358 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 19, 1904. 



Mr. Townsend said that most of his experience had 

 been in out-of-doors wintering, and he does not favor stimu- 

 lating for brood-rearing. 



Mr. Coveyou had noticed that bees went together when 

 set out in the spring ; he would close the entrances to pre- 

 vent it. 



BEE-SMOKERS — UNCAPPING HONBY. 



Mr. Bingham showed the construction of his smokers 

 to prevent blowing ashes and creosote upon the bees. For 

 fuel he uses tamarack, hemlock or maple bark. 



Mr. Root asked as to what the bee-keepers present use 

 in smokers ? Replies showed rattan wood, maple bark, ex- 

 celsior, chips, etc. 



Mr. Bingham was asked how to uncap honey. He an- 

 swered : Keep the knife sharp and moist ; if left to dry, 

 with honey on the edge, it will not cut so well. If wet or 

 moist the knife moves freely and cuts perfectly. 



Mr. Townsend explained how his son uncaps honey, 

 also their method of brushing bees from combs. He also 

 asked if any one present worked for comb honey on the Hil 

 plan, visiting apiaries once a week. No response. 



BBE-ESCAPBS — T SUPERS. 



Mr. Root asked about the use of bee-escapes. A large 

 percent of bee-keepers present use them with good results, 

 both for comb and extracted honey. 



James E. Harwood asked which is better for comb 

 honey production, section-holders with fences, or T supers 7 

 Both are successful. 



CLEANING EXTRACTING-COMBS. 



Mr. Bartlett asked whether bee-keepers present put ex- 

 tracting-combs out so that the bees may clean them up in 

 the fall. It was thought to be better to do so than to leave 

 them just as extracted from. 



Adjourned to 1 o'clock p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



This was the foul brood session. The subject was 

 taken up and discussed quite generally, but no quick, "sure- 

 cure " remedy was advised. 



FOUl, BROOD AND NATURAL SWARMING, 



Do bees ever carry foul brood with them_ in natural 

 swarming 7 In the discussion no definite conclusion was 

 reached. 



Mr. Root thought there was no danger of bees getting 

 foul brood from honey left by bees dying in trees in the 

 woods, as he did not think they carried it with them in 

 swarming. Being asked by the secretary if bees from trees 

 did not have the same chance to rob hives where they had 

 died of foul brood, Mr. Root said he would give it up. 



The convention adjourned sine die, at 2:20 p.m. 



Jambs H. Irish, Sec. 





Contributed Articles 





Black Brood— How to Get Bee-Laws. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



EVERY Student of animal life is conscious that all animal 

 forms are quick to vary, when submitted to different 

 conditions. This tendency has given us our races of 

 people, our breeds of cattle and other domestic animals, and, 

 not least in importance, the several races of our bees. If 

 all the higher animals and plants are subject to this law, 

 why then should not the lower be as well 7 Remembering 

 this law and tendency, we are not surprised at the conclu- 

 sions of the scientists of the Department of Agriculture, 

 that black brood is only a different form of foul brood, and 

 both the result of the selfsame Bacillus. 



I have found the genuine foul brood of California ap- 

 pearing under two quite different types or forms. They ap- 

 pear alike in nearly every particular, but in the real typical 

 form the brown, unctuous mass when drawn from the cell 

 with a tooth-pick or pin, will, when it lets go, fly back with 

 a snap as though there were much elasticity in the drawn- 

 out string. In the other form, which is not at all scarce 

 where the disease abounds, the string lacks the spring, and 



does not fly back, but simply falls down. I have never 

 doubted for a moment that boih were foul brood, and sup- 

 posed that the modification was simply an illustration of 

 the law referred to above. 



That there should be a still more modified form, and 

 that it should appear as the so-called black brood, need not 

 surprise us. The Government experts tell us that the 

 Bacilli that form or cause the foul brood, and those that 

 produce the black brood, are certainly the same, which 

 makes the other assertion certainly true. They can hardly 

 be mistaken, as they have gone over the ground the second 

 time, and their position as scientists makes their authority 

 absolute. 



We see, then, that the methods of destroying the two 

 are of course the same, and the practical bearing of their 

 discovery is close in line with the practice of bee-keepers, 

 as the method of control of both forms of the disease have 

 been known to be the same for a long time. The reason is 

 now obvious, as the disease is the same, and is caused by 

 the same germ, of course we should expect it in both cases 

 to succumb to the same remedy. 



DESIRABLE LAWS FOR BEE KEEPERS. 



Of course we are all glad that the Ohio Legislature has 

 passed the desired foul brood law, and why not? What are 

 our legislatures for except to meet the needs of the people 

 in just such ways ? I believe that the most of the legisla- 

 tors are desirous, yea, eager, to do that which will best serve 

 the wishes and wants of their constituents. Of course they 

 can not know the merits of any proposed measure, or at 

 least of all the bills put before them. Either, then, we must 

 employ a costly lobby when we wish legislation, or else we 

 must have some way to make our needs and wishes known 

 to those whom we choose to represent us. And this brings 

 me to the point which I wish to urge before our readers at 

 the present time. 



If we could be fully organized, we could accomplish 

 much in this line at any time when we wished help. It 

 seems to me that all our rural industries — farming, garden- 

 ing, fruit-growing, poultry-raising, and bee-culture, should 

 be organized, and be ready to pull together in all good lines. 

 We are working in California to bring this about. The fact 

 that we are not all working in the same field need be no 

 objection, as all such work is related. The fruit-man will 

 be a better pomologist if he knows something of bees, their 

 habits and work. The bee-keeper will do better if he knows 

 the principles of orchard practice ; and so all through the 

 various industries of country life. If these organizations 

 were general there could not be the unfortunate differences 

 that often mar the peace of our country neighborhoods. 

 Many subjects discussed at the club would concern all alike, 

 and be of general interest. 



In several places in our region, we have clubs in which 

 all are interested, and in such there are no wars between 

 bee-men and the fruit-growers. I addressed a club of that 

 like the other evening where the attendance never falls be- 

 low 100, and where the club influence is seen in all lines of 

 work, and in all places in the community. They own a 

 beautiful club-house, their own piano, a nucleus of a fine 

 library, and the roads and places all show the effects of 

 organization. To bring all up to the best methods of do- 

 ing things, to secure the highest social status in the com- 

 munity, to secure fine, neat places, to have those best signs 

 of progress in any community — first-class roads — and last, 

 to secure the amount of legislative influence that our impor- 

 tance warrants, we must become fully and thoroughly organ- 

 ized. The very best use of clubs is to remove bickerings, 

 jealousies in the community, and suspicion, which is the 

 blackest demon in the way of that true spirit of generosity 

 and good-will which is ever in the forefront of all that is 

 best in the neighborhood. 



The first law of any account passed in the California 

 Legislature last winter was the " Foul Brood Law," and it 

 passed with no opposition at all. This would not have been 

 the case except for our many splendid clubs. Indeed, our 

 clubs have extended their influence to Congress, and have 

 influenced the National law-makers. 



I hope all our readers will see to it that there is a good 

 club in their neighborhoods — call them "Improvement 

 Societies," if you please, and then make them true to the 

 name. Get everybody interested, and enlighten all, in all 

 matters that interest any in the place. There is nothing 

 that is so desirable in any place — and all places, especially 

 in the country districts, where there is now so much of isola- 

 tion — as the fullest co-operation among .ill. This will come 

 quickest with the strong club to push it and prepare people 

 to work for it. The telephone is a strong enemy of isola- 



