Feb. 18, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



121 



the colonies did not take it all down for a week, but they 

 took it whenever it was warm. 



Mr. Gill — I found 8 queenless colonies on Oct. 8 ; made 

 the 8 into 4, and fed all they would take till Dec. 1, and 

 every one wintered, while 60 percent of the apiary they 

 came from died. That shows what a little stimulative feed- 

 ing- will do late in the fall. I would rather have a hatful of 

 late-reared bees than a bushel of July and August bees for 

 wintering. 



INSPECTION OF BEES AND THE LAW. 



Pres. Harris — Bee-Inspector Pease reports that the 

 attorney of his county has taken the position that unless 

 the bee-keeper calls on the inspector, the inspector shall not 

 inspect. I recommend action. 



Mr. Gill — Isn't it a fact that under the existing- law the 

 inspector has no right to visit ? I don't believe, myself, the 

 inspector has a right to work in such a way as to get a lot 

 of names on his list. Our rights cease where others' begin. 



Pres. Harris — This trouble will make a precedent, and 

 other counties, too, will take the same action. 



F. Rauchfuss — Bees are taxed in nearly every county, 

 and require protection. As an illustration, a man near 

 Denver kept bees for 10 years, and had foul boood all the 

 time, but never would have an inspector near. If I have 

 such a neighbor I have a right to call on an inspector to 

 visit him. 



Mr. Gill — If a bee-inspector finds foul brood, and leaves 

 it, go for the inspector. He is amenable. But he should 

 not use the summer salary-getting. 



F. Rauchfuss — As one of the framers of the law, I will 

 state that we never intended to put such a narrow construc- 

 tion on it. 



Mr. Pease — I received a card from a man asking me to 

 go and look at his bees. According to the interpretation of 

 Mr. Rush, I have no authority to go. 



(Continued next week.) 



Fillmore Co., Minn., Convention. 



The Fillmore County Bee-Keepers' Association held 

 their second annual meeting at Preston, Minn., Jan. 14 and 

 IS, 1904. There was a good attendance and a good interest 

 manifested. It was decided to start a bee-keepers' supply 

 agency at Preston the coming year, where members of the 

 Association could get supplies at reduced rates, and where 

 beeswax could be collected and sent away in bulk to be made 

 into foundation. A grade of honey was established, and an 

 effort will be made to hold the price of fancy and comb at 

 not less than 12' 2 cents per pound for the local markets. 

 Heretofore the price has been as low in some cases as 8 and 

 10 cents per pound. 



A meeting of one short session will be called to be held 

 during the next county fair, to ascertain the supply and 

 dictate the prices on the honey crop. 



Our members all became members of the National Asso- 

 ciation in a body, and it was hoped that other associations 

 will do likewise. P. B. Ramkr, Sec. 



Fillmore Co., Minn. 



Worcester Co., Mass., Convention. 



At a meeting of the Worcester County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, held in Worcester, Mass., Jan. 9, 1904, there 

 was much amusement in the reading of the article in the 

 American Bee Journal about " He-Eee Molasses." How 

 much that thought is illustrated in every-day life, when an 

 ignorant man or woman tries to talk on some matter with 

 which they are entirely unacquainted. When a person gets 

 up in a bee-meeting and starts to talk it does not take long 

 to " size him up," so to speak, and determine the amount 

 he knows. But in the case of our convention, Dec. 12, we 

 didn't have to wait for Mr. Arthur C. Miller, of Rhode Island, 

 to speak to determine his caliber. His whole manner before 

 an audience is to impress one with the fact that here is a 

 man that can talk on a subject he knows something about ; 

 and so it was with Mr. Miller. If any of the readers of the 

 Bee Journal are ever near when Mr. Miller is to speak, put 

 yourselves to a good deal of trouble, if necessary, and go 

 and hear him. 



Worcester and the State are waking up. We now have 

 a State association, small to be sure, but "from small be- 

 ginnings " great things have grown. We hope to do some- 

 thing with a pure-food law, and also to help out those whose 



bees are suffering from foul brood. I am inclined to think 

 Mr. Miller is under the impression that it is not foul brood 

 but something else that is destroying bees in certain sec- 

 tions of our country. 



Our society is progressive, and we are determined to 

 make 1904 a banner year. We have speakers in view, out- 

 ings and picnics in contemplation, and our aim is to usher 

 in 190S with 100 members. C. R. RUSSEI-L, Sec. 



Worcester Co., Mass., Jan. 11. 



[ Our Bee-HeepinS Sisters] 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson. Marengo, 111. 



Delightful Winter Weather. 



We are having delightful winter weather, and for the 

 last few days the bees have been enjoying a flight. All 

 colonies seem to be pretty strong. 



The American Bee Journal is all right, and I enjoy 

 reading it very much. Mrs. Mary A. Ray. 



Adams Co., Ohio, Feb. 8. 



Cold Weather— Observatory Hive. 



The weather is unusually cold, but my bees are well 

 prepared for winter on the summer stands, and are all in 

 good condition. 



The honey crop was not very good last year, not nearly 

 so large as the year before. 



I always read the American Bee Journal with much in- 

 terest, and its coming is always welcome. 



I had a glass hive for observation in our garden last 

 summer. Its entrance opens through a fence, so the bees 

 did not disturb, or were not disturbed, by the people looking 

 at the hive. We found this hive much pleasure, and it had 

 many visitors among our friends. 



Newcastle, Dela., Jan. 9. Mrs. E. G. Bradford. 



An Experience With a Bear in an Apiary. 



Dear Sisters : — How would you like to go out to the 

 apiary some peaceful evening, to look at the skunk-traps, 

 and have your vision confronted by overturned hives, and 

 have the conviction assail you that the expected had hap- 

 pened just when you didn't expect it, and at last a bear had 

 visited your bees ? That was what happened to me last 

 autumn. 



I retreated in good order, returning with reinforce- 

 ments, and my father and I spent a strenuous time righting 

 the wreckage and killing bees on each other. 



The next day we sent word to the third selectman to 

 come to our aid with his bear-trap. The bear wouldn't 

 notice that trap, but one of the cats did — he escaped by a 

 miracle, with a flesh-wound from one of the teeth, which 

 disabled a fore-leg for some time. That night we had the 

 worst thunder-storm of the season. Quite late my sister 

 and I went to see if the bear was in the trap — he wasn't. 

 But he had had more honey, and had left another hive lying 

 on its side, and papa and I once more righted things as 

 well as we could. Before morning the bear upset that hive 

 again and got some more honey. 



About that time the postmaster offered his assistance, 

 and it was arranged that he and the third selectman, and a 

 young man that had been withdrawn from the hayfield on 

 the doctor's orders (because an able-bodied young heifer 

 had knocked him down and run over him), were to come the 

 third night and shoot the bear. Well, he anticipated them 

 and returned to the same hive for the third time ; that was 

 "three times and out" for the queen. Papa heard the 

 fence break, and hurried to the apiary in time to see a big 

 bear retreating in the late twilight across the narrow field 

 in front of the hives. He seemed reluctant to leave his 

 feast, looking back as he went. 



The moon was young yet, and set early that night, and 

 although the bear returned, he would not venture out from 

 the thin growth of trees across the field until it was pitch 



