818 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



over four inches deep. The fact Is, the shal- 

 lower the better." If he is willing to tell why, 

 and you are willing to give his answer in 

 Gleanings, I should be glad to have it so. 



John S. Callbbeath. 



Rock Rift, N. Y., Oct. 3. 



[We submitted the matter to Mr. Heddon, 

 who kindly replies:] 



Dear Gleanings: — In response to a solicita- 

 tion from Bro. Callbreath, I will say that I am 

 as greatly in favor of shallow combs as I was 

 on the 10th day of June, 1889, when I penned 

 the article found on page 537 of Gleanings for 

 that year. When I first adopted the Lang- 

 stroth hive, my brother bee-keepers were all 

 about rae expressing apprehensions of dire re- 

 sults from its extremely shallow combs. Time 

 has proven the application, to this case, of the 

 following appropriate adage: 



Half of our troubles are half our inventions; 



And often, from blessings conferred. 

 We've shrunk with wild apprehensions 

 Of evils that never occurred. 



No doubt most of your readers are very well 

 aware of the numerous advantages of shallow 

 combs, but very many have been, and some 

 are still, fearful of disadvantages arising from 

 what they are pleased to call extreme shallow- 

 ness. The work of T. F. Bingham, and those 

 who adopted his hive, invented some thirty 

 years ago, has utterly disproved the theory 

 that combs can be so shallow as to injure the 

 successful living and working of the bees. 

 While the use of Mr. Bingham's hive was never 

 widespread, and is now, perhaps, nearly aban- 

 doned, it was not because of the extreme shal- 

 lowness of the combs, which were only A^-i 

 inches deep, but wholly for other reasons. He 

 used 8 frames, 22 inches long; and his method 

 of combining these combs, or, I might say, his 

 hive construction, didn't come into general 

 favor. I used one of his hives eight years, and 

 I wintered a colony in it outdoors eight winters; 

 and while several were very severe, and many 

 colonies in my apiary died, the one in this small 

 brood -chamber, with its extremely shallow 

 combs, never showed even any sign of disease, 

 except once, when it di.^d with the winter mal- 

 ady, the same as others. My experience and 

 observation warrant a positive belief, something 

 akin to absolute knowledge, that extremely 

 shallow combs are not excelled by any other, 

 for safely wintering the bees. We are all aware 

 of the fact that shallow frames are more easily 

 handled, better adapted to the storage of sur- 

 plus honey, less liable to brace and burr combs, 

 and, I beli(>,ve, better adapted to early and ex- 

 tensive brood-rearing. While they have other 

 advantages, I will not take the space required 

 to enumerate them, as most of your readers are 

 aware of what they are. 



I know, Mr. Editor, you prefer short articles; 

 and since entering the profession I more fully 

 appreciate the reason why; but if the above 

 doesn't seem to you or your readers to cover the 

 ground completely enough, I shall be pleased 

 to go farther. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Oct. 16. 



[Mr. Heddon has told us of the advantages of 

 shallow combs, but has not told us exactly why 

 he would have them shalUnvcr th&n his regular 

 combs. We should be glad to give more space 

 to this question, if it is desired.] 



THE NORTH AMERICAN BEE-KEEPERS' CON- 

 VENTION AT CHICAGO. 



A BRIEF REPORT OF IT BY E. R. ROOT. 



As I sit before my desk this morning I feel 

 my utter incompetency to do justice on paper 



to that mammoth convention that has now gone 

 into history. In our last issue I alluded edit- 

 orially in various places to the " big conven- 

 tion." little dreaming, however, that the little 

 word "big" would so fitly describe it. I had 

 expected a large attendance, because the Co- 

 lumbian Fair would draw bee-keepers from all 

 over this great land. But if any one had asked 

 me how large the convention would be numeri- 

 cally, I should have said, " Not much to exceed 

 125." But the records show that there was an 

 enrollment of 225. At the former meetings at 

 which I have been present, 100 has been con- 

 sidered a large attendance; but what may we 

 think of the number at Chicago? It was 

 the most representative gathering the asso- 

 ciation has ever had or perhaps ever will 

 have. At one of the sessions a show of hands 

 was called for from each State and Province. 

 The following table shows the number of rep- 

 resentatives from each as they wei'e called off: 

 California, 2. Ontario, 14. 



Colorado, 3. Quebec, 1. 



Illinois, 43. Maryland, 2. 



Iowa, 23. Michigan, 20. 



Indiana, 6. New Hampshire, 1. 



Kansas, 1. Minnesota, 6. 



Kentuclcy, 2. Missouri, 4. 



Nebraska, 2. Vermont, 4. 



New York, 15. Texas, 3. 



Ohio, 30. District of Columbia, 5. 



Pennsylvania, 3. Australia, 1. 



Wisconsin, 9. Chicago, 8. 



Our former conventions have been largely 

 local; and the small attendance even th.-n has 

 been somewhat discouraging to an association 

 having such a high-sounding name — a name 

 that is supposd to take in the whole of the 

 North American continent. As Dr. Miller says 

 in Straws, "There never was a time when so 

 many bee-keepers assembled at one place as at 

 the convention in Chicago: and, we may add, 

 there never was a time when so many promi- 

 nent bee-keepers, who have been known by 

 their writings or large crops, were present to- 

 gether," many of them coming great distances. 

 As the table above shows, there were represent- 

 atives, not only from far-distant States, but 

 one from Australia, in the person of J. W. 

 Pender — a delegate from the Hunter River As- 

 sociation — a society that occupies a position 

 quite similar to that of the North American. 

 Then we had an attendance of just those bee- 

 keepers whose familiar faces we can not afford 

 to miss— those who have the faculty of enliven- 

 ing the proceedings and making what other- 

 wise might be a dull and tedious meeting some- 

 thing lively and exhilarating. 



The firstthingon the program was an address 

 of welcome by Mr. G. W. York. We do not 

 usually publish in our convention reports the 

 full text of an address; but as this is short, and 

 happy in style, we give it entire. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



Mr. Presiident, Ladies, a7id Oentlemen:— 



It is with a feeling of sincere pleasure that I am 

 permitted to welcome to our Western metropolis, 

 and at present the Mecca of the world, the grandest 

 association of bee keepers this continent has ever 

 known. As a represetitative and resident ot "Chi- 

 cago the Peerless," 1 offer to you not only "the keys 

 of the city," tliat shall open the gates to all its 

 pleasures and wonders, but I also extend to you a 

 most hearty and cordial welcome. 



Many of those wlio are here before me have come 

 from distant climes, and ;iro now indeed in a "far 

 country:" but, nevertheless, remember that you 

 are still in your "blessed homeland," and that the 

 same God reigns liere as in the sunrise East, in sun- 

 crowned Canada, in the sunset West, or in the sun- 

 kiseed Southland. I trust that, during your brief 

 sojourn within our borders, you may all feel per- 

 fectly at home; and that, when your conventional 

 labors are ended, your inclinations for sight-seeing 

 be fully gratified, and you return once more to the 



