving not less than one inch of space between the mat and top of frames. On top of the mat I pack loosely five or six inches of forest leaves, or their equivalent.

This method of preparation, with ample stores, and a large entrance, carries my bees through safely all the time. If I am asked why, I should say the excess of moisture is carried off at the top of the hive; the ventilation is downward through the entrance, and this excess of moisture cannot be collected. This is not theory; it is practice. It is not an improved experiment, but a matter that

pecially by farmers, and those who allow the bees to "shift for themselves." Should the coming Winter prove a severe one, those who have placed their affections in the thin shells without packing, will be among the chief mourners next April.

The honey-dew was, after all, a "blessing in disguise," for without it we would have had to feed in July, or lose our bees. The trouble was, that there was little else to be had. It kept up brood-rearing, and the young bees gathered the Winter stores.-Plowman. Milan, Ills.

has been tested over and over again, North American Bee-Keepers' Association.

with like results in every case.

I prefer double-walled hives, as they do give protection to a large extent, but I Winter bees in single-walled hives, with the temperature 150 to 200 below

zero.

Complexity has always been at war with simplicity, but when all learn that simplicity is king, then they will begin to accomplish great results.-American Bee-Keeper.

North Attleboro, Mass.

Some Seasonable Hints.

C. H. DIBBERN.

The successful bee-keeper can find plenty of work to do now, that will greatly lessen the work when the busy time comes again.

Now is a good time to work in the shop, by the side of a warm stove, and overhaul the empty hives and cases, and put all in good repair for another season.

It is a capital time now to make up the sections for next season, put in the foundation, and store them away where mice and rats cannot get at them. They will be very handy next June.

If some of the supers have a good deal of burr-comb sticking to them, see if the bee-spaces are not faulty.

If your hives or fixtures need painting, now is as good a time as any to do it. If you will hunt up work now, it will not hunt you so persistently next Spring. That all sections filled with honey-dew had better be put in cases by themselves, and used to stimulate the bees next Spring.

Many bees will be lost the coming Winter by the "starvation plan," es

W. Z. HUTCHINSON.

A few of the more enterprising members arrrived at Albany, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1891, and the evening was passed in an informal chat, the renewing of old friendships, and the forming of new ones. The first formal meeting was held on the morning of Dec. 10, when President Elwood addressed the Convention as follows:

President's Address.

The labors and experiences of another season are ended, and its lessons largely learned. A bee-keeper of my acquaintance devotes this part of the year to a careful comparison of the main points in the season's experience with those of previous years. The facts are then still fresh in mind, and the conclusions are useful. In proof that he is eminently successful in his business, I might mention his name but for fear of his modest presence with us. So we, in Convention assembled, may compare our varied experiences during the season just closed, and, on doubtful points, gather wisdom more rapidly and cheaply than to work it out in our own bee-yards.

With so large a crop in one part of our country that the markets are surfeited, while much of the remaining portion is begging for choice comb-honey, it may be that we shall learn a useful lesson on the distribution of our products. What are the hindrances to a better distribution of honey?

1. Our method of marketing, which hurries it off to market without waiting to learn where it is needed.

2. Freight rates are too high, and what is worse, honey is handled carelessly by railroad men, making it difficult to reach distant markets.

After signing a release and loading and unloading his own honey, the beekeeper is charged double the rates he ought to pay by these servants of the people.

A recent ruling, which compelled the shipper to cover the glass, that has been used for a score of years, chiefly to secure more careful handling, is a fair sample of the treatment we receive.

This Association should vigorously protest against this unwarranted interference with our rights, and a committee should be appointed to work diligently until reduced rates and better treatment are secured. We have had such a committee in our State Association, but we need a united effort throughout the country.

3. Lack of uniformity of packages and grading is a barrier to a proper distribution. What is accepted in one market is not in another. Put up the honey to meet the demands of the market 'to which it is sent, has been the advice. This sounds too much like the cry of the sensational or Sunday newspaper man, who says 66 we publish what the people demand," and the paper gets down lower and lower all the time. The people are not always the best judges of their needs, and often have to be educated.

Starting with the two-pound box, glassed, we have successfully met and catered to the demand for one-pound sections, glassed and unglassed, full weights and light weights, paper cartons and pasteboard boxes, wood and mica sides, thick (2-inch) boxes and thin boxes, 1%, 1 down to 1%-inch, square boxes and tall boxes, until there is the greatest diversity in packages, and it is difficult for a dealer to duplicate an order for any quality, unless it is from the same consignment. The producer has wasted his substance in continual changes, and, like the sensational editor, has been but a puppet to a senseless demand.

We should adopt a standard, and if glassed honey looks better, carries better and keeps better, why not gradually enlarge the production of this kind, and, if possible, educate the consumer to buy honey in the standard box, or tion."

66

sec

I have this year had calls for glassed honey from the West, and yearly the demand for this kind is increasing in the East.

In the reduction of duty on sugar, no bee-keeper, to my knowledge, was consulted, and fearing that, in the contemplated treaty between this country and Spain we might again be over

looked, I consider it my duty as an elected representative of the bee-keeping interests of this country, to address a protest early in the year to the State Department against the free admission of honey from Cuba. A copy of the letter is here appended:

STARKVILLE, May 14, 1891. Hon. James G. Blaine, State Department, Washington, D. C.

MR. SECRETARY:-Information reaches me that this country and Spain will probably agree upon a treaty of reciprocity. With such probabilities ahead, I desire to be informed, as representative of the bee-keeping industry, whether honey is upon the free list. If so, I wish at this early day to enter an emphatic protest against any change in the tariff.

The contemplated removal of the duty on honey in the Spanish American treaty a few years since was met by a most emphatic protest from the 300,000 beekeepers of the United States of America. Much better reason have they now for protesting, since the great reduction in the price of cane-sugar, the chief competitor of liquid or strained honey.

Our

The removal of the duty on foreign sugar was followed by a bounty to our domestic sugar producers, even to the producers of maple-sugar, which is chiefly an article of luxury, and not a competitor of cane-sugar in the manufactures as is "strained" honey. legislators, who so kindly remembered the sugar growers, entirely forget the honey producers, whose product is but sugar under another name. In the manufacture of certain products honey is superior to sugar, although not so much superior but that we shall have to lower present prices in many cases to avoid the substitution of the inferior and cheaper article.

Now, to permit Cuban honey to enter free, and still further reduce prices, would be an act of injustice that could hardly be forgiven. In fact, it is questionable whether our industry could survive, unless it should be that limited branch of it devoted to the production of comb and liquid honey for table use. Cuba is probably the finest honey producing country in the world, and capable of producing on immense amount of honey. So superior is it in this respect that several of our most intelligent beekeepers have left all of the advantages of their native land to engage in the production of honey there.

Our industry is still in its infancy, and while we already produce many million

pounds of honey, it is capable of an expansion so great as to wholly eclipse the present production of sugar from the sugar-cane. Four contiguous counties have produced in one season over four million pounds of honey, and this represents but a fractional part of what might have been gathered.

Knowing well the genuine interest you take in the welfare of the people of your country, I am confident that you will give this subject the attention its importance deserves. Should there be any points on which you desire additional information, command me at your pleasure. Yours, etc., P. H. ELWOOD, President of the North American BeeKeepers' Association; also President of the United States Honey Producers' Exchange, and President of the New York State Bee-Keepers' Association.

The letter I received in reply is not at hand, but it stated that the subject should have the attention its importance seemed to demand. I am glad to say that the treaty makes no change in the present duty.

As the hand of our legislators has once been laid heavily upon us, and may be again, I suggest that a standing "watch-dog" committee on legislation be appointed. Also, if you think best, this committee may be authorized to draft a bill regulating the use of arsenical poisons on fruits and vegetables, by spraying and other processes. That bill should be in suitable form for submission to the several State Legislatures.

The Committee on Medals have completed their labors, suitable dies have been obtained, and medals stamped for distribution to affiliated societies, as called for in the Constitution. Much credit is due to Mr. Thomas G. Newman, who worked on this committee with his usual vigor and ability. A few extra medals to be awarded for meritorious inventions, discoveries and experiments, would help our society and pursuit.

The original experiments made by Professor Cook, on Fertilization by the Honey-Bee, read at Washington, is worthy of a medal, but probably our awards should be conditioned on having the report first made to this Society. I hope Professor Cook has continued his experiments so as to include buckwheat, as farmers have but little idea of the great benefit they derive from the honeybee in the fertilization of this grain.

A medal should be offered for the best essay for general distribution on "The use of Honey in the Arts and Manufactures." When we know that a single

firm of bakers within a few months bought $13,000 worth of honey to use in their business, we are led to believe that its use might be largely extended.

Manufacturers have learned that certain chemical processes take place with honey that do not with sugar.

In medicine honey might often be substituted for syrup, to the benefit of the patient, as it is more easily digested, and in lung and throat diseases it is a valuable medicine.

Formerly it was the custom of our secretaries to prepare a copy of our proceedings for the press, or a copy from which reporters could make extracts. I advise that we return to this custom. Reporters are not familiar with beekeeping, and while we sometimes have excellent reports, usually those published in our dailies are not creditable to either bee-men or to the papers that publish them. I therefore ask that our Secretary furnish a report for the press.

We are pleased to have with us in this meeting many representative bee-keepers who have not met with us heretofore. Mr. Frank Benton, who has nearly compassed the world in search of new varieties of bees, and to whom bee-keepers are under lasting obligations, expected to be here, but is kept away by sickness.

One whom we have been accustomed to meet at our State Conventions is not here-Mr. G. H. Ashby-whom we held in high esteem for his superior qualities of head and heart, will be sadly missed on the floor of this Convention.

P. H. ELWOOD. A vote of thanks was given to the President for his able address. A recess was then taken, when the following members paid the annual dues:

J. S. Barb, Oakfield, Ohio.

B. Wells, Fostoria, Ohio.

E. Calvert, Valley Junction, Iowa.

F. A. Hayes, Farragut, Pa.

P. H. Elwood, Starkville, N. Y.
J. M. Hambaugh, Spring, Ill.

O. L. Hershiser, 24 W. Seneca street, Buffalo, N. Y.

W. E. Clark, Oriskany, N. Y.
W. D. Wright, Altamont, N. Y.
R. F. Holtermann, Brantford, Ontario.
V. V. Blackmer, Orwell, Vt.
Solomon Vrooman, Hartford, N. Y.
S. Corneil, Lindsay, Ontario,
R. McKnight, Owen Sound, Ontario.
H. L. Leonard, Brandon, Vt.
J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt.
R. H. Holmes, Shoreham, Vt.
Ira Barber, DeKalb Junction, N. Y.
J. E. Hetherington, Cherry Valley, N. Y.

W. L. Coggshall, West Groton, N. Y.
Miles Morton, Groton, N. Y.

A. A. Brimmer, Hoosick, N. Y.
J. F. Wood, North Prescott, Mass.
E. B. Smith, Millford, Pa.

A. W. Smith, Parksville, N. Y.
E. U. Parshall, Cooperstown, N. Y.
J. Van Deusen, Sprout Brook, N. Y.
N. D. West, Middleburg, N. Y.
J. O. Munson, East Lansing, N. Y.
A. P. Slater, Preston, N. Y.

C. A. Hallegas, DeKalb Junction, N. Y.
W. G. Larrabee, Larrabee's Point, Vt.
Edgar Briggs, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Ambrose Pealer, Danube, N. Y.
Thomas Pierce, Gansevoort, N. Y.
D. E. Floyd, Nelliston, N. Y.

C. M. Woolser, Richfield Springs, N. Y.
J. H. M. Cook, 78 Barclay st., N. Y.
F. A. Lockhart, Lake George, N. Y.
A. Armbrust, Schenectady, N. Y.
F. M. Hawkins, Poultney, Vt.
A. H. Wood, Hanover, N. H.
L. H. Bartram, Sharon, Conn.

A. W. Manderville, 285 High street, Newark, N. J.

David Stoddard, Ballston Center, N. Y.
W. W. Cary, Colerain, Mass.
Levi Defreest, Troy, N. Y.
W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich.
E. A. Stratton, Horseheads, N. Y.
Claude Smith, Norwich, N. Y.

C. D. Robinson, West Groton, N. Y.
D. H. Coggshall, West Groton, N. Y.
S. F. Pratt, Marlborough, Mass.
I. J. Stringham, 92 Barclay st., N. Y.
G. A. Burhams, Cooksburg, N. Y.
Norwood Burhams, Cooksburg, N. Y.
Charles Stewart, Sammonsville, N. Y.
R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich.
F. Allen, West Berne, N. Y.
Julius Hoffman, Canajoharie, N. Y.
W. H. Mallory, Worcester, N. Y.
Eugene Converse, Coventry, N. Y.
G. M. Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y.
Arthur Barnes, Canajoharie, N. Y.
George E. Davis, Shelburne Falls, Mass.
V. N. Forbes, West Haven, Vt.
W. S, Ward, Fuller's Station, N. Y.
E. D. Kniffer, Middleburg, N. Y.
J. I. Parent, Birchton, N. Y.
F. H. Cyrenius, Oswego, N. Y.
J. Vandervort, Laceyville, Pa.

M. E. Hastings, New York Mills, N.Y.
H. D. Spencer, Coventryville, N. Y.
J. W. Porter, Charlottesville, Va.
G. W. Alexander, Esperance, N. Y.
John L. Watkins, Sandy Hill, N. Y.
Frank Benton, Washington, D. C.
Henry Segelken, 28 and 30 W. Broad-
way, N. Y.

Thurber, Whyland & Co., 116 Reade street, New York.

John S. Scudder, Amsterdam, N. Y. Charles Israel, 70 Hudson street, N. Y.

LIFE MEMBERS PRESENT.

E. R. Root, Medina, Ohio.
Charles Dadant, Hamilton, Ill.
Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa.
G. H. Knickerbocker, Pine Plains, N. Y.
LADY MEMBERS.

Miss M. A. Douglas, Shoreham, Vt.
Mrs. J. Vandervort, Laceyville, Pa.
Mrs. H. L. Leonard, Brandon, Vt.
Mrs. W. J. Haviland, Glens Falls, N. Y.
Mrs. Thomas Pierce, Gansevoort, N. Y.
Mrs. Frank Benton, Washington, D. C.
Miss M. J. LaGrange, Guilderland, N. Y.
Miss Cynthia Payne, Victor, N. Y.

Upon the Convention being called to order, it was voted that Thomas G. Newman & Son be paid $20.00 towards publishing, in pamphlet form, the report of this Convention, as usual.

The Committee on Incorporation reported as follows:

Report of Committee on Incorporation.

Your committee to which was referred the matter of incorporating the North American Bee-Keepers' Association, beg to report that they have attended to the matter, and the certificate of incorporation is in the hands of the Secretary, and the fees for the same have been paid by the Association. The life members in the United States were by vote designated as the incorporators.

THOS. G. NEWMAN, Chairman.

The report of the committee was approved, and the committee was discharged.

R. McKnight-Is this Society incorporated under a State law, or does it cover the whole country?

E. R. Root-It is incorporated under a State law, but its influence is National. R. McKnight-Is not incorporating it under a State law making a local society of what was a National body?

J. E. Hetherington-It is necessary to incorporate under a State law. That is

the only way in which it can be incorporated; but such incorporation does not prevent it from being National in character.

The Manager of the National BeeKeepers' Union reported as follows:

The Bee-Keepers' Union.

As General Manager of the National Bee-Keepers' Union, which is now under the fostering care of the North American Bee-Keepers' Association, I would report that it is still laboring for the welfare of Bee-Keepers, and defending them in their rights and privileges as

« PreviousContinue »