868 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



Thk stenographic report of the 32d annu- 

 al convention of the National Bee-keepers' 

 Association, held in Buffalo last Septem- 

 ber, is now being- published in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Joiir7ial. As nearly as one can 

 judge, it is not only verbatim but accurate 

 as well. 



NEW ADDITIONS AT THE HOME OF THE BEE- 

 KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



It is just 23 years this month since Glean- 

 ings offered its congratulations to Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hutchinson on the advent to their 

 home of twin girls. Later on we showed a 

 picture of the Hutchinson apiary with those 

 same twins in a wheelbarrow, wheeled by 

 their proud dad. At various times since, 

 we have luade mention of these girls — once 

 when one of them appeared in a prize pic- 

 ture, holding a swarm of bees ; at another 

 time, when the other twin appeared as Mr. 

 Hutchinson's compositor. Well, what is up 

 now? I have just received a note from Bro. 

 H., who is just as proud as he can be over 

 his two new boys — not baby twins, but 

 twins-in-law — wlio married those firsttwins. 

 You see a double wedding has just taken 

 place. Mr. H. says of the boys, " They 

 are bright, honest, wholesome fellows, of 

 whom I can feel proud." We all know 

 what the girls are, because — because, you 

 know, they are the "better halves." We 

 offer our congratulations, not only to the 

 parents but to the quartette. 



CELLAR V. OUTDOOR WINTERING AT MEDINA. 



We have about 100 colonies at our bass- 

 wood yard. Most of them are in single- 

 walled hives. Our general practice has 

 been to winter outdoors; but as we have 

 now between 700 and 800 colonies, all told, 

 we found ourselves short of chaff hives. 

 Then the question, in view of the splendid 

 results we secured in our cellar under the 

 machine-shop this past winter, naturally 

 arose as to whetlier we should put our sur- 

 plus of colonies in new double- walled hives 

 or winter in the cellar. At our home yard 

 we expect to put all our extra colonies 

 (some 200) under the machine-shop, in the 

 place where the consumption of stores was 

 so sQvy light, and the number of dead bees 

 on the floor so insignificantly sinall. Now, 

 then, for the basswood yard would it be 

 cheaper for the Root Co. to inake a lot of 

 new chaft" hives, nail and paint them, and 

 transfer the colonies into them, or would we 

 save money by building a modern bee-cellar 

 and putting all of the single-walled hives 

 in this cellar? A little calculation showed 

 that for the Root Co., at least, it wovild be 

 just as cheap to build a cellar. 



We are now digging one along the lines 

 described by Mr. T. M. Bingham, on p. 174 

 for last year. It will be remembered that 

 this cellar was wholly underground, access 

 to it being gained through the building, 

 down through the floor. 



For some years we have had over on our 

 fairground a display-building, but which 



during the last two or three fairs has not 

 been used. We are about to move this down 

 to the apiary, and under it put a modern 

 cellar, embodying the Bingham plan, about 

 7 feet deep. This will make a repository 

 12X20 feet, and 7 feet deep. There will be 

 no windows — no two feet of brick walls 

 above ground, as is the case with the ordi- 

 nary house basement under a private dwell- 

 ing. While it will be larger than is need- 

 ed to take 100 colonies, yet we are going on 

 the theory that a large room, with plenty of 

 cubic air capacity, is much better than a 

 small stufl'y room just large enough to ac- 

 commodate a given number of hives. An 

 electric railway, nearly eoinpleted, runs di- 

 rectly by this basswood yard, so it will put 

 us in easy connection so that we can watch 

 developments. 



We propose to determine, if possible, 

 whether we can duplicate the results of last 

 winter; and whether or not in our compara- 

 tively warin climate the indoor method can 

 be rendered inore economical than the out- 

 door plan. 



I should, perhaps, have explained that 

 one reason for having the cellar at the out- 

 yard is because the hives have been robbed 

 during the winter on their summer stands. 

 The new cellar will be thief-proof. 



OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' 



ASSOCIATION; SHALL NOMINATIONS BE 



MADE IN ADVANCE? AND IF SO, 



HOW? 



This was the question that was discussed 

 by the Board of Directors at Buffalo. It 

 was finally voted that Mr. Hutchinson pre- 

 pare a short editorial, submit it to some of 

 the Directors, receive corrections, if any, 

 and place it before the public. This he has 

 done in the last issue of the Bee-keepers,'' 

 Review. He writes: 



Nominations in advance of the election of a General 

 Manager, and the Directors of the National Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, wonldbe very desirable. As it is now, 

 when a member receives a voting-blank, he does not 

 know for whom any other member will vote. In his 

 desperation, he votes for the man whose term of office 

 is about to expire. As a result, each officer succeeds 

 himself, year after year. Should it ever become desir- 

 able to elect a new man, it would be well-nigh impos- 

 sible with the present system. This question was dis- 

 cussed by the Directors present at Buffalo, but they 

 were unable to devise a -plan that seemed wholly satis- 

 factory, and it was finally decided to have the matter 

 taken up in the bee journals for discussion. Sugges- 

 tions from the readers of the Review will be welcomed. 



The foregoing was sent to E. R. Root, one of the Di- 

 rectors, for his criticisms, or suggestions. He consid- 

 ered it brief and to the point, and passed it on to Bro. 

 Abbott, who is chairman of the Board of Directors. 

 He penciled on the back of the sheet the following : 

 " While it is desirable to keep the same parties in of- 

 fice as long as they attend to business, and give satis- 

 faction, yet it is important not to have too many Di- 

 rectors in one locality, and to place in office men who 

 will attend the annual meeting as often as possible." 



The suggestion that we put in Directors and a Gen- 

 eral Manager who will attend the annual conventions 

 as often as pcssible is worthy of consideration. At 

 the Buffalo convention, si.v of the Directors were pres- 

 ent (one more would have given us a quorum) and we 

 did more business than could have been transacted in 

 weeks or inonths of correspondence. There is noth- 

 ing like a face-to-face discussion of a knotty question. 

 Other things being equal, we should give our prefer- 

 ence to those men who are usually present at the an- 

 nual convention. 



