14 



If Mr. Chadwick thinks that all the wall 

 on the foundation, beyond what depth there 

 was on the wall when inserted, is made of 

 beeswax produced by the quart of thin 

 syiiip, this is not necessary. 1 have weighed 

 sheels of foundation when put in the frame 

 or hive (using seven Langstroth sheets to 

 the pound weight). Then after the oomb 

 was built out 1 again weighed the drawn 

 comb and found that the bees just doubled 

 the weight of wax in the frame. If a part 

 of the wax in the comb foundation had not 

 been used for the elongated wall I do not 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ihink there would have been so little differ- 

 ence. Herein is shown an added value in 

 comb foundation. It saves wax secretion 

 and the expenditure of honey, and I almost 

 invariably use full sheets of foundation 

 wliether in the brood-chamber or the su- 

 pers, be they for comb or extracted honey. 

 If a swarm is thrown on the foundation we 

 must remember the bees are in the best 

 shape for secreting wax, and that they will 

 have a lot of wax scales on the abdomen, 

 and, in addition, will be full of honey. 

 Brantford, Canada. 



IOWA ANNUAL CONVENTION HELD AT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



BY F, C. SCRANTON 



In order to secure the advantages accruing 

 from a meeting at the Iowa State AgTicul- 

 tural College at Ames, which, by the way, 

 is one of the foremost institutions of its 

 kind in the country, attracting students 

 from points as distant as China, it was nec- 

 essary to set the dates a little earlier than 

 usual. The attendance would have been 

 somewhat larger had the convention been 

 held a month later; but those who gathered 

 there were deeply in earnest. They came 

 for information, for help, to learn how to 

 do their work quicker and better, and every 

 one got what he or she (for there were also 

 a number of ladies in attendance) came for. 



The morning session of the first day, Nov. 

 17, was given over to the usual routine work 

 such as pz'esident's address, report of sec- 

 retary, reports of committees, and apjjoint- 

 ment of committees. Following this the 

 secretary, Mr. Snyder, read a letter from 

 the Woodbury Beekeepers' Protective Asso- 

 ciation, urging that legislation be enacted 

 prohibiting one beekeeper establishing an 

 apiary within a certain distance of another 

 beekeeper's apiary, and suggesting that the 

 association enact by-laws making it an of- 

 fense for one member to establish an apiaiy 

 within three miles of the apiary of another 

 member without the consent of the member 

 whose apiary is already established. Vio- 

 lation of this would subject the guilty mem- 

 ber to a fine of from $3.00 to $10.00 for 

 each colony in his apiary. 



In the discussion of this paper it was 

 shown that so many conditions, such as 

 locality, season, topography, etc., enter into 

 the subject that it would be impossible to 

 set any exact limits which would be perfect- 

 ly fair to all. The number of colonies al- 

 ready located would also affect the question 

 of distance apart. 



On tlie afternoon of the 17th, Prof. Bar- 

 tholomew gave a " short-course " lecture, 



using a large model of the bee. His audi- 

 ence was deeply interested throughout the 

 talk. He showed why it is impossible for 

 bees to bite the skin of fruit ; compared the 

 pesophagais to the crop in a cliicken; showed 

 how the honej'-sac is filled with honey in 

 winter, and how it passes through a valve 

 into the stomach as needed; explained how 

 the blood of an insect contains no oxygen, 

 fills all spaces between cells in the body, and 

 how it is supplied at these jDoints with oxy- 

 gen, and how a constant circulation of this 

 fluid is kept moving through, the body. 



On the evening of the 17th, C. P. Dadant 

 gave a history of beekeeping. This was 

 followed by an illustrated lecture on nectar 

 secretion and the honey flora of Iowa. It 

 was both interesting and instructive. 



At the morning session on the 18th, Dr. 

 Phillips, of Washington, D. C, gave a very 

 instructive talk on temperature and mois- 

 ture of the hive in winter, both as concerns 

 outdoor and cellar wintered colonies. In 

 conducting his exj^eriments along this line 

 he seems to have established the fact, as 

 stated in the Nov. 15th issue of Gleanings, 

 that the bees forming the cluster in winter 

 are not dormant during cold spells, as was 

 formerly accepted, but that they form a sort 

 of ball, the bees in the outer layer of which 

 take a position with their heads pointing 

 toward the center, and remaining very near- 

 ly motionless, while those inside this circle 

 fan with their wings, move about, and at- 

 tend to raising and lowering the tempera- 

 ture. He laid particular stress upon the 

 fact that, when bees are wintered in cellars, 

 ])roper attention should be given to venti- 

 lation and to eliminating moisture from the 

 cellar. 



Mr. W. S. Pangburn, of Center Junction, 

 la., talked on the subject of cellar winter- 

 ing. Mr. Pangburn is counted a very sue- 



