Fcliruary. loi- 



American ^BeeJonrnal 



mean to the beekeeping industry of 

 America to do tlic several things there 

 outlined. 



Perhaps a lew comments on the Dc- 



DlRECTOR E. D. TOWNSEND. 



troit meeting of the Board of Directors 

 will be appreciated. 



In order to have all the good coun- 

 sel possible, Vice-President Pettit, of 

 Canada, and Treasurer France, of 

 Wisconsin, were retjuested to meet 

 with the Board. (The President is r<- 

 <//iiii</ to preside at all meetings of the 

 Board, according to the new Constitu- 

 tion.) 



Owing tn illness. Director Wilcox, 

 of Wisconsin, was unable to be pres- 

 ent; and, unfortunately. Treasurer 

 France was not present also. All the 

 other Directors and officers were there. 



The meeting was held at the home of 

 Secretary Tyrrell, and began at 2 p.m., 

 continued till p.m., and then Mr, 

 Tyrrell generously invited all down to 

 a bountiful supper prepared by his good 

 wife. And what we seven didn't do to 

 that Michigan feast wouldn't be worth 

 mentioning! It was a hungry "bunch," 

 and the honey disappeared with the 

 rest of the good things. (We may say, 

 confidentially, that the secret came out 

 then and there as to Mr. Tyrrell's tre- 

 mendous energy, resourcefulness, etc. 

 it's greatly due to the good cooking, 

 and the inspiration and helpfulness of 

 his wife's all-around efiiciency.) 



After supper the seven returned to 

 the " upper-room," and again went at 

 the perplexing problems connected 

 with making the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association a far more successful in- 

 stitution than it has ever been in the 

 past, thougli it has done most excellent 

 service. 



The Board labored until 10:^0 p.m.. 

 when it was thouylit that all had been 

 done that could be done at its first 

 meeting, and probably another meeting 

 will not be necessary until the first one 

 of delegates to be held a year from this 

 month. 



We had hoped to include the picture 

 of Director Huchanan, but it diil not 

 arrive in time to appear with the rest 

 in this issue. 



We want to congratulate the National 

 Association's membership upon the 

 personnel of their Board of Directors. 



Some years ago there was considerable 

 criticism in some quarters because 

 several of the directors were bee-sup- 

 ply dealers, though rrc couldn't see that 

 it interfered with doing their duty as 

 directors. But now all of the directors 

 are bce-/;ief>('rs from start to finish. Mr. 

 Townsend is one of Michigan's largest 

 operators of bees; Mr. Foster and Mr. 

 Buchanan are not only extensive bee- 

 keepers, but State inspectors of api- 

 aries for Colorado and Tennessee, re- 

 spectively. Mr. Crane is perhaps the 

 largest bee-keeper in Vermont, and 

 Mr. Wilcox is one of the most promi- 

 nent bee-keepers of Wisconsin. Surely 

 all of them have the best interests of 

 bee-keepers at heart, and will do their 

 utmost so to manage the business 

 aflfairs of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association as to make its membership 

 one of the very best investments any 

 bee-keeper can possibly find. 



Co-operative Apiarian Experi- 

 nieiit.s in Canada 



Canadian bee-keepers are to be con- 

 gratulated on the activity of their Pro- 

 vincial Apiarist, Mr. Morley Pettit. In- 

 stead of conducting a number of e.x- 

 periments himself on a small scale, he 

 took up a single experiment and con- 

 ducted it on a large scale by means of 

 Co-operative Fxperimentation. 



A very meaty circular of S) pages was 

 sent out to all the bee-keepers of On- 

 tario whose addresses could be ob- 

 tained, proposing the united carrying 

 out of an experiment which was indi- 

 cated by the striking title, "'Natural 

 Swarming: How to Prevent It." In 

 this was contained some information 

 of the most elementary character, such 

 as would be needed by one without 

 knowledge of bee-keeping, and also 

 matter that would not fail of the most 

 interested attention from practical bee- 

 keepers, discussing the general matter 

 iif swarming. 



Sooner or later every practical bee- 

 keeper asks the question, " What is the 

 cause of swarming ?" This question is 

 not answered in the circular, but "some 

 causes of Sc>.-aymiiiff " are thus given : 



1. The supers are crowded with 

 honey; there is still plenty of nectar in 

 the flowers ; but the bees have no comb 

 space in which to store it. 



2. The colony has a queen with great 

 egg-laying powers; but the brood- 

 chamber is too siuall for her, and has 

 become crowded with honey and pol- 

 len. She has an egg or larva in every 

 cell, and young bees are not hatching 

 rapidly enough to give her room to 

 lay, yet she must be idle or seek a new 

 home with a wider field of usefulness. 



'■\. The secretion of nectar in the 

 fiowers is continuous Init slow. The 

 (|ueen is constantly stimulated by the 

 incoming sweet to lay, while the de- 

 mands of the harvest are so light that 

 the workers live much longer than is 

 usual in a heavy harvest. The hive 

 becomes over-populated and crowded. 



4. The hive is poorly ventilated, or 

 sits in the sun. 



.'i. Bees often swarm when they are 

 superseding an old queen. 



An application blank was enclosed, 

 to be filled out and returned by those 

 m.iking application for the experiment. 

 The applicant was required to promise 



to conduct the experiment according 

 to directions as far as possible, and to 

 report on it by filling out a report blank 

 in the fall, whether the experiment was 

 successful or not. 



To producers of extracted honey 

 was sent a sheet entitled, " Experiment 

 No. 1." The instructions in this 

 directed that at the time of spring 

 cleaning an even number of colonies 

 should be chosen, not less than 10 nor 

 more than 20. These to be as nearly 

 alike as possible in every way, specific 

 instructions being given as to the par- 

 ticulars in which they should be alike. 

 Then the experimental group was to 

 be divided into two equal lots. Lot A 

 and Lot B. 



Lot B was to have precisely the same 

 treatment the whole apiary would have 

 received if the co-operative experiment 

 had never been heard of. For the 

 management of Lot A the following 

 instructions were given : 



Let us suppose that Monday is"Apiaiy 

 Day." Kvery Monday after the beginning of 

 fruit-liloom eacli colony of Lot A is exam- 

 ined to note tfie progress of its development 

 and give necessary treatment. 



Watc'iung Kok Swarming-Impui.se. 



When clover honey starts coming in .lune. 

 the watch for swarming-inipiilse begins in 

 earnest. 



It is necessary for one who is beginning 

 the study of swartn prevention, to look at 

 every brood-conib of every hive once a week 

 for the next few weeks inilil the swarming 

 season is past. This sceius like a lot of 

 work; but it does not take nearly so much 

 time as one would think. 'I'he stirring up 

 the I>ees makes them work all the better, 

 and it is a great satisfaction after one day 

 spent in the apiary to be able lo go off 

 about other work and know there will not 

 be any swarming for a week at least. When 

 one compares this with the \vorry of fussing 

 with swarms and losing them before and 

 after they are hived, the work of the weekly 

 exaiuination sinks into insignificance. 



Giving the Queen Room. 



When on the weekly examination we lind 

 cell-cups with eggs, it is lime to start giving 



DlKKilOK WESl.r.\ (_'. KllSTEK. 



the oneen room Kemove a comb from the 

 outside of the brood chamber, and put an 

 empty worker-comb orfrarueof wired foun- 

 dation in the center of the brood-nest. If 

 the colony is quite strong, or if the (lueen- 



