120 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLKJNAC. 



Feb. 1 , 1904. 



( 



Convention Proceedings 



THE COLOR ADO C ONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceedings of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, Held in Den- 

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



BY H. C. MORBHODSE, SEC. 



(Continued from page 104.) 

 HIVB-COVBRS— LONGMONT HIVB. 



Mr. Aikin— In that Longmont hive-cover, in which 

 there are two boards on top, covered by muslin painted on, 

 does not the muslin crack over where the boards join ? 



Mr. Gill— A few covers split the cloth there, but when 

 the cover keeps on shrinking it does not tear the cloth. If 

 the boards swell, it will. But they will not swell if there is 

 a circulation of air underneath, and not too many quilts are 

 used. 



H. Rauchfuss — I had about 150 covers covered with can- 

 vas painted on both sides. The canvas is now all rotten. 

 If I cover them again, I shall use Neponset building paper. 

 I have covered a good many with paper. I use a piece of 

 lath nailed next each side edge of the cover, on top. These 

 laths are not quite so long as the cover, so they leave a lit- 

 tle space at each corner for the water to run off. In this 

 space, at each corner, I fasten down the paper with the nails 

 and convex tin washers that are ordinarily used for build- 

 ing paper, so the paper is firmly fastened without depend- 

 ing upon the laths. The laths are also cut slanting at each 

 end, so as to guide the water to run off at the extreme cor- 

 ners, so it will not drip on any part of the hive. I find 

 paper is cheaper and better than cloth. 



Mr. Gill — I use very thin muslin, costing 4 cents a yard. 



Mr. Aikin — How much lumber is in an 8-frame Long- 

 mont hive ? 



Mr. Gill— 16 feet with the frames. The halved corners 

 keep in better repair than those of the dovetailed hive. 



F. Rauchfuss— If the pieces of the dovetailed hive are 

 not put together for two weeks or more after receiving 

 them, they do not fit any more. With the halved corners 

 there is no such trouble. 



Mr. Gill — The corners of the rabbets are also much bet- 

 ter in the hives with halved corners. With this hive I also 

 use an inner cover. Most inner covers are made to fit the 

 inside of the hive. This is the same size as the outside of 

 the hive, hence leaves no possible chance for outside bees 

 to get into the hive. I never use the inner covers in winter. 

 With this kind of outside cover, that has a rim all around- 

 the edge, I use but one thickness of burlap. The bees win- 

 ter better. 



H. Rauchfuss — If you leave the burlap off 

 entirely the bees will winter just as well. I have 

 seen bees that wintered without a cover, besides 

 having the spaces between the combs half filled 

 with sand that blew in. 



Mr. Gill— Do you think it best to winter with 

 supers on top filled with chaff ? 



H. Rauchfuss— I used to do that, and I used 

 to contract the entrance. Those were two mis- 

 takes. The bees did not winter so well. The 

 combs became moldy and icy. 



Mr. Gill— My wife picked a lot of colonies 

 that had young queens, and fed them 26 pounds 

 apiece of sugar syrup in the fall. That started 

 so much breeding that they consumed a great 

 deal of it. But they reared much brood late in 

 the season, and she wintered all of them. An- 

 ^other lady had 65 colonies in a grove, with supers 

 full of chaff over each one. In the spring there 

 were 40 weak colonies left. 



ADDRESS BY MRS. GRENFELL. 



Mrs. Grenfell, State Superintendent of Ed- 

 iication, was called on for a speech. She con- 

 trasted the present conditions with those of 30 

 years ago, when mining interests were exclu 



sively predominant, while now there are gold mines in 

 every line of work, and we need not fear if Aspen is a 

 shadow of what it once was, or if Gilpin County or Crip- 

 ple Creek become so, because we have opportunities in 

 agriculture such as no other State has ; suggested that we 

 need all the sweetening possible in these days of strenuosity 

 and scandal, and concluded by congratulating the bee-keep- 

 ers on the progress of their work, and wishing them the 

 greatest success imaginable, feeling grateful to them, and 

 especially to their pioneers for their work, and hoping the 

 meetings would continue in interest and value. 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AND BEE-DISEASES- 



Pres. Harris — I don't think the proper effort has been 

 made by our Association in the way of getting the National 

 Association to get appropriations to investigate the differ- 

 ent diseases of bees. I hope the Committee on Resolutions 

 will take this up. I hope that in connection with the Na- 

 tional Association we may save ourselves many dollars in 

 this way. 



H. Rauchfuss — I move this be referred to the Committee 

 on Resolutions, and copies of the resolution sent to the Na- 

 tional. We need such aid, not only in investigating dis- 

 eases, but also along other lines, and are justified in asking 

 it. [Seconded and carried.] 



FEEDING SYRUP FOR WINTERING BEES. 



F. Rauchfuss — Last winter many colonies had to be 

 fed, and sugar was resorted to. What has been the experi- 

 ence in feeding thick and thin syrup ? 



Mr. Gill — I found it necessary to do considerable feed- 

 ing. It is claimed by many that the work of inverting the 

 syrup ages the bees, as the age of bees depends upon the 

 amount of work they do. I fed 8000 pounds of sugar, com- 

 mencing Aug. 20. The earliest fed was thin, the later 

 thicker, but it was never thickened enough to granulate. 

 At first the proportion of sugar and water was made half 

 and half, and later 90 pounds of sugar were used to SO 

 pounds of water. As an illustration, I fed 60 colonies — 

 swarms that had been hived late, all with young queens — 26 

 pounds of syrup apiece. They were fed late, until they had 

 built out their combs. The 26 pounds of syrup apiece was 

 worth say 75 cents. The colonies, after being fed, would 

 have brought $6.00 apiece. Ninety percent of them would 

 have died otherwise. It was not so much the feeding of 

 sugar that put them in good condition as the fact that they 

 reared large numbers of young bees, bees with vigor. It 

 makes no difference if we do wear out one set of bees, if 

 another set is reared. That yard was fed in the open air. 

 Other yards were fed with pie-tin feeders, using excelsior 

 as a float, under covers having a two-inch air-space. The 

 bees always keep the syrup warm in such feeders. You 

 would be surprised to find how late you can feed. Warm 

 water was used in making the syrup. 



H. Rauchfuss — I fed some by taking the fixtures out of 

 a super, tilting the hive, and setting in the super, wrong 

 side up, a piece of propolized canvas that had been used for 

 a quilt, with the ends folded up. It would hold a good deal, 

 sometimes a gallon. For floats I threw in leaves. Some of 



