J.HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



265 



The Northwestern Convention is to be 

 reserrected. It is to be held when low 

 rates can be secured ou accouut ot the fat 

 stock show. Nov. 10th aud 11th are the 

 dates when the conveutiou is to be held and 

 the place is at the Bri>^irs house, corner of 

 fifth avenue aud Randolph Sts. Chicago, 

 III. This is a convention that was once the 

 best in the country and it can be again 

 made such. Let's do it. I expect to go. 



Specialty versus bee-keeping as a side- 

 issue is being discussed a little again in the 

 bee journals. I am bei;iuning to think that 

 these discussions are so much time, paper 

 and ink gone to waste. A man that wishes 

 to take up bee-keeping as a side-issue is 

 going to do it in spite of all that is said to 

 the contrary, and a man that wishes to make 

 a specialty of the business is going to do 

 that, and the fear of hearing people say 

 " I told you so, " isn't going to stop him. 

 And, after all isn't there room for both 

 classes ? 



The Honey Exchange of California must 

 not be judged too harshly nor too hastily, 

 writes its Secretary, .J. H. Martin, to the 

 American Bee Journal. It takes time to 

 get these things under way and to make them 

 effectual. For one thing, it has handled 

 over $."),000 worth of supplies for its mem- 

 bers, and secured a reduced price on the 

 same, and at present is the only factor that 

 is holding up prices in California. The Ex- 

 change certainly has the sympathy and 

 good wishes of the Review. 



Wintering Bees in a hot house is very 

 favorably mentioned Ijy C. P. Dadant in the 

 American Bee .lournal. He says that he 

 once took care of half a dozen colonies that . 

 had been placed in a hot house with an out- 

 door entrance. He says that he has never 

 seen colonies as strong as these, nor does 

 he expect to see as much honey gathered by 

 the same number of colonies as these gath- 

 ered. Years ago. H. E. Bidwell of this 

 State strongly urged the wintering of bees 

 in a cold-frame, but for some reason it has 

 never been practiced to any extent. 



practice to re-queen in the fall after breed- 

 ing had ceased, and he never lost a queen. 

 He said he took no special pains in introduc- 

 ing, and I was at a little loss to understand the 

 secret of his success until I happened to 

 think that in removing a queen after the 

 breeding season had passed, the colony is 

 thereby made hopelessly queenless, and, 

 in that condition, I never knew a colony to 

 refuse a queen. 



1t»U»*i^<iW» 



Hybrid Bees are not, as a rule, so pleasant 

 to handle as are the pure Italians. Mr. 

 Whitcomb of Nebraska explains this on the 

 ground that it takes longer to subdue the 

 hybrids. We can give the Italians a few 

 whiffs of smoke and then go right to work 

 handling them. Not so the hybrids. First 

 give then^some smoke and then busy your- 

 self with something else for a few minutes; 

 then give them some more and wait a little 

 before opening the hive. The point is that 

 it takes longer to subdue them, but once 

 they are subdued Mr. Whitcomb says they 

 are as easily handled as the pure Italians. 



i^U'i^iFk^** 



Fall-Introddction of queens is not so 

 difficult as many suppose it to be. I was 

 talking with a Mr. Turner whom I met at 

 the fairs, and he told me that it was his 



The Trans-Mississippi and International 

 Exposition will be held next year at Omaha, 

 Nebraska. There will be a building ex- 

 pressly for the apiarian exhibits and E. 

 Whitcomb is the commissioner for the de- 

 partment — a .most wise choice. He has 

 written me twice in regard to making an 

 exhibition for Michigan. He says the pro- 

 per way is to stir up the bee-keepers of the 

 State and have them ask the State to bear 

 the expense of putting up and maintain- 

 ing the exhibit. As the show lasts from 

 June until November I could not well leave 

 the Review for that length of time, but I 

 am willing to do all in my power to see 

 that Michigan has a representation. I do 

 not know that Michigan has taken any 

 steps to be represented at the exposition — 

 perhaps some of my subscribers can tell me. 

 Several of the States have made appropri- 

 ations for this matter, but whether Michi- 

 gan is " in it " I do not know. 



Clipping both wings of virgin queens to 

 control their Might and thus secure their 

 mating with drones from the honde-yard 

 seems to me the most practical and feasible 

 of anything that we have yet struck in the 

 line of controlling the mating of queens. 



