April. 1916. 



April, 1916. 



pit of the stomach. Most of the party 

 who were not accustomed to mountain 

 climbing breathed much easier when 

 they were safely back again on the 

 trolley, bound for Denver. 



After the close of the convention a 

 number of the delegates bought tickets 

 home over the Rock Island, via Col- 

 orado Springs. The party arrived in 

 the Springs a little before noon, and 

 spent the afternoon in an automobile 

 trip to the Cave of the Winds, the Gar- 

 den of the Gods and the Seven Falls. 

 The Garden of the Gods was a disap- 

 pointment. We had already seen much 

 finer things that we had never heard 

 about, and the so-called garden has 

 been heralded to the ends of the 

 earth as a sight never to be forgotten. 

 One soon gets the impression at Col- 

 orado Springs that the principal busi- 

 ness is entertaining tourists. We had 

 now left our beekeeper friends behind. 

 Instead of being honored guests we 

 were tourists, and at every turn we met 

 an opportunity to part with our money. 

 On this trip were other steep climbs 

 and great views, but the experience at 

 Lookout mountain had prepared us for 

 the climb, and some of the sensations 

 of the first trip were lacking. 



Here some of the delegates left the 

 party, returning to Denver or going 

 home by other routes. Enough, how- 

 ever, remained together to hold a con- 

 tinuous convention until Omaha was 

 reached, when Prof. Jager left to take 

 another train, and a short distance be- 

 yond, the writer stopped at home. 



On the whole, the most interesting of 

 all the mountain trips was in the 

 Rauchfuss car, when we could stop as 

 long as we liked, drive as slowly as 

 we liked or get out and walk as we pre- 

 ferred. Nor more interesting moun- 



tains did we see than those along the 

 little trout stream above Morrison. 

 (We had to take Mr. Rauchfuss' word 

 for the trout.) 



The banquet was a great occasion. 

 When the orchestra played "It is a 

 Long Way to Tipperary," the applause 

 was fine. A little later they played 

 "The Watch on the Rhine," and the 

 noise was deafening. Apparently the 

 beekeeper* are neutral. 



Dr. Phillips as a toastmaster rose to 

 the occasion in grand style. The way 

 he put some of the speakeis in the 

 hole was awful, and they say that there 

 may be a day of reckoning if Phillips 

 ever gets on the other end of the same 

 string. He recited a little history by 

 telling of the first official beekeeper of 

 Massachusetts, who unfortunately be- 

 came a town charge at the end of two 

 years. Dr. Gates was introduced as a 

 worthy successor. 



Space forbids even brief mention of 

 the many interesting things in con- 

 nection with the convention, but the 

 delegates left with recollections of a 

 very pleasant journey and a feeling 

 that the Colorado boys had given them 

 a fine reception. Frank C. Pellett. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 



The 1915 National 



Only a small group, nine in all, of 

 eastern men reached Denver together, 

 in the car planned for their sole occu- 

 pancy. Others, making a total of 15 

 from east of Colorado, had arrived 

 previously. It was a pleasure to be 

 met at the station by Colorado bee- 

 keepers and taken to the hotel in auto- 

 mobiles. There we were soon com- 



fortably settled and found an enjoyable 

 company of western brother beekeep- 

 ers. Unlike the male inmates of the 

 bee-hive, the drones kept busy, buzzing 

 almost day and night during the three 

 days' session. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips quoted statistics, 

 showing that honey is coming into the 

 United States at the rate of about 

 1.500,000 pounds per month, whereas, 

 before the outbreak of the European 

 war, the imports totaled only that 

 much in a year. 



Mr. Frank Rauchfuss warned bee- 

 keepers not to look to the big honey 

 markets during the coming year for 

 the disposition of their crops to as 

 good an advantage as normally. Every 

 beekeeper should develop and supply 

 his home market direct. Very few 

 homes have honey on their table or 

 use it in their cooking the year around. 

 Ready sale can always be found for 

 the best grade of honey for the table 

 at good prices. 



A new bulletin will soon be issued 

 by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, "The Use of Honey in 

 Cooking," which will contain recipes 

 tried out. This bulletin, which is to 

 be given wide publicity and distributed 

 as much as possible throughout the 

 United States, should help a great deal 

 in developing a larger demand for 

 honey. 



" Many districts have been spoiled 

 by poor quality honey and low prices," 

 said Mr. John C. Bull, who made a 

 plea for uniformity of prices and grad- 

 ing rules for extracted honey. Some 

 large bottlers of honey today are put- 

 ting on the market a uniform grade 

 by blending the various grades of 

 honey from different parts of this 

 country. This seems to be the only 



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mus. jr.. 84, Geo. Nichols. 86. H. Whitacre. 87, E. 



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practical method of placing before the 

 public a uniform flavor of honey on 

 which they can depend. Others be- 

 lieved it better to educate the public to 

 the various flavors of honey and the 

 reason therefore. 



The greatest problem for the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association, out- 

 lined by Prof. Francis Jager, was a 

 greater recognition of the bee and 

 honey industry by the government and 

 more publicity. He urged large appro- 

 priations to do the vast amount of 

 work as yet untouched for the im- 

 provement of the races of bees, the de- 

 velopment of locations and pastures, 

 the honey market and the education of 

 the beekeepers. 



Migratory beekeeping, although tried 

 on a large scale, has not always proved 

 successful. The main causes of ill- 

 success, mentioned by Mr. E. R. Root 

 are: "Time and distance of moving, 

 conditions c« route, adverse crop con- 

 ditions developing after the southern 

 nelds are reached and probably most 

 important of all the handling and at- 

 tention given the bees by those put in 

 "Charge, during the absence of the 

 owner. 



The weakening of colonies by death 

 to the field-bees as a fall honey-flow 

 advances was reasonably explained by 

 ™- H. Rauchfuss. The corolla of 

 "lossoms similar to the cleome of Col- 

 orado presents sharp edges which in- 

 jure the bees' wings, so that thev are 

 unable, after several trips, to return to 

 We hives, and perish in the field. 



Ur. Burton N. Gates managed the 

 ^nair with care and fairness, and was 

 'e-elected unanimously. 



It was my pleasure to see over 30U 



raionics. in two apiaries of Mr Her- 



■"" Kauchfuss, wintering near Denver. 



To a beekeeper of the Middle States 

 they looked as if just unpacked and 

 ready for spring. The wintering is 

 simple. No packing, inside or out. in 

 that climate, a mile above sea level. 

 We found all these hives standing in 

 the open, in well sheltered spots almost 



surrounded by rising ground, but 

 without shade trees. The inner cover 

 or escape board is left on with the es- 

 cape removed. The covers are made 

 to telescope about IK inches, but do 

 not fit tightly, thus allowing some ven- 

 tilation. H. C. Dadant. 



Contributed ^ Articles^ 



The Hand Convertible Hive 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



THE writer has read with interest the 

 series of articles by Mr. Hand, 

 giving the details of construction 

 and manipulation of his large conver- 

 tible hive. 



Our experience covers operation of 

 as many as 13 apiaries at one time, and 

 years ago, some of these apiaries be- 

 longed to others, and were run " on 

 shares." In these yards there were 

 several styles of hives. One style had 

 frames 13-V inches square inside, and 

 enough of them to give a brood-nest 

 equal to 17 Langstroth frames. This 

 yard gave the largest crop, per colony, 

 and was always the strongest and went 

 into winter very heavy. 



The writer was, at that time, an ad- 

 vocate of the 8-frame hive, Langstroth 

 or Heddon, and his experience came 

 as quite a shock to him. About a year 

 before this the writer contracted for 

 the swarms from a yard of these larger 

 hives, miles away, and here again the 



colonies, with no care, were stronger 

 than in other yards having good care. 

 Several years ago the writer visited 

 the big apiaries of Pennington Bros., 

 of Oregon, and found there 80 hives 

 each containing 13 Dadant frames. 

 These large hives always gave large 

 yields until paralysis and spring dwind- 

 ling finally struck the apiary, when 

 all, large and small, went down to- 

 gether. 



It is very evident to the producer of 

 extracted honey that few hives are too 

 large for the bees. But for conven- 

 ience of handling, and in out-apiaries, 

 few care for hives larger than the 

 standard 10-frame Langstroth. There 

 can be no question with those who 

 have tried both, that larger colonies 

 earlier may be had in large single story 

 hives, rather than in those of two or 

 more stories, with their bee-spaces 

 and top and bottom bars. 



Mr. Hand's idea of using a cheap 

 inner hivein cold weather, or an old 8- 

 frame surrounded by packing is excel- 

 lent, where packing is necessary, but 



