636 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



Legislation foi' Bee-keepers 

 Sound, Ont. 



How to Feed Bees properly. 

 East Townsend, Ohio. 



K. McKnight, Owen 

 H. E. Boardman, 



I woui^D call special attention to a good ar- 

 ticle by Doolittle in this issue, on marketing 

 honey. " •'' 



I WOULD also call attention to the valuable 

 articles on crimson clover (see page 629). A few 

 more have come in, but they were too late for 

 this number, but will be inserted in our next, 

 and perhaps in subsequent issues also. Any 

 thing that looks toward increasing our an- 

 nual honey crop by way of artificial pasturage 

 in these times, that will supply our farm stock 

 with a valuable forage, should be hailed with 

 delight. Crimson clover is now one of our 

 hopes, and should be encouraged by all means 

 possible, if the testimony of reliable witnesses 

 so far received is of any account. 



THE TORONTO CONVENTION. 



Remember the date of the next meeting of 

 the N. A. B. K. A.. Sept. 4, 5, and 6, at Toronto. 

 Reduced railway fare and hotel rates have 

 been secured, and every thing so far looks favor- 

 able to a big and rousing meeting. Don't for- 

 get to ask for certificates for the one-third 

 return fare, when purchasing tickets, wheth- 

 er you expect to use them or not on your 

 return. The point is here: In order to se- 

 cure reduced rates a certain number of certifi- 

 cates must be presented. If you do not secure 

 one it may bar out all the rest from the one- 

 third fare return, who have to travel ten times 

 as far. This has already happened once or 

 twice before, simply because a few, having 

 only a short distance to travel, "did not want 

 to bother with it." 



The following is the program, from Secretary 

 Hutchinson, so far as it is yet prepared: 



The Bee-keepers' Union; its Past, Present, and 

 Future. T. G. Newman, Chicago, 111. 



Amalgamation of the North American Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association and the Bee-keepers' Union. Doctor 

 C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Address of Welcome, etc. Hon. John Dry den. 

 Minister of Agriculture, Toronto, Can. 



A short address, Jas. Mills, M. A., L.L. D., Presi- 

 dent Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Canada. 



Introducing Queens. S. T. Pettit, Belmont, Ont. 



Bee-paralysis: What we know and should do 

 about it. B. R. Root, Medina, Ohio. 



Mistakes of Bee-papers and Bee-journals. Allen 

 Pringle, Selby, Ont. 



How Bee-keepers might receive more benefit from 

 the Experiment Station. R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, 

 Mich. 



Who shall winter bees out of doors, who in the 

 cellar? F. A. Gemmell, Stratford, Ont. 



What is indicat(»d by color in Italian bees ? J. P. 

 H. Brown, Augusta, Georgia. 



The proper size of a Brood-nest, and how it shall 

 be decided. Jas. Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



The surest and best way of raising a crop of Comb 

 Honey. B. Taylor, Forestville, Minn. 



Some things of interest to Bee-keepers. G. M. 

 Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y. 



BURR COMBS AGAIN; HONEY-BOARDS VS. THICK- 

 TOP BROOD-FRAMES. 



In the last Review Mr. Hutchinson has an ar- 

 ticle entitled "Dispensing with Honey-boards." 

 In speaking of brace and burr combs he says the 

 remedy has been to use thick top-bars; that 

 there is little difficulty in making the bars, but 

 that there is difficulty in securing accurate 

 spacing. His reason for so thinking is that bee- 

 journals are still describing methods for that 

 purpose. I can't see why this should prove that 

 accurate spacing is impossible. If Bro. Hutch- 

 inson could work with us in our yard for a sum- 

 mer or two, with Hoffman frames, I think he 

 would agree with me that there is no trouble in 

 that line; neither is there any trouble from a 

 few burr combs. He says, "others say" that 

 burr-combs are lessened only by the using of 

 the thick bars. My own experience with such 

 bars for five years, and almost constant obser- 

 vation, not only in our own yards, but in others, 

 satisfies me perfectly that it is only in rare in- 

 stances that they are built over the frames I 

 have mentioned; and so rare have they been 

 that almost anybody would say. who has had 

 experience, there is no trouble worth speaking 

 of. Mr. Hutchinson thinks it is a mistake to 

 throw aside honey-boards, inasmuch as their 

 cost is slight, and that they should not have 

 been thrown aside, because "others say" there 

 is trouble with burr-combs over thick top-bars. 

 As to the matter of cost, he figures that at one 

 cent a year for each board. This does not fig- 

 ure anything either way, because it would be 

 offset by the cost of the thick top-bars, and that 

 should be thrown out of the account. The only 

 objection he can think of with the honey-board 

 (aside from the cost) is that it must be pried off 

 when the brood-nest is open. And right you 

 are, Bro. H.; but it is a very hig objection, and 

 especially so during the robbing season, when 

 robbers are ready to pounce upon the hive, and 

 chunks of honey are torn loose, and the drip- 

 pings are smeared over the combs. The build- 

 ing of such is a waste of energy and a loss of 

 wax and time on the part of the bees that should 

 have been bestowed on the sections. 



Mr. Hutchinson asks, again : " What does the 

 practical honey-producer want to be opening 

 his brood-nest for ?" . . . " It is only in spe- 

 cial cases that such treatment becomes necessa- 

 ry. A good bee-keeper can nearly always tell 

 from outside appearances whether all is well in- 

 side of the hive." I will grant this is true to a 

 certain extent, and once or twice I have written 

 upon this phase of diagnosis; but too much a de- 

 pendence upon this is too costly. At the risk 

 of back-tracking a little I must confess that I 

 can get a much more satisfactory idea of the 

 brood-nest —one that may save dollars — after 



