Feb. 4, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



87 



the building, then provide one pound of bisulphide for each 

 1000 cubic feet of space. Also provide shallow dishes or 

 crocks, one for each 1000 cubic feet of space. Distribute 

 these vessels over the building as evenly as possible. Make 

 all windovrs and doors as near air-tight as possible. Com- 

 mence on the ground floor, and place one pound of the bisul- 

 phide in each dish. Work rapidly as possible to be consis- 

 tent with thorough work. When the bisulphide is distri- 

 buted over the first floor, proceed immediately to the second 

 floor, closing the door between the floors completely. When 

 the top floor is reached, leave the building by means of a 

 ladder previously provided. Do not go near the building 

 until several hours have passed. 



It is well to begin the fumigation in the evening, and 

 by morning all the gas will have disappeared unless the 

 building is unusually tight. In some cases it will be well to 

 place a watchman to keep all persons away from the 

 premises. 



One thing must always be borne in mind, the gas is ex- 

 tremely inflammable, and hence every precaution must be 

 taken to have no fire around. Incandescent lights are not 

 safe, as a spark is liable to be formed in switching the 

 lights on or off. 



In fumigating such materials, as stored grain or ground 

 feed, it is generally thought best to proceed as follows : Al- 

 low one pound of the bisulphide for each 100 bushels of 

 grain, or in cubic feet, one pound of bisulphide for each 125 

 cubic feet of space actually occupied by grain. Put the 

 bisulphide in shallow vessels placed on the surface of the 

 grain, and leave the immediate vicinity at once. 



If ordinary precautions are taken there need not be the 

 slightest danger in using carbon bisulphide. — The Agricul- 

 tural Student. 



c 



Convention Proceedings 



lin§sj 



THE COLOR ADO C ONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, Held in Den- 

 ver, Nov. 23, 24, and 25, 1903. 



BY H. C. MOREHOUSE, SEC. 



(Continued from page 69.) 

 QUEENS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE. 



Mr. Gill — The queens that we have in the apiary put 

 money in the bank. There is a difference in races, and a 

 difference in individual queens. By careful selection, I have 

 been trying to improve mine. In Wisconsin I succeeded 

 admirably. I got my first in 1878, and in the succeeding 16 

 or 18 years I materially improved them with reference to 

 the traits of using wax instead of propolis, hardiness, wing- 

 power, and honey-gathering qualities. Last year I bought 

 250 queens, 25 to come a day during the swarming season, 

 of the same strain I had in Wisconsin years ago, from a 

 thoroughly reliable man. He had been running for ex- 

 tracted honey, and dequeening about June 25 for the bass- 

 wood flow. The queens had been reared last year from 

 good cells, and were taken from the hives in full condition. 

 This proved to be harmful. Today not 40 or 50 percent are 

 alive. Some did not begin to lay soon, and some were 

 drone-layers, and their colonies did not begin to be as good 

 on the first of August as colonies that had been given good, 

 ripe cells. Therefore, to take queens in the height of the 

 breeding season and mail them in hot weather is very un- 

 satisfactory. I also got 50 queens from Tennessee, young 

 queens just beginning to lay. They proved very effective 

 and satisfactory. Therefore, for much of the difference be- 

 tween queens the queen-breeder is not to blame, but it is a 

 matter of the proper conditions. 



A Member — I had a little experience with young queens 

 from the South. Instead of putting them in large colonies, 

 I put them with one or two frames of brood as early in the 

 spring as I could, and built them up. I took as high as 

 three supers of honey from such colonies. 



PLANTING OF TREES AND CONSERVATION OF 

 FORESTS. 



Mr. Stone (President of the State Forestry Association) 

 — The subject I have to present to this convention will in- 

 terest every man who has to do with the soil, as all rural 

 pursuits depend so largely upon irrigation. Our State 

 Forestry Association was organized in 1884, and we have 

 kept up our activities ever since. It has been and is now 

 entirely a voluntary organization, with no official connec- 

 tion with the State, governor, or legislature, and conse- 

 quently no government patronage. As to our expenses, we 

 depend upon membership fees. What we stand for is con- 

 tained in our constitution — the planting of trees and the 

 conservation of forests. I wish that every farmer who owns 

 land would plant a few useful trees, such as black locust 

 and catalpa. In a few years he would begin to draw his 

 recompense. 



Three weeks ago our association decided to try to in- 

 duce the authorities at Washington to increase our forest 

 preserves for the preservation of moisture. The Govern- 

 ment has already done much to stir us to action. On the 

 map that I show you, you can see that four areas are at 

 present reserved ; each of contiguous laud. But in these 

 four are six : The San Isbell Reserve, on the Sangre de 

 Christo range, of 120 square miles ; the Battlement Mesa 

 Reserve, including Grand Mesa, of 1850 square miles ; the 

 White River Reserve, of 1830 square miles ; the Pike's Peak 

 Reserve, of 279 square miles ; the Plum Creek Reserve, of 

 1086 square miles ; and the South Platte Reserve, of 1086 

 square miles, making a total amount that is about equiva- 

 lent to the area that we have under ditches. We propose, in 

 addition, to ask for a reservation beginning at Wyoming, 

 and going clear down the range. We can not have too 

 many reservations at the headquarters of streams. Our 

 petition to the Secretary of the Interior recites, first, that 

 agriculture in this State is almost entirely dependent upon 

 irrigation ; second, that that portion of irrigation which 

 comes from the high mountain ranges is dependent for the 

 quantity and quality of its flow on forests and the preser- 

 vation of forests ; that the effect of the careless removal of 

 the forests of these mountain areas has already tended to 

 dry up the streams and fill up reservoirs and canals with 

 sediment ; and therefore asks that all territory in the basins 

 of rivers and creeks, beginning with the Medicine Bow 

 range, and continuing south to include the Sangre de 

 Christo range and the Saguache country, and especially all 

 areas above 8590 feet, be set apart as forest areas, and 

 tracts reforested, except such as are necessary for mining 

 ranges. 



Mr. Fellows— I didn't come to make a speech. I think 

 this is one of the most important questions that affect the 

 State. As a government official, I naturally realize it more 

 deeply. It is a fact that the water supply is so threatened 

 that it is almost a doubtful proposition. There are three 

 projects of government works for irrigation on the South 

 Platte, the Grand, and the Uncompahgre and Gunnison 

 rivers. No great project can be carried out on the first, for 

 the Platte supply is practically exhausted now ; that is, it 

 there were an average flow next year equivalent to what 

 has been the flow of late years, and all the reservoirs now 

 built took water, they could not all be filled and reserve 

 water priorities. The Grand River project is still feasible, 

 but the several ditches now built or projected would take 

 all the flow at Grand Junction. The Gunnison River tun- 

 nel is the most feasible, but at the same time the flow is so 

 low that it is considerable less than the tunnel will carry. 

 But there is ground for alarm lest denudation of the forest 

 slopes affect the latter two projects also. It is therefore 

 absolutely demonstrated that denudation is one of the prior 

 causes of the lack of water. 



Mr. Stone — We have local petitions, but the one here 

 presented is the general one for the whole State, such as we 

 ask other State organizations to support. 



Mr. Rhodes — I move we indorse the work presented, 

 and instruct our President and Secretary to sign the peti- 

 tion as presented by Mr. Stone. [Carried.] 



Mr. Pease — If the water for the projected reservoir to 

 supply the High Line ditch is already exhausted, is it not a 

 waste of money to build it ? 



Mr. Fellows — It may be successful in taking floods of 

 short duration. This would not be true if water were re- 

 quired to be carried to it for 100 or 150 days. 



APIARIAN EXHIBIT AT ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION. 



Ex-Senator Swink made a strong plea for an apicultural 

 exhibit at St. Louis. He said it was the time of our life to 

 make an exhibit, as it was the biggest exposition ever made 



