18H0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



809 



THE INTERNATIONAL BEE-ASSOCIATION. 



A FEW NOTES OF THE PKOCEEDINGS, BY 



f:KNEST. 



On account of the very poor season, and the 

 failure to get reduced i'at(>s. the nuist of us pre- 

 dicted, in our o\\n Tuinds at least, that the 

 meeting at Keokuk \\ould not be as largely 

 attended as the former ones. But we consoled 

 ourselves that what it would be lacking in 

 numbers would be made up in enthusiasm. 

 Well, we were very much disappointed as to 

 the attendance, and agreeal)ly so. If I am cor- 

 rect, there was the largest eiu'ollment of mem- 

 bers ever made in its history, and I heard on all 

 sides that it was the best meeting ever held in 

 the history of the association. While the one 

 at Brantford had, I believe, a larger daily at- 

 tendance, yet the paid membership was greater 

 at Keokuk. It was surprising how the bee- 

 keepers of the Mississijjpi Valley and adjacent 

 teri'itory turned out. Well, the fact was, that 

 not all of them had had a pooi- honey crop, and, 

 of course, they came. Others had a jjoor season 

 as usual, but they could nut afford to miss the 

 opportunity. There W(n'e seveial fi'om Colorado; 

 one or two from Arizona; two from Canada; 

 some from Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, 

 besides a good representation from the border 

 States — Illinois, Missouri, and the home State, 

 Iowa. The failui'e of the honey crop, and the 

 absence of reduced railroad rates, was more than 

 counterbalanced by the persistent and eiiHcient 

 services of the secretary, Mr. C. P. Dadant. 



The two representatives of Gleanings had 

 figured to be on hand at the opening of the first 

 session. The train being behind time, we did 

 not arrive until near the close of the session. 

 The question-box had been opened, and your 

 humble servant whipped out his note-book and 

 pencil, craned his neck, and proceeded to jot 

 down a few things that seemed to him to de- 

 serve special mention. Let me say right here, 

 that this report is far from being complete. It 

 contains only a few of the good things said and 

 done. 



At the latter end of the morning session, the 

 first question I heai'd was. " What is the relative 

 consumption of stores as between sugar syrup 

 and good sealed honey?" It has generally 

 been thought that there is but very little dif- 

 ference in favor of either; but by some careful 

 experiments, President Taylor had found that 

 there is a decided difference in favor of the 

 sugar syrup. On honey the bees are very apt 

 to become uneasy and excited; and careful 

 weighing showed that the consumption of honey 

 was much more than the consumption of the 

 sugar syrup. I think he said the bees would 

 consume about a half more of honey than of 

 sugar. Some were inclined to take excei)tions. 

 on the ground tliat the experiments were not 

 carefully conducted. I remember that W. F. 

 Clarke asked the president why honey excites 

 the bees more, and then went on to give his 

 reasons for his disbelief. The jjresident in- 

 terrupted him by saying. " Let me ask you a 

 question. What effect does honey have on you?" 



'■ I can not eat a bit of it." said Mr. Clarke; 

 " honey gives me colicky pains." 



The convention roared with laugliter, and 

 Ml'. Clarke resumed his seat. I do not give this 

 to show that Mr. Clarke was beaten in argu- 

 ment, but simply as a sample of the pleasant 

 bantering back and forth. 



CANE OR BEET SUGAK— IS THERE ANY DIF- 

 FKRf:NCE ? 



Mrs. Harrison asked whether there was any 

 difference between can(> and bc^et sugar. Opin- 

 ions were vai'ious. The pn^sident argiu»d that 

 there was a difference. A. I. Root, Mr. Dadant, 



and others, claimed that there was none. Mr. 

 Secor cited the 0. Judd Farmer, to the effect 

 that cane and beet sugar are precisely one and 

 the same thing. 1 did not say so at the time, ' 

 but somewhere I read ( I can not say just where 

 I saw it), that the amount of cane sugar pro- 

 duced is vei'v small indeed comjtared with that 

 produced from the beet. If this be true, the 

 probabilities are that the sugar on our tables, 

 and that which we feed our bees, is heet sugar. 

 Mrs. Harrison stated that the British Bee Jour- 

 nal was authority for saying that there is a 

 difference between the two sugars, and that of 

 the two the beet is inferior. Oh how we missed 

 Prof. Cook at this point in the convention! We 

 all knew he could help us out. Well, it is not 

 too late yet. 



EXTRACTING HONEY TO FEED SUGAR. 



A further question was put as to whether it 

 would pay to extract the honey, and feed sugar. 

 It was argued that it would not, because the 

 stores usuallyleft for winter are from fall sources; 

 and if the bees do consume more, nothing would 

 be gained, from a dollar-and-cents point of 

 view, by extracting and feeding. R. McKnight 

 thought any one who would advocate any thing 

 to the contrary was a fit subject for the peni- 

 tentiary. Dr. Mason quickly got up. " Then I 

 am a fit subject," and sat down, amid roars of 

 laughter— another sample of bantering. Along 

 in the afternoon we listened to the 



president's ADDRESS. 



It was an able document. He called atten- 

 tion to the lessons of the poor season. There 

 are a great many outgoes and expenses, and the 

 bee-keeper becomes discouraged. Total failures 

 are expensive; but, he argued, we are not pay- 

 ing too high a price for the benefits of that 

 which will follow.. In the convention there 

 should be a free discussion— no personalities. 

 Instead of saying. " In my opinion," state what 

 you know to be a fact, leaving out the matter of 

 opinion, because that is understood. Free dis- 

 cussion leads to the best understanding. He 

 thought the floating character of our associa- 

 tion a bad feature. There is no fixed member- 

 ship. Even the officers may not be members 

 next year. Why not have the association in- < 

 corporated under the law, and members con- 

 tribute, whether they go or not? He advised 

 that we consider the matter of the World's Fair, 

 and that immediate action be taken. 



The address was not discussed immediately, 

 but a committee was appointed to consider 

 some of its salient points. For further particu- 

 lars, see Myself and My Neighbors, elsewere. 



BEE -PASTURAGE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



A paper was then read by A. I. Root, on the 

 bee-pasturage of the United States. He alluded 

 to sevei-al of th(> pi'omising sources of nectar, 

 and gav(>, incidentally, a talk he had had with 

 INIr. Draper and INIr. llambaugh. on the train, 

 in regard to Spanish needle. Both of these 

 gentlemen stated in convention that they live 

 not a great way from the INIississippi Valley, 

 and had secured a large crop of honey from 

 Spanish needle. In fact, this seemed to be a 

 never-failing source. Many of their customers 

 prefer it to clover. It is very thick, of good 

 color, and of delicate flavor. Mr. Hambaugh 

 had secured in Wvo days, from one hive. 73 lbs. 

 I was surprised to learn that the Mississippi 

 Valley, along in these ri'gions, was covered in 

 waste places with Si)anish ncM'dle; for it seems . 

 there are a good many bee-keepers who get a 

 nice paying croj) from it. It is a significant 

 fact, that in one locality a honey-plant may be 

 a valuable source of nectar, while in others it . 

 may be worthless: so with Spanish needle. In 

 the matter of honey sources we should take into 



