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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 27, 1900. 



business of chopping cord-wood, hold on to 

 the less congenial but more reliable business, 

 at least until you can see your way clear in the 

 other. 



" The man with his hundreds of colonies, 

 and selling at a given price, will make more 

 money per colony from his apiaries than will 

 the man with the few," is no doubt true if 



viewed as Mr. Aikin intended it. But the in- 

 experienced may make a wrong deduction 

 from it. He may say: *'I see that an in- 

 crease of colonies leads to increast profit per 

 colony ; so when I have 100 colonies I shall 

 have more than the $.5.00 profit per colony that 

 I now have with 10 colonies." He needs to 

 be told what it was not necessary to say to 



most of Mr. Aikin's readers; " Otlier things 

 being equal, on a given field, the profit from 

 each of 100 colonies will be much less than the 

 profit per colony from a small number on the 

 same field, notwithstanding the advantages 

 accompanying the larger number. The yield 

 per colony with 10 may be cut in two when 

 the 10 become 100." 



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, SEC. 



(Continued from page 700.) 



THIRD DAY — Afternoon Session. 



The convention was called to order by Pres. Root. 

 The question-box was continued by Mr. Aikin. 



UPWARD VENTILATION IN WINTER. 



Is upward ventilation in winter a benefit or a detriment 

 to a colony of bees ? 



Mr. Aikin — I would say it is a benefit. 

 Dr. Mason— That depends upon the meaning of ventila- 

 tion, and where that ventilation is to be given, whether in 

 the cellar or outdoors ; it is sometimes a benefit and some- 

 times a damage, so you can't say yes or no 



Mr. Aikin — Some of us were having a little contention 

 over at the back of the room, and were in the midst of that 

 discussion when I was brought up here. Mr. Green says he 

 wants the cover sealed down tight. I told him I could take 

 him into the State of Colorado in the winter time and show 

 him chaff hives in which the colony would be wet and 

 moldy, and single wall hives with the cracks open all 

 around the top and bottom, have the colony dry and healthy, 

 and seemingly as prosperous and good as we can have. It 

 is a fact our bees will winter in open hives in Colorado 

 right outdoors better than they will in a close hive or chaff- 

 packt hive. We have just one difificulty, and that is the 

 great amount of exercise— they climb around and consume 

 stores, which naturally comes with a free and open hive in 

 a warm, sunny climate. I say " warm " because, as stated 

 before, it will be zero at night and freezing at midday. It 

 is nothing uncommon for the temperature to change 40 de- 

 grees there in a very few hours, but all the time everything 

 is snow and you work there in your shirt sleeves with com- 

 fort, or at a temperature that you would be freezing to 

 death with your overcoat on here in Chicago. 



Dr. Mason— I winter bees in the cellar with the cover 

 sealed tight, and I don't lose any. 



Pres. Root — We do both ways. Some years we get bet- 

 ter results with the cover sealed down, and sometimes better 

 with an absorbing cushion for upper ventilation. One win- 

 ter we concluded the absorbing cushion was just the thing, 

 and the next winter lost very heavily. We can't tell why. 

 A Member— What ventilation do you give at the 

 bottom ? 



Pres. Root — Wide open ends, and have ordinarily js 

 inch. 



Dr. Mason— The bottom-board is removed from all our 

 hives when the bees are put in the cellar in November, and 

 the hives are piled on top of each other with a % inch strip 

 between. 



Mr. Rankin— We had an interesting little experiment at 

 the Michigan Station last winter ; IS colonies were used, 

 and they were wintered outdoors inside of chaff wintering 

 cases. Five had the covers sealed on, five with cushions on 

 top of the frames with a cover over it, and five with burlap 

 over the frames and the whole wintering-case packt with 

 chaff, which gave them an absorbing cushion of about four 

 square feet, and the result of the experiment was, those 

 that had the whole top of the wintering-case to breathe in, 

 came thru the winter in a grea deal the best condition. 



A Member — That was just one test, was it ? 



Mr. Rankin — Yes. 



Mr. Aikin — The gist of the whole matter is this : Keep 

 the colony absolutely dry ; ventilating carries off the moist- 

 ure ; keep them dry, and with proper food they will winter 

 in almost any temperature, and in almost any place. 



Mr. Green — I don't think that I should want the cover 

 sealed tight unless there was protection. My hives have 

 an outside case with four inches of packing at the sides and 

 eight inches on top, and, with that packing, I don't think 

 bees get damp inside — the hives get damp. I want them 

 covered. 



TALL SECTIONS AND THE HONEY MARKET. 



What effect will 4x5 sections have on the honey 

 market ? 



Mr. Aikin — For my part, I don't know that it would 

 have any effect. 



Dr. Mason — They have a good effect on some markets. 



A Member — But as compared with other sections ? 



Mr. York — I don't think they have any effect on the 

 Chicago market. Honey in tall sections is worth no more 

 here than in square sections. The honey is no sweeter in 

 one than in the other. 



Dr. Mason — I was in a grocery in Toledo the other day, 

 where they had some sections 4x4 and some 4x5, and some 

 parties who wanted some for their own consumption, a sec- 

 tion or two, or three, took the 4x5 until they were gone. 



Mr. York— Why ? 



Dr. Mason — They liked the shape, and said there was 

 more honey in them. 



A Member — I would like to ask if the 4x5 stood up and 

 down, or flatwise, in the market ? 



Dr. Mason — Up and down. 



A Member — Was it sold by the box ? 



Dr. Mason — By the single section. 



ADOPTING THE SPELLING REFORM. 



Is it desirable for our periodicals to adopt reform spell- 

 ing ? 



Mr. York — Yes, I think it is. 



Dr. Mason — Yes. 



Mr. Abbott — That depends upon whether they want it 

 or not. 



Dr. Mason — It depends upon locality. You take Toledo, 

 O., for instance; I saw there the other day a sign stuck up, 

 "5 cts a pc" — that meant "five cents apiece." A lot of our 

 street-cars have got " Union Dpo," instead of " Union De- 

 pot," and it saves lots of printing. I can remember the 

 time when we pronounced it "de-pot," then it got to be 

 "de-po," and then "da-po," and now we have in Toledo 

 "dpo " for "depot," and we know just where we are going ; 

 and I say reformed spelling is a good thing, and when an 

 editor has to consult all his subscribers to find out whether 

 he should adopt it or not, I think he is wasting his time and 

 money. If he hasn't got mind enough to know what his 

 subscribers want, it is all right to consult them, but he 

 ought to adopt the reform while consulting them. 



Mr. Abbott — I ate dinner with one of our members, and 

 as we came to the foot of the stairs coming back, he bought 

 a paper ; he lookt at it and said : Well, we buy a paper, we 

 look thru it and don't find anything ; we have to wade thru 

 so much." Let us have the reform spelling, it saves us 

 time in this world. 



Dr. Mason — I saw some time ago in one of our religious 

 papers a statement to the effect that it was impossible to 

 reform the English spelling, and in the same issue was a 

 quotation of a few verses from an old edition of the Bible, 

 where/ was used where we now use s, and such a way of 

 spelling many words as many of us were familiar with, as 

 would make it quite difficult to understand without paying 

 close attention to the connection. Some of our periodicals 

 are adopting this reform spelling. I say if there is any 

 way by which we can reform our outlandish spelling, and 

 shorten it up in such a common-sense way as is being done 



