342 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 28, 1903. 



combs on the old stand, set the old hive aside until all bees 

 are hatched out, shake off young bees in front of new hive, 

 take all queen-cells out of the old colony except one, and re- 

 move them to a new location. 



A Member — Shake all the young bees into the new hive, 

 give them all the working force, and try to get all you can 

 out of the new colony instead of making two. This is for 

 comb honey ; for extracting it is not necessary. 



Do you shake them before they make preparation for 

 swarming, or wait until they are read}' to swarm ? 



A Member — I never do this unless they are ready to 

 swarm, and I see no difference between this and natural 

 swarming. 



Mr. Gross — I have done this for several j'ears, but never 

 before knew the name of it. 



Do you always put a new colony on the old stand ? 



Mr. Gross — If you want a good, strong colony leave 

 them on the old stand. 



Mr. Pierce — I don't agree that two weak colonies will 

 store as much honey as one strong one. With the old prac- 

 tice the old colony is removed to a new location. With the 

 new practice we get one strong colony and no increase. 



Mr. Huffman — With this process you simply have the 

 old colony in a new hive. If you keep them from swarming 

 won't that be the same thing? 



Mr. Pierce — That may be all right if you are always on 

 hand, but you can't do it if you have to be away much. 



Mr. Huffman — Put on three top stories. 



As a committee on the St. Louis Fair, the executive 

 officers and Mr. Wilcox were appointed. 



At the request of the convention Mr. France entertained 

 the members with a song. 



WATERING-PI,ACES FOR BEES. 



Considerable discussion was had about watering bees. 

 It was insisted that this is a neglected but very important 

 subject, especially for brood-rearing. 



Provision should always be made for watering to keep 

 them out of watering-troughs for cattle. Bees want clean 

 and warm water. If they go to the mud-holes it is on ac- 

 count of the temperature. 



" Is it a disadvantage to be near large bodies of water ?" 



Mr. Thompson found that when bees had to cross a 

 large body of water lots of them were lost, especially when 

 the wind was contrary. 



PLACE OF MEETING. 



The President suggested a different place of meeting 

 for the next annual convention instead of Madison. 



Mr. Lathrop suggested the formation of local organiza- 

 tions to send delegates to the State convention, which was 

 to be continued at Madison. 



Mr. Gross thought that the place of meeting could not 

 be changed without amending the constitution to that effect. 



The matter was left to a committee consisting of the 

 officers. 



FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 



Balance in treasury Feb. 5, 1903 .■?22 22 



Dues to State Association, received during the 

 session of convention Feb. 4th and 5th, from 



53 members, 50 cents each 26 50 



Received from former Secretary, Miss Ada 



Pickard, Dec. 4, 1902 7 50 



S56 22 

 Paid Feb. Sth, expenses of N. E. France, as 



Secretary 2 25 



Balance on hand $53 97 



No further discussion or business appearing, the con- 

 vention, on motion, adjourned. Gi'S Dittmer, Sec. 



Honey as a Health°Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3J'< x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample for 2 cts.; 10 for 10 cts.; 25 

 for20cts.; 50 for 35 cts.; 100 for 65 cts.; 250 for $1.50; 500 

 for $2.75; 1000 for $5.00. If you wish your business card 

 printed at the bottom of the front page, add 25 cts. to your 

 order. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



c 



Contributed Articles 



1 



The Hive Problem— Uniformity and System. 



BY M. A. GILL. 



I HAVE read Mr. Aikin's articles on the hive problem 

 with considerable interest, and knowing his great in- 

 fluence among men, and knowing also how prone begin- 

 ners are to keep changing from one thing to another, and 

 that frequently when the new system is not as practical as 

 the discarded one, I am constrained, at this time, to make a 

 plea for at least uniformity of fixtures. 



Periodically, for the past 30 years, men have started 

 out to show by some ideas of their own that the Eangstroth 

 hive was not the natural home of bees, and have suggested 

 and put into use other system always more complicated, and 

 just as often has the apicultural lane been strewn with the 

 wrecks of blasted hopes and disappointments. 



I know there are many inventors who think they have 

 been a boon, and have filled " a long felt want," but I defy 

 any one to show any hive and system that will give control 

 of the bees in a more simple manner, and still winter a 

 larger percentage in so great a number — a system that will 

 allow one person to care for a g-reater number of bees, and 

 put any more honey on the market at the close of the sea- 

 son. I know there are many who will claim it (we will cut 

 out Doolittle); then show us the man, the system and the 

 honey. 



Mr. Aikin wants a hive that is the natural home for a 

 colony of bees, and by and through his varied and long ex- 

 perience, he thinks he has found it. Oh, how seductive 

 these natural homes for bees are I 



Two years ago a man at Fort Collins transferred a col- 

 ony from under the bench his bees were on, and it was the 

 strongest colony out of his 60. One would say, " Surely, 

 that is the natural home for bees." But, you see, it is not 

 practical. 



Two years ago I took a colony from the top of a large 

 air chimney on the Bank building here, and it was the most 

 powerful colony out of my 600. The chimney was full for 

 ten feet, and was much the same kind of hive, or system, as 

 described by Mr. Aikin in one of his previous articles, and 

 about as practical. I thought, when taking out that colony, 

 Surely, this is the natural home for a colony of bees, but, 

 then, it is not practical. 



Again, we took a colony out of a coyote hole, that ran 

 horizontally into a bank on the Union Pacific railroad, and 

 it was stronger than any colony in the apiary, at the time 

 we got it. This, you see, was the Langstroth, or more, per- 

 haps, the " Long Ideal " system. We said, Surely it is the 

 natural home for a colony of bees. But it is not practical. 

 But in ray opinion it was about as practical as a system 

 that compels a man, who is running hundreds of colonies, 

 to carry an extra number of hives to put on and take off for 

 breeding purposes. Or a system that is made up of a lot of 

 little bodies of hives filled up with sticks and spaces, that 

 should be filled with great, solid spreads of brood. Surely, 

 vrith such a system, a man is curtailed from accomplishing 

 what he could with a uniform and simple system. 



Mr. Aikin implies in his last article that he has as many 

 as eight or ten different hives, and that he has had them 

 for years. Surely, a man with Mr. Aikin's keen perception 

 has decided long ago which was best. Then why not shake 

 the whole outfit into one system, and then keep more bees, 

 because he can, if everything is uniform ? Otherwise his 

 honey-house and store-rooms are more like a department 

 store or museum. And, O the exasperating bother, if a 

 man wants a super, and the first four or five he comes to be- 

 long in some certain place ! 



I want to mention a case to show what can be done 

 with uniformity and system. A widow, who does not live 

 so very far from Mr. Aikin, keeps bees in boxes nailed up 

 out of boards the same size as an 8-frame Langstroth hive. 

 Lath was nailed in for top-bars \ inch down from the top 

 of the box. A bottom was nailed on, and a loose cover was 

 improvised. She has no knowledge of bees, but she got a 

 good supply of supers (standard 8-frame Langstroth) and 

 put them on, and then took them off as soon as filled, and in 

 the fall she put $650 worth of honey on the car from 60 colo- 

 nies. How did she do it ? Simply because she had a uni- 



