April, 1916. 



133 



^^>if^&^^-^ 



American Hee Journalj^y^K <.-^i 



man for assistance, cellar wintering 

 seemed out of the question for me, and 

 we have so far been very successful 

 wintering them right where they are 

 the year around. They are somewhat 

 sheltered by trees and brush ; besides, 

 we live in a deep and narrow valley. 



Our " success " with bees has in- 

 spired several people to go and do like- 

 wise. I have sold seven hives of bees 

 so far. They do not all have such 

 favorable situations as we. The first 

 neighbor who tried them took a hive 

 of bees with a new queen home just 

 before the Fourth of July and harvested 

 50 pounds of comb honey. She was 

 . much pleased. 



Stores were low in all the hives in 

 spring and I was feeding syrup. My 

 friend telephoned me about her bees. 

 She told me she would put some syrup 

 out. Later she telephoned they would 

 not touch it. By that time my bees had 

 left the syrup, as there were plenty of 

 early spring blossoms down in our val- 

 ley, so I told her not to worry as prob- 

 ably they were gathering from flowers. 

 A week later she looked through her 

 hive and rushed to the telephone to 

 tell me there w;is absolutely not a cell 

 full of honey in the hive. 



I could scarcely credit it as they are 

 only five miles from us, but out on the 

 flat and not so sheltered, and she said 

 she could not find any flowers either. 

 She decided to put the syrup she still 

 had outdoors for them. The next 

 morning she telephoned me in great 

 excitement, her bees were all dead or 

 dying, some just able to crawl, and 

 some on their backs kicking, and very 

 few still able to cling to the frames. 

 She said she could see some of the cells 

 had syrup in them, and they had about 

 emptied the feeder. The feeding of 

 scorched syrup was the only thing I 

 could think was the cause of the trou- 

 ble, so I asked her about it. She said, 

 " Oh, dear, no ! I took it just as it came 

 from the can, just ordinary store syrup." 

 There was doubtless corn syrup in it. 

 Do you suppose that if the bees were 

 actually starved to it they would eat 

 the corn syrup and die like that ? 



Mr. Frank F. France described in 

 the American Bee Journil a mating 

 box large enough to hold frames half 

 the size of the ordinary frame. I used 

 the mating boxes last year with frames 

 one-third the size of the regular frame. 

 I would rather have the larger ones. 1 

 cannot find them in any catalog I have. 



Where are the Aikin bags manufac- 

 tured ? I would like to get them made 

 with my name and address on them 

 with the kind of honey mentioned. I 

 would like a pound size that would 

 be just half the height of the two-pound 

 size instead of being so narrow. 



I enclose a small plan to show 

 how I wire frames. The bench is low 

 and I sit on a small stool almost the 

 same height. Lisle W. Cheney. 



Hardingrove, S. Dak. 



One would hardly suppose corn 

 syrup so poisonous as actually to kill 

 bees when they are making daily 

 flights, yet there seems no other expla- 

 iiation, and if that is the true explana- 

 tion think of your neighbor feeding 

 such stuff to her family! Possibly, 

 however, she only got it to feed her 

 bees. 



Perhaps you will not find advertised 

 anywhere the small frames you desire, 



but any manufacturer of bee-supplies 

 ought to make them to order. 



Will some one kindly tell us where 

 to obtain the Aikin bags such as de- 

 sired. Your plan of wiring frames, 

 although not entirely new, is good. 

 Don't you have trouble sometimes with 



the spool playing too freely? If so, 

 drive a nail at each side, and stretch a 

 rubber band from one to the other. 



The proverb says: " A bad promise 

 is better broken," so please break that 

 promise not to write often. 



Miscellaneous ^ News Items 



Connecticut Meeting. — The Connecti- 

 cut Beekeepers' Association will hold 

 its annual meeting at the State Capi- 

 tol, Hartford, April 3. Following is 

 the program : 



10:30 a.m. — Reports of officers and 

 committees, election of officers, collec- 

 tion of dues, new business, etc. 



"Reminiscences and progress of bee- 

 keeping in Connecticut" — Geo. H. 

 Yale. Mr. Yale was third president of 

 the association and presided contin- 

 ually for five years. His address will 

 deal with the early history of our asso- 

 ciation. 



"History of foulbrood in Connecti- 

 cut " — Stephen J. Griffen. 



"Can a woman manage an apiary?" 

 —Mrs. D. R. Bristol. 



1:30 p.m. — "Beekeeping in Hungary " 

 — Alexander Luko. Mr. Luko will tell 

 us of the interesting methods and ap- 

 pliances in use in Hungary. He pos- 

 sesses a number of certificates and 

 medals for beekeeping awarded by the 

 government at various competitions. 



" Ventilation affecting storing and 

 swarming " — John T. Cullen. 



L. Wayke Adams, Sec. 



The National Secretary's Report. — At 



the 46th annual meeting of the National 

 Beekeepers' Association, held at the 

 Sherman House, Chicago, 111., on Feb. 

 22, 23, and 24, the delegates present 

 made an effort to place the National 

 on a more stable foundation. 



The National has not made much 

 headway during the past few years, and 

 it seems to have receded somewhat 

 from the prominent position it form- 

 erly held. The past is gone and it 

 would serve no good purpose to dig up 

 differences which we hope are safely 

 buried. All of the officers did their 

 best, but with a lack of unity progress 

 was impossible. 



There is room and need for a Na- 

 tional association of beekeepers, and 

 an immense amount of good work can 

 be done by such a body, for the good 

 of beekeepers individually and collec- 

 tively. Dr. C. C. Miller, fittingly ex- 

 pressed the sentiments of those pres- 

 ent, when he said that it would be a 

 pity to see the National break up. The 

 Doctor recalled many profitable con- 

 ventions in days gone by, and these 

 meetings had been the source of much 

 pleasure in the meeting of brother bee- 

 keepers and the exchanging of greet- 

 ings with one another. I am sure the 

 Doctor's remarks made every one of 

 us feel that the National must live, and 

 now that the Doctor has diagnosed, let 

 us make the prognosis favorable. 



The sentiment was strongly ex- 



pressed that the new officers should 

 avoid commercialism, in the form of 

 selling supplies, etc., and that they 

 should confine themselves to helping 

 the beekeepers along other lines, edu- 

 cational and fraternal, which they 

 thought were just as profitable and 

 more needed by the beekeeper. 



With the exception of Mr. E. J. Bax- 

 ter, of Nauvoo, III, a new set of officers 

 were elected as follows: 



President— Prof. Francis Jager, Uni- 



F. Eric Millen 

 Newly elected Secretary of the National 



versity Farm, St. Paul, Minn. 



Vice-President — Dr. W. M. Copea- 

 haver, Helena, Mont. 



Secretary-Treasurer — F. Eric Millen, 

 East Lansing, Mich. 



These three officers, together with 

 Mr. E. J. Baxter and Mr. E. S. Miller, 

 of Valparaiso, Ind., to act as directors. 



E. D. Townsend, editor and owner of 

 the Beekeepers' Review, resigned as 

 director, so that the new officers would 

 feel free to inaugurate new policies 

 without being tied in any way. Those 

 who are personally acquainted with 

 Mr. Townsend know that he has the 

 interests of the beekeepers at heart, 

 and that he would sooner remove him- 

 self than oppose any measure that 

 seemed to be for the good of the cause. 



While the Review is still the official 

 organ of the National, it is now owned 

 by Mr. Townsend, who dictates its 

 policies. 



