Feb. 4, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



89 



other Western States. The manufacturers have formed a 

 trust. Next year perhaps they will add 5 percent to their 

 prices, and next year again, and so on. We have to show 

 them we are fixed for making hives. I don't think we will 

 have to make very many. 



Chas. Adams — For four years I have used Mexican or 

 Oregon pine in making hives, and found it satisfactory. 



Mr. Gill (showing a 1'2 story hive)— This hive in the 

 flat costs about 80 cents, including the pay for labor, which 

 is 17 cents. The super- slats are <s inch instead of '4 inch. 



Mr. Aikin — This discussion is intensely interesting, but 

 I see difficulties ahead. Where is the supply of lumber to 

 come from, especially when our forest reserves shall be 

 established? Perhaps the reservoir system may help out 

 the forests. But, after all, I have never been able to make 

 hives as cheaply as I could buy them, except once. But I 

 am heartily in sympathy with the movement. It may bring 

 the transportation companies to a recognition of the facts. 

 This transportation question is no small item. 



Mr. Gill — The supply is not so limited as you would be 

 led to think. But if a large factory is established, then the 

 place to get lumber from would be Idaho, which has vast 

 forests. The new railroad to Salt Lake will open up many 

 tracts not at the headwaters of streams. I think Mr. H. 

 Rauchfuss struck the key-note in his remarks. 



Mr. Morehouse — For five or six years I have made my 

 own hives from Mexican pine, and found it satisfactory. It 

 cost me S24 per thousand. 



Mrs. Booth — Supposing we did get a factory, how long 

 would it be before an opposition would be started ? 



Mr. Swink — The difference between lumber in the 

 rough and bee-supplies is simply enormous, so that the 

 freight-rates alone would be a big saving. There is no 

 question but we can get the lumber as well as they can. 

 (Continued next week, ) 



Report of the Nebraska Convention. 



( 



Nasty's Afterthoughts 





The Nebraska State Bee-Keepers' Association met in 

 the experiment station building at the University farm at 

 Lincoln. The attendance was large, and much interest 

 was shown in the discussions. 



Pres. E. Whitcomb opened the program with an address 

 on " The Past, Present, and Future of Bee-Keeping in 

 Nebraska." He related that his interest in the bee-business 

 dated from the time he foraged a barrel of honey during 

 the Civil War. Bees were first found in Nebraska by sol- 

 diers, who usually robbed them of honey. An instance is 

 on record of a soldier being killed by honey obtained in this 

 manner. Mr. Whitcomb explained that honey was not 

 poisonous, but that when bees were mad, a poisonous sub- 

 stance called formic acid was dropped on the honey by 

 them, and this is why honey taken by the robbing process 

 is often fatal. He said that Nebraska had a great variety 

 of honey-producing plants, and that this fact accounted for 

 the great variety of honey produced here. 



Mr. Whitcomb deplores the habit of nurserymen in 

 spraying their fruit-trees while in full bloom. The bees are 

 killed by working on these blossoms, and the spraying is no 

 more effective than if done at a later period. Nurserymen 

 would have but poor success if it were not for the bees. 



The honey-production in Nebraska, he said, was 1.5 

 pounds per capita, and one pound of honey is as valuable 

 for food as two pounds of pork, and contains as much medi- 

 cine as any drug-store would sell for SO cents. He said that 

 because alfalfa has so little flavor some people think it is 

 manufactured. Comb honey can not be adulterated, but a 

 glucose mixture is often sold for extracted honey. 



Miss Lillian Trester next read a very interesting paper 

 entitled, "The Supply Dealer." She said that supply deal- 

 ers like to meet their customers, and to encourage begin- 

 ners. They were always willing to advise customers, but 

 that sometimes it is better to let the customer have what he 

 wants, and then he will be better satisfied. 



After a recess resolutions on the death of M. L. Trester 

 were passed and ordered spread on the minutes, and that a 

 copy be sent to the bereaved family. Mr. Trester was a 

 member and an ex-president of the Association. 



The report of L. D. Stillson, as secretary-treasurer, was 

 read and adopted. 



Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows : 

 President, E. Whitcomb ; Vice-President, L. H. Trester ; 

 Secretary-Treasurer, L. D. Stillson, of York. 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



THE " LARDING " OF BEK-QUII,TS. 



A little rough on the bees, to give their new quilt of old 

 carpet a heavy daub of old, rancid lard. Probably they will 

 stand it rather than abscond (that is, providing they are 

 not a newly-hived swarm), and the real harm may be small, 

 except to the bee-keeper's own feelings. Some fussing 

 may be called for before all the underside of the quilt gets 

 propolized over — strips of it being protected by the wood of 

 the frame-tops. It is possible, however, to have it nearly 

 all coated the first exposure if there is just the right amount 

 of burr-comb to lay it on. I use enamel, and have lots of 

 trouble about bees eating holes. I think stray larva; of the 

 wax-moth start the hole in most instances, and then the 

 bees are zealous to enlarge it. Wonder if a sufficient daub 

 of lard would disgust the larva, and keep him from eating 

 holes. W. A. Moo'-e, page 796. 



BUTTERFLIES DON'T PRODUCE MOTHS. 



No, Mr. Nebraska, your killing all the butterflies, and 

 your not being troubled with moth-worms last summer, are 

 totally unrelated " happenstances." The mother of this 

 mischief is too small, and far too sly, to be attacked in that 

 way. And systematically killing the wrong kind of crea- 

 ture doesn't make us feel right in our own eyes, most of us. 

 Let's be sure we've got after the right villain, and then go 

 ahead with the killing. Page 797. 



BURNING UP ROBBER-BEES. 



Burning up bunches of would-be robbers with a torch is 

 a vehemence of warfare not to be followed in ordinary cases. 

 Barely possible that there may be extremes in which it 

 would be justifiable. But things come into my mind once 

 in awhile. Had the excited bee-man spent a couple of days 

 beating a tin pan, or in any other way of working oflf sur- 

 plus nerve force, might not the bees have become quiet the 

 third day just the same ? Page 798. 



STEEL-PLATE NO GOOD FOR HIVE-ROOFING, 



So 1 In the modern direct processes of making steel 

 they burn out some ingredients which used to protect iron 

 plate from corrosion. Eventually they will learn to put 

 these things in again at the close of the process ; but, per- 

 chance, a good many years of trouble will ensue first. Sad 

 to find that steel plate is no good for roofing any more— and 

 that even thorough painting does not make it so. My 

 •'notions" incline me to feel very contemptuous toward 

 painted cloth for roofs ; but it begins to look as if I should 

 have to do what others before me have had to do— give my 

 notions up. Page 798. 



MAN-PICKED AND NATURE-PICKED DRONES, 



If the alternative comes to man-picked drones or Na- 

 ture-picked drones— only that and nothing more — man is 

 going to worse than waste his time, I very freely grant. 

 But let men pick a thousand, and then Nature pick one out 

 of the thousand— what's the matter with that scheme ? At 

 any rate, we may be glad to know that Nature has a method 

 of breeding by selection which is very hard to improve on. 



BANDED BEES IN EVERY APIARY IN CARNIOLA, NOT IN EVERS 

 HIVE. 



I was intending to remark, anent a matter gone by, that 

 Frank Benton's corrected observations concerning bees in 

 Carniola, was that he found banded bees in every apiary, 

 but not in every hive. Guess it is not too late to make the 

 correction now. 



BIG BARRELS IN CANADA. 



We knew that Canada was a country inclined to big- 

 gishness, but we didn't know before that a barrel held 1000 

 pounds up there. Why, a barrel with 1000 pounds of honey 

 in it would be in the condition of some Yankee beekeepers' 

 heads I Page 803. 



THOSE ANSWERS ON SIZE OF HIVE. 



It's just nicely a which-and-'tother contest that the 8- 

 frame hive and the 10-frame hive have on page 804. Two 



