February, i 



American liee Journal 



41 



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The National Convention Report 



Tliis Report for 1907, of the Harris- 

 burg convention of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, is on our desk. 

 It contains 120 pages in all, and has the 

 Constitution, names of members, list of 

 bee-keepers' associations, financial report, 

 etc. There was in the treasury Nov. i, 

 1907, $668.49. 



A copy of the Report is mailed to 

 every member of the National. If you 

 are not now a member, send $1.00 to 

 Treasurer N. E. France, Platteville, Wis., 

 who will send you a receipt covering one 

 year, and also a copy of the 1907 An- 

 nual Report. The latter alone is well 

 worth the dollar. 



Mercy in a " Fine " Comb 



Referring to Dr. Miller's comment on 

 "Mercy in the Comb," on page 9, Hon. 

 Eugene Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, 

 says this : 



"In regard to Dr. Miller's answer to 

 that conundrum, if he means a fine 

 comb, I agree with him that it repre- 

 sents mercy." 



We don't know but what if this affair 

 is allowed to go any further, some one 

 will be trying to get into Dr. Miller's 

 hair with a "fine"-tooth comb! And 

 then it would be very clear where 

 "mercy" is. At least, there might re- 

 sult a cry for mercy, if the comb-opera- 

 tor were not very gentle. And yet, 

 we wouldn't have any one think that 

 Dr. Miller needs a fine-tooth comb run 

 over his head for "extracting" purposes, 

 as we remember having seen in the East 

 years ago — no personal experience, how- 

 ever. 



^ 



Northern California Convention 



The Northern California Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will hold its 4th semi- 

 annual convention in Pioneer Hall, 7th 

 St. between J and K, Sacramento, Calif., 

 on Feb. 19 and 20, 1908. The sessions 

 will be at 10 a. m., i p. m., and 8 p. m. 

 The objects of this association are the 

 promotion and protection of the inter- 

 ests of its members. Headquarters at 

 the Western Hotel. -AH bee-keepers are 

 cordially invited to attend. 



F. Jay Lewis, Pres. 



B. B. HoGABOOM, Sec.-Mgr. 



"Songs of Beedom" 



This is a pamphlet, 6x9 inches, con- 

 taining 10 songs (words and music) 

 written specially for bee-keepers, by 

 Hon. Eugene Secor, Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 and others. They are aranged for either 

 organ or piano. The list includes the 

 following: " Bee - Keepers' Reunion 

 Song;" "The Bee-Keeper's Lullaby;" 

 "The Hum of the Bees in the Apple- 

 Bloom ;" "The Humming of the Bees ;" 

 "Buckwheat Cakes and Honey;" "Dot 

 Happy Bee-Man ;" "Bee-Keepers' Con- 

 vention Song;" "The Busy, Buzzing 

 Bees:" "Spring-Time Joys;" and "Con- 

 vention Song." The pamphlet is mailed 

 for 25 cents, or sent with the American 

 Bee Journal one year — both for only 

 60 cents. Send all orders to the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, 118 W. Jackson, Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



m 



Qiir 

 I 'Bee - Keeping 



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Conducted by EMMA M. WILSON, Mareneo. 111. 



Cleaning Separators witlj Lye. 



In Miss Wilson's article in "A B C 

 of Bee-Culture," on cleaning fixtures 

 with lye, she doesn't give any formula 

 as to how much lye to use for a given 

 quantity of water. Can you? As lye is 

 a poison would there be any danger 

 to the bees? and do the bees object to 

 the fixtures treated in this way? Do 

 you follow the plan of cleaning arti- 

 cles in this way? It looks good to me, 

 for the separators are pretty flimsy to 

 scrape much. W. S. P. 



As I am the culprit Dr. Miller has 

 turned the question over to me. It is 

 true that I did not give any formula 

 as to amount of water and lye used, 

 because I did not have any myself. I 

 used a large iron kettle that would 

 hold several pails of water over a fire 

 out-of-doors. I filled the kettle per- 

 haps 2-3 full of water, and when boil- 

 ing hot added 2 or 3 cans of concen- 

 trated lye, as we had about 3000 T-tins 

 to clean. The lye must be added very 

 gradually, or it will cause the water 

 to boil over. It is not very particular 

 just how much you use — we are never 

 very saving of the lye; the only thing 

 needed is to have it strong enough to 

 remove quickly all the propolis, and as 

 the T-tins are thoroughly rinsed in clear 

 cold water, there is no trace of lye 

 left on them. They look like new tins. 



Yes, we always clean our tins in this 

 way. We have never used it to any 

 great extent in cleaning wood, although 

 we have cleaned both supers and separa- 

 tors, and the bees never seemed to ob- 

 ject. 



So far as removing the propolis was 

 concerned, it was a success; but the 

 separators curled badly in drying. Of 

 course, this difficulty might have been 

 overcome by putting them in a press; 

 but as new ones were not very ex- 

 pensive we preferred to buy new rather 

 than fuss cleaning the old. In case of 

 fence separators it is different, as they 

 are too expensive to throw away ; and, 

 although I have not tried it, it is pretty 

 certain that they will not curl as the 

 plain separators did. 



The plain separator is simply a very 

 thin piece of wood, syi inches wide, 

 and, without any restraining influence 

 will curl much as a piece of paper 

 would ; and the wider the separator 

 the more chance to curl. The parts of 

 the fence are narrow, giving less chance 

 to curl, and they are held in place by 

 the cross-pieces. 



It would be an easy thing to pile 

 evenly in a pile a lot of fences after 

 cleaning them, laying a weight upon 

 them; and, if allowed to remain thus 



until perfectly dry, it would seem they 

 should be just as straight as when new. 



Of course, glued separators could 

 not be cleaned in this way; but I un- 

 derstand the fences are now nailed, so 

 they can be dipped in hot water or lye 

 without injury. One great objection 

 to the fence separator has been the dif- 

 ficulty of cleaning it properly; and if 

 this can be done away with it will be 

 a big item. 



Don't put too many either of the 

 separators or T-tins in the kettle at a 

 time, for there must be room for them 

 to be moved about a little. This can 

 be done with a four-tined pitchfork, 

 slowly stirring them up and down,_ so 

 that the lye can get to all parts, and 

 so that the movement shall wash off 

 the loosened propolis. 



If the lye is strong enough, a very 

 few minutes will suffice to clean them 

 thoroughly, and they can be lifted out 

 with the fork into a tub of clear rinsing 

 water, then out of the rinsng water in 

 the same way; if separators, piled up 

 to dry as before suggested; if T-tins, 

 allowed to drain until dry. 



Whenever the solution acts too 

 slowly, more of the concentrated lye 

 must be added, and water must also 

 be added as fast as needed. See that 

 the water is kept hot all the time. 



Bee-Keeping for Women. 



The editor of the American Bee- 

 Keeper — his name is Harry E. Hill — 

 whatever may be his characteristics in 

 other respects, is decidedly lacking in 

 gallantry toward the fair sex. He pub- 

 lishes an article "clipped from the Sun- 

 day supplement of some of the large 

 city dailies," the article being written 

 by a lady, and then he — a mere tnan — 

 comments upon it in such way as to 

 throw doubt upon the reliability of the 

 statements. 



One of the statements is that, "As to 

 the profits obtainable from one hive, 

 bee-keepers generally agree that it 

 should not be less than $15.00 a year, 

 and as to the number of colonies that 

 can be cared for by one individual, the 

 following is quoted 'from the experi- 

 ence of a woman who has succeeded in 

 the business': 



"After two years I gave up my posi- 

 tion and devoted my whole time to my 

 bees, except in the cold winter months, 

 when what I found to do would make 

 another item. That was the beginning. 

 Now I have more than 500 colonies of 

 bees — as many as I can care for prop 

 erly, and do all of the work myseli 



