708 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 7, 1901. 



58 I. G. M. Doolittle must change his prac- 

 tice if he believes the teaching on page 8", 

 that the worliers accompanying a queen sent 

 by mail should be " selected as far as pos- 

 sible from among the oldest bees in the hive." 

 On page UK), we are told the workers will 

 never sting a queen. The bees of an issuing 

 swarm " have abandoned not only the enor- 

 mous treasure of pollen and propolis they had 

 gathered together, but also more than 120 

 pounds of honey." (Page 133.) 



After a swarm is sutticiently settled, the 

 queen begins to lay. " From this moment 

 up to the first frosts of autumn, she does not 

 cease laying; she lays while she is being fed, 

 and even in her sleep, if indeed she sleeps at 

 all, she still lays." (Page 215.) When a 

 young bee has gnawed open its cell, "the 

 nurses at once come running; they help the 

 young bee to emerge from her prison, they 

 clean her and brush her, and at the tip of their 

 tongue present the first honey of the new 

 life." (Page 23li. ) Other errors can be 

 found for the seeking. 



Beauties can also be found, and with less 

 seeking. In fact, they abound. Take a pas- 

 sage, selected almost at random, from page 

 234. A swarm has issued, and the old home 

 seems deserted : 



" And for all that the moment may appear 

 gloomy, hope abounds wherever the eye may 

 turn. We might be in one of the castles of 

 German legend, whose walls are composed of 

 myriad phials containing the souls of men 

 about to be born. For we are in the abode of 

 life that goes before life. On all sides, asleep 

 in their closely sealed cradles, in this infinite 

 superposition of marvellous six-sided cells, lie 

 thousands of nymphs, whiter than milk, who, 

 with folded arms and head bent forward, 

 await the hour of awakening. In their uni- 

 form tombs, that, isolated, become nearly 

 transparent, they seem almost like hoary 

 gnomes, lost in deep thought, or legions of 

 virgins whom the folds of the shroud have 

 contorted, who are buried in hexagonal 

 prisms that some inflexible geometrician has 

 multiplied to the verge of delirium." 



A con.siderable portion of the book is taken 

 up with philosophizing about things remotely 

 connected with bee-keeping, if connected at 

 all, many successive pages having no refer- 

 ence to bees, and the philosophy is by no 

 means of the most optimistic character. The 

 last 60 pages are occupied with a plea for 

 evolution, the whole (iO pages being to the 

 man who seeks practical instruction about 

 bees an utter void. As arguments to show 

 progress in the development of bees Is cited, 

 the fact that flour will be used in place of 

 pollen, cement in place of propolis, and the 

 fact ( that black bees transported to Cali- 

 fornia, where summer is perpetual, after one 

 or two years "will cease to make provision 

 for the winter?" 



But when the author confines himself to 

 bee-talk, his work is commendable in the ex- 

 treme for its exquisite beauty. If the pub- 

 lishers were to cut out perhaps a third of the 

 book, giving only the part relating directly to 

 bees, it would no doubt be more relished by 

 bee-keepers in general. 



The book is published by Dodd, Mead & 

 Co., 372 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Price 

 SI. 40, postpaid. It can be ordered from the 

 office of the American Bee Journal. 



Green were the leaves at sunset; 



To-day they're sear and red ; 

 Like men they play their proper iiart. 



Then fall to earthy bed. 



— Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



I The Buffalo Convention. I 



r5 ^ 



^ Report of the Proceeding's of the Thirty-Second Annual ^ 



^ Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' Asso- ^ 



^ elation, held at Buffalo, New York, ^ 



i$ Sept. 10, 11 and 12, 1901. J; 



(Continued from pa^e i>''4.) 



Response by Dr. C. C. Miller. 



Just a little while ago Pres. Root said 

 to me that he wanted me to say a few 

 words in response to Dr. Smith's ad- 

 dress of welcome, and my heart sank. 

 I said that I didn't know that I could 

 put on dignity enough for that: but 

 when I found that I was to respond to 

 plain, unadulterated Smith, it made 

 the task easier, and I must say that 

 there has come to me something of a 

 surprise. If there is one thing above 

 others that I don't want to see the time 

 taken up with in a convention of bee- 

 keepers it is an address of welcome and 

 the response thereto; and in trying to 

 make a response the thought generally 

 will be, now what shall be said differ- 

 ent from what has already been said? 

 In what has been said today there has 

 been an intellectual word of welcome, 

 recognizing with a great deal of intel- 

 ligence something as to what we are 

 trying to do for the world, so that I do 

 really feel that we are welcome. We 

 are welcome to this room, which is 

 something that we are really receiving, 

 something of real value, and the word 

 that has been spoken of encourage- 

 ment as to our work has been some- 

 thing that is of value, and I do hope 

 that fruits may grow from it. 



Now, if you please, allow me to turn 

 the tables just for a moment and speak 

 a word of welcome — let me make an 

 address of welcome. We do welcome 

 such words from such men; we do wel- 

 come a feeling of recognition, of intel- 

 ligent appreciation, and I want to say, 

 as a citizen of the ITnited States, a 

 word that I have said in private, that 

 we welcome our brethren from across 

 the line. I don't know whether the 

 Canadian brethren know how kindly 

 we feel toward them. I trust that the 

 feeling of brotherly affection that 

 these words of welcome that our plain 

 friend Smith has spoken to us will 

 make us feel this stronger than we 

 ever have felt it before; and that in 

 the moving of a kind Providence the 

 good work that may be done will 

 be a pleasant thing for us to remember 

 all the remaining days of our lives. 



The convention was then favored 

 with a song by Miss Ethel Acklin, of 

 Minnesota, entitled, "My First Music 

 Lesson." 



Mr. N. D. West, one of the inspectors 

 of black brood and foul brood, of the 

 State of New York, then read a paper 

 on the subiect. as follows: 



Black Brood, Foul Brood, and Bee ln = 

 spection in New York. 



The bee-keepers in several counties 

 of eastern New York have had a hard 

 fight with a new contagiou.s befe-dis- 



) ease.. Dr. Howard, of Fort Worth, 

 Tex., has made many examinations of 

 diseased brood sent to him by myself 

 from different apiaries. Dr. Howard 

 said, the disease being new and differ- 

 ing from the old time foul brood, he 

 would, for convenience, call it "'Black 

 Brood." It is very similar to foul 

 brood, which we have known for years, 

 and the treatment for its cure is about 

 the same, but it does not yield so kindly 

 to treatment, and it spreads more 

 rapidly. 



Wtih us the black brood started at 

 Sloansville, in the northern part of 

 Schoharie County, some six or seven 

 years ago. Many whole apiaries died, 

 and the disease kept spreading on and 

 on until it had reached other counties, 

 and it seemed as if all bees mus( die. 

 The disease spread rapidly, and ruined 

 all of the surrounding apiaries for 

 many miles. It was known as " foul 

 brood," and surely it was a./oul brood. 



Finally, Charles A. Wieting, Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture of the State 

 of New York, appointed Mr. Frank 

 Boomhower as his agent for bee-in- 

 spection, to exterminate the disease in 

 Schoharie county. 



Mr. Boomhower went to work and 

 inspected apiaries, and he caused a 

 great many colonies to be burned, 

 hives, honey, bee-stands, etc., wherever 

 he could find the first trace of the dis- 

 ease. The apiarists became more and 

 more alarmed and they were dissatis- 

 fied with the inspection which caused 

 so much destruction to their bees and 

 bee-fixtures that many of them would 

 claim that their very best colonies were 

 unnecessarily destroyed by fire. Many 

 apiarists who knew they had diseased 

 brood would not admit it, and they 

 considered the bee-inspector an enemy 

 who delighted in destroying their bees 

 because the law gave him the oppor- 

 tunity to do so. 



Quite late in the fall Mr. Boomhower 

 was laid oft from his work as bee-in- 

 spector. In 1899 the bee-law was 

 amended so it gives the apiarist a 

 chance to cure his own bees, and if he 

 is successful the bees will not be de- 

 stroyed. Commissioner Wieting has 

 since appointed four agents as bee-in- 

 spectors for the State of New Y'ork. 

 These agents are inspecting apiaries 

 and are instructing the bee-keepers as 

 best they can how to treat their apiaries 

 if they have diseased colonies, only 

 destroying those colonies that are weak. 

 If their owners will treat them prop- 

 erly, and do all they can to prevent the 

 further spread of the disease, according 

 to instructions given by the agent, the 

 diseased colonies are not destroyed. 



This diseased territory, having 

 Sloansville for it,s center, is about 65 

 miles east and west, and about 45 miles 

 north and south. Many apiarists have 



