Dec. 12, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



791 



a private (though not a common) mem- 

 ber, he will continue to have a large 

 influence among the bee-keepers of the 

 State. 



It should be mentioned that, during 

 the last afternoon, the Governor was 

 hustled away from an important meeting 

 of the State Land Board, and brought 

 up stairs to see the largest assembly of 

 bee-keepers he had ever faced. He made 

 a pleasant off-hand speech, promising 

 to be of use whenever it should be 

 possible. He will have a chance next 

 year. 



The Association did not forget to be 

 thankful (and to express its thanks) to 

 all who liad helped to make the three- 

 day meeting successful and in every 

 way interesting and profitable. 



This brief report makes no pretense 

 of being complete. Later on — if the 

 editor will permit — items of information 

 about the meeting may be sandwiched 

 in beween formal papers and discussions. 



It is not to be forgoten that the meet- 

 ing was a big thing. 



Arapahoe Co., Colo. 



Report of the Utah Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention. 



The last convention of the Utah Bee- 

 Keepers' Association was held in Salt 

 Lake City, Oct. 5. The meeting was 

 called to order by Pres. Lovesy. There 

 was a good attendance, and an interest- 

 ing session was held. 



County vice-president, Geo. Howe, of 

 Utah County, by request spoke on the 

 different sizes and kinds of hives. He 

 said' that he used the Langstroth and 

 American hives, and that the bees must 

 be kept dry, as it was the dampness that 

 killed them in the winter. 



\Vm. Blake said that he was interested 

 in both bees and fruit, and he thought 

 those two industries should go together; 

 that a more paternal feeling should be 

 cultivated, as they were each benefited 

 by the other. 



J. A. Smith, of Wasatch County, 

 writes : "We have sold our crop of 358 

 cases of comb honey for $2.65 per case. 

 The honey season was never better than 

 the past summer. We had a late spring, 

 and the bees were weak, and in some iur 

 stances the mortality ran as high as 75 

 percent. " 



Vice-President Rees.of Weber County, 

 sent regrets at not being able to be 

 present. He also said that the first part 

 of the season was bad, some of the bees 

 being in an almost starving condition, ex- 

 cept where they were fed until the second 

 crop of alfalfa came into bloom. .-Vfter 

 that time they did very well. He said 

 he had taken 70.000 pounds of extracted 

 honey from 1,000 colonies: the honey- 

 flow, although not heavy, held on late, 

 which will help the bees to get in good 

 shape for winter, causing them to rear 

 lots of late brood, which will furnish 

 bright young bees — the very thing for 

 good wintering. 



The President's Address. 



The bee-industry in our State in this 

 the beginning of the new conturj-. al- 

 though we have received some fairly 

 good reports, on the whole they cannot 

 be considered as good as might be de- 

 sired : while in some of the southern 

 counties the honev-flow has been un- 



usually gooil. as also in some 

 localities in the northern part of 

 the State. The great honey-pro- 

 ducing belt in the central part of 

 the State, which last year and some other 

 seasons produced, in some instances, an 

 average of about 300 pounds per colony, 

 this season, over nearly the entire dis- 

 trict, yielded from about half a crop to 

 a total failure. While there may be other 

 reasons for this falling off, the principal 

 ones are drouth, a lack of irrigation- 

 water, and grasshoppers ; and in addi- 

 tion to this, in Salt Lake County, at 

 least, is the smelter smoke ; while in 

 a few instances, in the best honey locali- 

 ties, the bee-keeper gets enough from 

 his bees to make it profitable, the bees 

 always die off through the fall from the 

 effects of smoke settling on the bloom. 

 We have been informed that one or 

 more of the companies are going to 

 put in smoke-consumers this winter. 

 We hope all will soon follow their 

 example, as this question is getting to 

 be a serious one to dairymen and farm- 

 ers as well as bee-keepers. 



But aside from the smoke, the 

 grasshopper plague has been the prin- 

 cipal cause of the destruction of 

 the honey-flow and other crops in 

 several counties. We wish to call the 

 attention of our bee-keepers, farmers 

 and fruit-growers to -this matter. It 

 goes without saying that it should be 

 plain to every thinking mind that some 

 energetic effort is necessary to suppress 

 this pest. In some portions of Salt 

 Lake and other counties, the past season, 

 the grasshoppers destroyed nearly every- 

 thing that grew — potato, alfalfa and 

 other fields were eaten ofif bare to the 

 ground. In the latter part of July I 

 visited several orchards, and there was 

 not a sign of a leaf left in them. Some 

 of those trees will die. as the new growth 

 of wood, together with the bark and buds 

 of the small branches, are eaten off ; 

 and the alfalfa will die where it is eaten 

 down into the crown of the plant. 



Now for remedies that can be made 

 effective if carried out intelligently: 

 Our sacred friends, the gulls, came and 

 destroyed billions of them the latter 

 part of July, but as they do not come 

 until the breeding season, it is too 

 late to save the crops. Then the next 

 best remedy which can be used when 

 desired, are turkeys or chickens. While 

 either can be made effective, the turkeys 

 are best if properly herded. Make a 

 sufficient number of strong, portable 

 coops that can be drawn where desired, 

 and that can be closed so' as to protect 

 the birds at night. If the scheme is 

 properly carried out, it will not only set- 

 tle the grasshopper pest, but it will 

 prove a profitable business in raising the 

 birds for the market. 



There have been some experiments 

 of late along the line of trying to pro- 

 tect our bee-keepers and fruit-yrowcrs 

 by destroying the moth and other 

 destructive insects, the object being to 

 destroy the moth and eggs at the same 

 time, without the use of a poisonous 

 spray, whicli has not been, and will 

 never be. a success in reducing the num- 

 ber of those destructive insects. 



While it will be seen, from some of 

 the reports sent in, this dearth of lioney 

 has been l)y no means universal over 

 the state, if we can succeed along the 

 lines indicated, we believe the old- 

 time prosperity will again be recorded 



generally. Ii is desirable, also, in that 

 it would be beneficial to all concerned 

 to have Colorado and Utah bee-keepers 

 in closer touch with the disposal of their 

 products. 



E. S. Lovesy. 



Another method of catching grass- 

 hoppers is, in cutting lucerne, to leave 

 a swath every two rods, on which the 

 "hoppers" will congregate. Make a sack, 

 out of ordinary sheeting, about six or 

 seven feet long and three to four feet 

 wide, and attach the mouth of it to 

 a wtx>den frame of the same size to keep 

 it open. Then two persons on horse- 

 back drag the sack up and down the 

 swath where the grasshoppers are — 

 they jump into the sack and are caught. 

 This sack can be used wherever it can 

 be dragged around. It should be used 

 only at night or early morning, as the 

 hoppers then are not so easily frightened 

 — they seem more stupid. 



E. Johnson thought it would be a 

 good idea to co-operate in buying sup- 

 plies and in marketing bee-products. He 

 also offered a resolution which carried, 

 that the officers of the association make 

 an effort to form a closer fraternal 

 union with Colorado bee-keepers. 



Mr. Cornwall said he had lost his 

 bees for several years on account of 

 the smelter smoke. He purchased more, 

 but they always died in the fall. He 

 said but for the smoke his bees would 

 otherwise be healthy. 



J. Ferry said that nearly all the bees in 

 that locality were dead ; the smelters 

 were about five miles distant, but he had 

 no doubt that the smoke from thern 

 killed the bees. 



Mr Falkman, of Weber County, said 

 that, taken as a whole, the bee-industry 

 had not proven a success the past sea- 

 son. 



J. H. Bartlett, of Uintah County, 

 said the bees in that locality had pro- 

 duced from a third to half a crop. They 

 had no foul brood or other disease. 



Mr. Chritchlow said he had moved 

 his bees to Idaho. He had taken 400 

 cases of honey from ISO colonies. 



]\Ir. Wilding thought the Kidder hive 

 a good one to winter bees in. He 

 thought the best way to get rid of foul 

 brood was to destroy hives and every- 

 thing affected by the disease. 



FOUL BROOD CURE — NEW METHOD. 



Take the infected colony in the morning, 

 after the bees have begun flying freely. 

 Cateh and cage the queen and place her on 

 top of the brood-frames, where one can get 

 her readily without disturbing the colony. 

 Then in the afternoon, about 3 o'clock, get a 

 clean hive filled with foundation. Leave 

 space in the center for one frame; now take 

 a frame of clean, healthy brood, shake most 

 of the bees off, and take the queen from un- 

 der the cover whefe she was caged in the 

 morning. Liberate her on the frame of 

 brood, place it in the space reserved for it in 

 the clean hive. Now, quickly and quietly 

 remove the infected hive to one side, and 

 place the clean hive on the old stand. The 

 field-workers will now enter the new hive and 

 go right on working as usual. Now stop up 

 the entrance of the old hive and put it on top 

 of the clean one, with the back of the in- 

 fected hive to the front. Now bore a hole in 

 the back of the foul hive. Make a runway 

 out of a piece of shingle; nail a strip on each 

 side and on top, making a bee-space; nail 

 this on front of the hive, and be sure to 

 cover the hole. This will make a bee-space 

 so they can come down from the upper story 

 and go out. Leave the hive on top for about 

 three weeks; by this lime all brood will be 

 hatched out. and will be below. The hive 



