630 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 4 1900. 



shores of the Saone River, among some of the finest scenery 

 I ever saw, for the shores of the Saone look like an endless 

 village, dotted with villas and castles of ancient date, among 

 an uninterrupted line of vineyards. 



At Macon, Mr. Maigre awaited us at the station. I had 

 never met this gentleman, but had had a great deal of cor- 

 respondence with him, and we both soon felt at home in his 

 family. He is an extensive bee-keeper, and manufactures 

 bee-supplies on a small scale. He has four out-apiaries in 

 Beaujolais, across the river Saone ; and the trip was taken 

 in his automobile — the first one on which I ever rode. Auto- 

 mobiles are becoming very plentiful in France, and no 

 wonder, they have such fine roads. 



It is difficult for an American, who has never visited 

 Europe, to picture to himself the roads of Europe. A few 

 words will suffice to express the difference between their 

 roads and ours. The poorest of their roads are better than 

 the best of our macadamized streets. The average Euro- 

 pean road is an avenue with a solid smooth bed, high in the 

 middle, with a row of trees on either side, and a drain just 

 outside of the row of trees. In the wettest weather, you 

 can walk, or ride a bicycle, without finding more than a 

 little thin mud that will hardly dampen the tire of the 

 wheel. 



Beaujolais is a fine honey-producing district, having 

 alfalfa, sainfoin, basswood in the early summer, and any 

 amount of buckwheat during the later months. Maigre's 

 apiaries are scattered among vineyards, plum and pear 

 orchards, and around and about houses in close proximity 

 to the road. I should be afraid of the bees stinging people 

 and horses, but it is very evident that they become accus- 

 tomed to the hustle of busy thorofares, for I have nowhere 

 seen quieter bees. 



ine practical bee-keepers in France all use the ex- 

 tractor, for it appears that extracted honey brings as high 

 a price as comb honey. This is the result of the ancient 

 custom of pressing the hone3' out of the comb before eating 

 it. As a matter of course, they find the honey that has 

 been extracted far superior to the old strained honey. In 

 Mr. Maigre's apiaries I saw two small improvements that I 

 think are very good. The one is a wire-netting shield 

 around the fire-box of the smoker, which effectually pre- 

 vents one's burning his fingers, as this shield permits a 

 free passage of air, and is always cool. They use a copy of 

 the Bingham smoker nearly exclusively with this improve- 

 ment. The other implement is a long brush for brushing 

 bees off the combs. These brushes are thin and strong, 

 with very long bristles, and are superior to anything we 

 have. 



A thing which strikes us Americans as very odd, is the 

 numerous different articles employed to make bee-hives, 

 owing to the high price of lumber. I saw hives made of 

 straw, of wood and straw, of earth, of willow wood covered 

 ■with mortar, of cement, and, in a few cases, of reeds and 

 rushes. Straw roofs are plentiful, but they use also tiles 

 and wooden roofs. But in no case is the workmanship 

 equal to what is made in the United States. They make 

 section-boxes that no one in the United States would buy — 

 they are too rough and dark. I am told that the white 

 basswood is very scarce in France, and they have to fall 

 back on much darker lumber. The best of their pine comes 

 from Sweden and Norway. 



I have been kept so busy visiting that this letter, begun 

 at Nyon, is finisht at Paris. I will write you again soon, 

 and describe my trip in Switzerland. C. P. DadanT. 



Natural-Built Combs vs. Foundation. 



BY B. A. HODSEI.I,. 



IN reply to Mr. S. A. Deacon's articles in the numbers of 

 the American Bee Journal for Aug. 16 and 23, I would 

 say that, if he were talking to C. P. Dadant or other 

 practical bee-keepers only, I would not say a word, but be- 

 lieving that his long article will mislead and greatly dam- 

 age hundreds of beginners, I feel it my duty as one of the 

 largest bee-keepers of the Southwest to reply. 



I have about 700 pounds of wax made into foundation 

 on the halves, annually, using every pound of my half in 

 full sheets, mostly in the brood-chamber the first year, 

 therefore securing all worker-comb in the brood-chamber. 



To illustrate the advantage of foundation over natural- 

 built combs, last spring in one of my out-apiaries which I had 

 run in that waj' for years, and had weeded out the natural- 

 built drone-comb in my first extracting, I found only a 



handful of drone-brood in the super, and 12 cases of 120 

 pounds each of extracted honey. 



In another out-apiarj' of equal number, and equally well 

 filled, about one-half foundation combs were in the 

 super, much of the rest being natural-built drone-comb. 

 After extracting the honey I uncapt and jarred out the 

 drone-brood, securing about a bushel of drone bees, and 

 only eight cases of honey — a direct loss of four cases, or 

 $30, in the one extracting, because I allowed the bees to use 

 natural-built combs instead of foundation. 



I allowed the young swarms to be hived on the halves 

 this year, using full sheets of foundation for my 20, and 

 obtained about 26 pounds of surplus honey to each hive, 

 worth $30. The renter used no foundation, got plenty of 

 crooked combs, and no surplus. 



I never saw any irregularit)' or breaking down of foun- 

 dation, as Mr. Deacon would have us believe, or changed 

 into drone-comb, but always as nicely completed as stampt. 



We do know by experience that if allowed to build the 

 combs themselves, a large proportion of worthless drone- 

 comb will be found in the brood-chamber and supers, which 

 must be melted up and run into foundation, or the result 

 will be as I have just stated. I have no bees, queens, bees- 

 wax, or foundation, to sell, but use all the full sheets of 

 foundation I can get, and expect to continue until I work 

 out all the natural-built drone-combs except a few patches 

 in my best breeding colonies. 



Mr. Deacon saj's the old bee-keepers don't use as much 

 foundation as formerly. Perhaps not since they have 

 their natural-built drone-combs melted up and replaced in 

 the form of foundation. If I ever get that far along I will 

 also sell my wax, but when I get thru my 11 apiaries I will 

 continue to patronize the foundation-mill. 



Maricopa Co., Ariz. 



Convention Proceedings. | 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 31st Annual 



Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' 



Association, held at Chicag-o, 111., 



Aug-. 28, 29 and 30, 1900. 



BY DR. A. B. MASON, SKC. 



(Continued from page 614.) 



SECOND DAY— Forenoon Session. 



The forenoon session of the second day, Aug. 29, was 

 called to order by Pres. Root, when little Miss Ethel 

 Acklin played and sang the bee-keeper's song, "The Hum 

 of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom," after which the Rev. 

 E. T. Abbott offered prayer. 



Pres. E. R. Root, of Ohio, then delivered the following 



PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



I should prefer to omit this part of the program alto- 

 gether ; but as the president's address has been a conspicu- 

 ous and important feature in the conventions of this Asso- 

 ciation in the past, it is, perhaps, proper that a precedent 

 should not be started now. It is hardly proper, tho, that I 

 should take up much time in view of the part I take in the 

 stereopticon work later on, and I will, therefore, be very 

 brief. 



increase in brood diseases. 



This convention should consider the increase of both 

 foul and black brood thruout the country. That both dis- 

 eases are certainly making advancement in certain sections 

 of the country can scarcely be denied. A few years ago, if 

 I received at our office more than one sample of diseased 

 brood a month it was considered as something somewhat 

 remarkable; but now specimens of brood are sent in almost 

 daily. Black brood, which I regard as more insidious, and the 

 more to be dreaded of the two diseases, is thought to travel 

 thru the air ; that is to say, many of the bee-keepers who 

 are in the vicinity of its ravages believe that the germs of 

 this dread disease float from one locality to another. I am 

 inclined to doubt it ; but, in the face of the facts, we are 

 compelled to admit that it travels much more rapidly than 

 foul brood. This convention should pass suitable resolu- 



