1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



113 



and the work accomplished is certainly a 

 credit to the Hoosier State. 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



[Indiana is certainly to be congratulated 

 on having so efficient an inspector. One 

 who knows his job and how to handle these 

 ignorant bluffers and cut-throats, like Mr. 

 Demuth, should be and probably will be re- 

 tained in service.— Ed.] 



BEES IN THE GARRET. 



One Colony In a City Averaged 75 Pounds 



of Comb Honey for Eleven Years, and 



did Not Cast a Swarm. 



BY CHARLES STEWART. 



Bee-keeping is classed among rural indus- 

 tries; yet it is not necessary to live in the 

 country or even in the suburbs or in a vil- 

 lage to taste the pleasure of the pursuit, for 

 it is a genuine pleasure — it is even more; it 

 is a delightful and seductive charm; and for 

 the city man who retains many of his orig- 

 inal illusions and all his love for the simple 

 life of rural industry, keeping bees is the 

 least depressing method of being "stung." 

 A whole lot of enjoyment (and, incidentally, 

 50 or more pounds of honey) may be had 

 from a single colony of bees in the most pop- 

 ulous residence district of almost any city m 

 that wide belt extending east and west, per- 

 haps, from Montreal, Can., to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The place to keep the colony is in 

 the garret, and a good time to make the start 

 is durmg the swarming season. 



Several years ago the writer's attention 

 was first called to a colony of bees in the 

 garret. No, they did not disturb the neigh- 

 bors, for the neighbors did not know they 

 were there. Since that time many others 

 have come under his observation; and with 

 all of them the result has been substantially 

 the same. In no case do they require much 

 care; and the rule is, they do not swarm! 

 While the rule is not "iron," the exceptions 

 are very rare. To the writer's personal 

 knowledge, a colony that has been kept 

 eleven years in a garret never swarmed; 

 and during that time it averaged more than 

 75 lbs. of section honey annually. This is 

 (for the colony is there yet) in the residence 

 section of a city of about 20,000, the prince- 

 ly home of a retired oil and glass capitalist. 

 The same man has also a colony in the attic 

 of his stable where he keeps a few high bred 

 driving horses. The colony in the stable is 

 on a shelf, or platform, at a slatted ventilator 

 which affords the bees ingress and egress. 

 It has been there nine years, and never yet 

 has swarmed; and the honey produced has 

 averaged about the same as the colony in 

 the garret a few rods away. 



Of the many other colonies of bees kept in 

 garrets, only one instance has come to the 

 writer's knowledge of their having swarm- 

 ed. You can put a colony in your garret; 



and if it has sufficient hive room, the chances 

 are a hundred to one the bees will not dis- 

 turb your neighbors nor dissipate your ex- 

 pectation of a honey-yield by swarming. 



As good a hive should be used as though 

 it were to stand out in the weather; and pro- 

 ducing honey in a small way with one or at 

 most only a few colonies, where extract- 

 ing-outfits would prove impracticable, the 

 hive should be suitable for the production 

 of comb honey. True, shallow extracting- 

 frames might be used instead of sections, 

 and the honey cut out for use as 'chunk 

 honey," but it is not tidy nor neat, and iii a 

 short time the "proprietor" of even a sin- 

 gle colony will experience a pardonable 

 pride in having his bees produce as nice 

 "section honey" as any to be seen any- 

 where. No mistake will be made in choos- . 

 ing the Danzenbaker hive. It is the comb- 

 honey hive par excellence. Your colony in 

 the garret, with abundance of winter stores, 

 will build up to enormous strength early in 

 the season and have a mighty army of bees 

 to garner the crop of nectar from every 

 source. They will need an abundance of 

 hive mom; and the Danzenbaker hive, be- 

 ing both a shallow brood-nest and a ten- 

 frame hive, presents an admirable founda- 

 tion upon which to tier up supers for surplus 

 honey without fear of top-heaviness. The 

 statement already maHe, that the average, in 

 confessedly poor lof'alities for honey-gath*^r- 

 ing, has been about 75 lbs., should not mis- 

 lead; for in exceptional years the yield may 

 be double, triple, or quadruple, and there 

 should be supers enough on the hive for 

 any contingency. 



Toledo, Ohio. 



ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE EASTERN NEW YORK BEE- 

 KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The second annual convention of the above associa- 

 tion was held Dec. 8, in the chambers of the Common 

 Council, City Hall, Albany. The Prcident, W. D. 

 Wright, called the meeting to order. At the call of the 

 roll of 53 members, only 20 responded. The minutes 

 of the previous convention, held at Catskill, were read 

 and approved. At the collection of dues, 20 members 

 paid their dollars. 



A motion was adopted making all dues payable 

 from Jan. 1 of each year. 



The President presented an interesting and enter- 

 taining address. The annual election of officers re- 

 sulted as follows: 



President, W. D. Wright, Altamont. 



Vice-president, T. D. Mower, Athens. 



Second Vice-president, A. L. Fisher, Central Bridge. 



Secretary, S. Davenport, Indian Fields. 



Treasurer, M. A. Kingman, East Greenbush. 



The President, W. D. Wright, and Secretary, S. Da- 

 venport, were elected delegates to the annual conven- 

 tion of the New York State Association of Bee-keepers' 

 Societies. The Secretary suggested the propriety of 

 taking a statistical report from members relative to 

 their bee-keeping and its results; but on soliciting the 

 same some discussion developed much opposition, and 

 the subject was laid on the table. 



Geo. B. House, Black River, and Irving Kinyon, Ca- 

 millus, delegates to the State convention, also Alden 

 Hilton, Schenectady, made extended remarks on inter- 

 esting topics. 



The time of the convention was mostly taken up 

 with routine business, as it was to be followed in the 

 afternoon by the convention of the New York State 

 Association of Bee-keepers' Societies. 



S. DAVENPORT, Sec'y. 



