372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



The result was the loss of about three col- 

 onies. This loss was due to the fact that 

 the bees were queenless, and not to any 

 other cause that we could determine. 



Some little time ago I attempted to take a 

 flash-light of our bee-cellar under the ma- 

 chine-shop, but did not succeed in getting a 

 good picture; but as it will give one a good 

 idea of our cellar I show part of one end of 

 it on page 382. The hives in the foreground 

 are double-walled. When we found the 

 bees were doing so nicely we put in some 

 chaff hives. These, of course, were the 

 first to go out in the spring. Those that 

 show on either side are single-walled hives 

 piled on top of each other. Each hive has 

 its own bottom-board. Sometimes the body 

 is pried up off from the bottom-board; but 

 in the case of nuclei only the entrance is 

 allowed. 



The electric-lamp globe of which I have 

 spoken is shown in the foreground. With 

 this I can suddenly throw in a flood of 

 light, 3'et it rarely caused any disturbance. 



THE ONTARIO CO., N. Y., BEE=KEEPERS' ASSO= 

 CIATION. 



Government Apiarian Work ; Dr. C. C. Miller Criti- 

 cised. 



BY FRANK BKNTON. 



If Dr. C. C. Miller had read the report 

 of the Ontario Co., N. Y., Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation more carefully, as it is published 

 on page 148 of the Amer. Bee Journal for 

 March 6, 1902, he would likely not have 

 misquoted as he did in Stray Straws in 

 Gleanings for April 1, 1902, page 275. 

 Dr. Miller says: "Ontario Co., N. Y., bee- 

 keepers' convention thought what money 

 our^overnment expends in importing queen- 

 bees from other lands might better be made 

 use of otherwise." This he credits to the 

 Amer. Bee Journal. But I find in the lat- 

 ter, the report, as given by the Secretary 

 of the Ontario Co. society, Mr. F. Greiner, 

 reads: " It was believed that we had just 

 as good bees in America now as anywhere 

 on the globe, and what money our govern- 

 ment expends in importing queen-bees from 

 other lands might better be made use of in 

 the line proposed" (controlling mating). 

 Then Mr. Greiner adds: "The Association 

 did not take action on this proposition." 

 From this it is plain, 1. That the Secreta- 

 ry, Mr. Greiner, was not reporting verba- 

 tim the proceedings of the Association, but 

 was merely paraphrasing them in his own 

 words; 2. That some member or members 

 of the said society expressed the belief that 

 "we had just as good bees in America," 

 etc.; and, 3. That the Ontario Co., N. Y., 



Bee-keepers' Association did not see fit to 

 adopt the view of some individual member 

 or members as indicated above. Further- 

 more, it may be seen that a second attempt 

 was made to get the society to indorse these 

 views, for the Secretary says, further on: 

 "The matter was brought up again by an- 

 other member. " But this, likewise, failed. 



Notwithstanding all this, "the good Doc- 

 tor" makes it appear in Gleanings as 

 though the Ontario Co. , N. Y., Bee-keepers' 

 Association had whipped right around to 

 his way of thinking. This is by no means 

 the first time I have had to call attention 

 to inaccuracies on the part of Dr. Miller. 

 Want of time, and a disinclination to criti- 

 cise in print, have often kept me from point- 

 ing out numerous other erroneous or loose 

 statements recorded by him. Suffice it to 

 say, that I believe when one is so inaccu- 

 rate in his quotations, or siezes upon so 

 flimsy an excuse to support his personal 

 views, he is open to, and justly deserves, 

 the severest criticism which due courtesj' 

 will permit. 



In closing, I would also like to ask — not 

 Dr. Miller — but the rest of the esteemed 

 readers of Gleanings, if, in their opinion, 

 it is the best taste on the part of the doctor 

 to be so ready, as he seems, to throw cold 

 water on anj' work in the bee-line that the 

 government might sanction, or for him to 

 rush forward with a bushel or two of prop- 

 ositions as to what he might think best 

 should be done, when he has not contributed 

 a single ejfort toward sectiring national rec- 

 ognition in the form of appropriations J'or 

 the benefit of the iridustryf and when, al- 

 most single-handed, after many years of 

 persistent efl'ort, some little vantage-ground 

 has been gained — vantage-ground that 

 might have been reached years ago but for 

 just such holding back, just such quibbling, 

 or just such halting support — when some- 

 thing, at least, has been attained, I say, 

 would it not be full more modest for the doc- 

 tor (and I might add, also, for some others 

 who are " in the same boat" ) to wait just 

 a bit and see if what he and they want, as 

 well as what "the other fellow" longs for, 

 may not come to pass? Does he not fear to 

 lose the half-loaf when he lets go to grab 

 for the whole one? I state what I know to 

 be a fact, that united and strong action ten 

 years ago, in the line I then suggested to 

 the officers of the North American Bee- 

 keepers' Association at the Albany conven- 

 tion, would have placed these matters quite 

 as far along as they now stand. But it 

 would seem that one of the officers at that 

 time, who might have taken hold and aided 

 in pushing the work, has only recently 

 wakened up to the fact, or at least made 

 known, that he realizes the need of govern- 

 mental aid (see the Review for February, 

 1902, p. 53), and he is now at the head of 

 the National Association! 



In the whole world there is not another 

 county bee-keepers' society as widely and 

 favorably known as the Ontario Co., N. Y., 

 Bee-keepers' Association; and it is hardly 



