THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



too much fall honey. E. J. Hetlieringtori 

 thought that spring dwlndlinK was tlie re- 

 sult of constitntioiiMl wi-akness canseil by 

 poor wintf^rint; conditions that impair 

 their vitality. He also thonslit that the 

 conditions that governed l)ee-Ueepi:ig had 

 materially altered within the last 1.5 or 3) 

 years, bringing atmospheric changes. As 

 a prevention, it was advised tliat a good 

 quality of honey or sugar syrup, well 

 sealed, be given tlie bees tor winter stores, 

 and not fed " too late" in the fall, 2.5 to 30 

 pounds being sufficient. Keep the bees 

 warm, snug and dry, and do not disturb 

 tliem so as to create undue excitement too 

 early in the si)ring. 



A connnittee was appointed, before 

 whom all kinds of que.stions shall 

 be submitted, before such que.stion shall 

 be brought before this convention. The 

 following were apjjointed as such com- 

 mittee : Arthur Todd, C. G. Dickinson, 

 and G. H. Kinckerbocker. 



Adjourned to meet at 7 p. m. 



After the opening of the c(mveution, Mr. 

 Arthur Todd, of Philadelphia, Pa., read a 

 communication from Mr. Frank Cheshire, 

 of London, England, who has made "foul 

 brood" a study. Mr. Cheshire was made 

 an honorary member of the Association. 

 Mr. Todd announced that lie would have 

 " bacilli " and " spermatozoa " ready for 

 microscopical examination on Thursday. 



In the absence of Mr. Alley, who was to 

 deliver an address on "Rearing Queens," 

 Capt. Hetherington was called upon. Mr. 

 H. stated that he had tried the experiment 

 of introducing young and fertile queens 

 to a colony in summer, in order to prevent 

 swarming, but it had utterly failed. He 

 had also experimented with introducing 

 queens in cells protected by a film of 

 foundation, which was wrapped around 

 them, and, during the first season, had 

 succeeded in introducing two or tlirei.' 

 hundred successfully ; but on further 

 testing, failures resulted. He did not 

 wish to reeonnnend anything new that 

 had not been tested more than one season. 



After some discussion, an article from 

 the " Sun " was read, wherein it was 

 stated that the queens of a certain bee- 

 keeper had laid fertilized eggs, without 

 having left the hives to meet the drone, 

 the drone-larvie being introduced into the 

 royal jelly just after the queen-cell was 

 sealed. Mr. Goodspeed had tested this, 

 but' was not sure of the results. He, how- 

 ever, protested against tampering with 

 the cells. 



" Dollar queens— their effect on the bees 

 of the country," was discussed. The con- 

 vention concluded that the cheap queen 

 business is detrimental, and has done an 

 immense amount of harm. Oftentimes 

 they are not worth the price paid for 

 them ; but are sent out, witliout any test. 



The subject of the "Best arrangement 

 for comb honey," was then taken up, 

 several parties having brought with them, 

 for exhibition, various arrangements for 

 securing comb honey ; and tliese were 

 described and commented upon. 



.SECOND DAY. 



After opeidng the convention. President 

 Root anno inced the following standing 

 committees : 



Resolutions— C. G. Dickinson, Artliur 

 Todd, and J. Van Deusen. 



Exhibits— Ira Barber, I. L. Schofield, 

 and Geo. H. Knickerbocker. 



Question Drawer— N. N. Betsinger, A. 

 J. King, and Geo. W. House. 



S. M. Locke then read an essay on "Li- 

 troducing Queens." He said : The in- 

 troduction of cpieens is, with me, a dihi- 

 culty of the past. We introduce thou- 

 sands of virgin queens every year, witli no 

 loss wlien care is used, and but very few 

 even when done hurriedly. I have had a 

 number of virgin queens caged in one 

 hive, and have liberated one at a time. 



The first would usually mate on the first 

 or second day, and as soon as mated 1 

 would cage her again, and liberate 

 another, and so on. By this means, one 

 could, in a few days, have 5 or fi virgin 

 queens all in one hive mated, and ready 

 to be disj)C)sed of as ejrcunistancc^s re- 

 quired. Litlier nuclei (jr full colonies can 

 be used ; or if there is a shortseasmi when 

 you do not care to have the old queens 

 lay, cage some of the virgin queens in the 

 hive, and before liberating them, cage the 

 old one, proceeding as above, thus secur- 

 ing many fine queens. A queen should 

 not be allowed to remain in a eohniy, till 

 such time as she is so old and feeble as to 

 require "crutches" to get around. 

 Rather than allow that, I would prefer to 

 have two (ineens laying in one hive at 

 once. 



" The marketing of apiarian products " 

 was introduced. A general discussion 

 ensued. Mr. King referred to the British 

 lioney organization, for example. Cali- 

 fornia had secured an unusually large 

 crop last season, which was put on the 

 market at the same time with our own, 

 and at low jirices. This together with the 

 general hard times, has biought about a 

 glutted honey market. It was generally 

 conceded that bee-keepers "must " work 

 unitedly, in making a demand for honey, 

 disposing of as much of it as possible, in 

 home markets. To do this, it was sug- 

 gested that bee and honey exhibits be held 

 in connection with our county fair, and 

 every means used to educate the people 

 as to the value and uses of honey. Neat 

 packages, labels, etc., had much to do 

 with the sale of honey. 



"What can be done to increase the de- 

 mand for extracted honey ?" The gen- 

 eral opinion concurred with tlinse relating 

 to the sale of comb honey. Work up a 

 home trade first, next put lioney into the 

 hands of those who use sweets in candies, 

 medicines, cakes, canned fruit, etc., aiiti 

 wherever honey can be used to advantage; 

 also have some neat pamphlets printed to 

 give away with the honey. 



Capt. Hetherington heartily endorsed 

 the use of comb foundation in the brood- 

 nest and in the boxes, and in the latter, 

 foundation not more than 11 feet to the 

 pound. Mr. Doolittle had found that if 

 the bees were filled with wax secretion, 

 they used that instead of the foundation. 



Mr. Locke read a communication from 

 Messrs. Thurber & Co., of New York City, 

 requesting the Association to sign a pro- 

 test against the proposed "Spanish 

 Treaty," and a petition was signed, ask- 

 ing the United States Senate that the arti- 

 cle admitting Cuban honey free into this 

 country be stricken out of the projiosed 

 treaty. Mes.srs. Todd, L. C. ilont, Van- 

 dervort, Betsinger, Locke and Elwood 

 were appointed to present the petition. 



The election of officers resulted as fol- 

 lows : L. C. Root, President; Frank 1. 

 C. Berick, Secretary ; and I. 1j. SchoHeld, 

 Treasurer. 



President Root then read his annual ad- 

 dress. 



On the question of compelling recogni- 

 tion from our legislatures and agricnl- 

 tural societies, it was decided that united 

 effort was necessary, and Capt. Hether- 

 ington in corroboration of this, gave his 

 experience in working up an exhibition 

 at the Centennial. The bee-keepers did 

 not respond and join him as they should, 

 and which, had lie not worked hard, 

 would have resulted in entire failure. It 

 was decided that bee-keepers' exhibits 

 should be connected with every agricul- 

 tural fair, etc. The agricultural .societies 

 will -welcome us when we do our part. 

 There is no need of compelling the aari- 

 eultural societies to do " their " part ; 

 when "our" associations are so organized 

 that we can act unitedly, then we can 

 make displays and exhibitions that will 

 find a welcome anywhere. Let us do our 



part, and then we shall have somethintr to 

 offer tlie agricultural asso<'ialious, when 

 wi' appeal to them. 



Mr. N. N. Betsinger stated that "atmos- 

 pheric changes " was the cause ot foul 

 brood. The cure of the disease coiihl only 

 be effected by carrying out certain laws. 

 (Jarbolie acid had been suggested as a 

 cure ; but in his opinion, it was worse 

 than the disease. Fernient'-d honey or 

 pollen would cause the disease. He had 

 learned by experience that if tlif fer- 

 mented honi-y alone were led, in less than 

 ten days foul brood would appear. Such 

 fermented honey was oftentimes found 

 in the blossoms. In the cold, wet sea- 

 sons, the disease prevails, because such 

 seasons are favorable to fermentation. In 

 dry seasons foul brood is never found. A 

 complete cure would be found in simply 

 feeding salt. Make a strong brine im- 

 merse the combs over night, and it will 

 poiitively cure. As a preventive to the 

 disease, iieej) a little weak brine in the 

 yard, where llie be -s can get at it. Mr. B. 

 |)avtly fills a nail keg with sawdust, salt 

 and water, and enuu ih will ooze through 

 the staves for the bees. 



The discussion following Mr. Betsinger's 

 remarks was extremely animated, as the 

 idea of treating colonies to brine was con- 

 sidered by maiiy as an original and ques- 

 tionable one. 



The Convention then adjourned to meet 

 at 7 p. m. 



[To be contimted.] 



Fur the American Bee JoumaL 



Good Beport from Cuba. 



A. W. OSBUKN. 



In my last article on page 794 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1884, there was no 

 positive evidence that I could be able 

 to make a favorable report of our 

 year's work, or of the honey resources 

 of this country. At that time we 

 could only muster 113 colonies in 

 weak condition to store honey, for 

 after a 4-months' honey-dearth none 

 but the Holy Land bees were in any 

 condition at all to gather the harvest 

 that was so close upon them. 



On Dec. 1 the bell-flower opened, 

 and for 60 days these 113 colonies 

 gathered honey as bees seldom do, I 

 think ; for at the end of 60 days the 

 bell-flower bloom was pretty much 

 gone, and the bees had stored 40,12-5 

 lbs. of extracted honey, making an av- 

 erage of .3.5.5 pounds per colony, with 10 

 pounds to spare. Good as you may 

 think this yield is, it Is not what is 

 possible or probable, in Cuba, with 

 bees in proper condition ; but ours 

 were not. A few of them, by Jan. 1, 

 were in average condition for stor- 

 ing, and one of these stored 6'20 lbs. 



This honey crop is to be credited to 

 the great amount of honey secreted by 

 tlie bell-flower, and not to our manage- 

 ment, for that has been one succes- 

 sion of blunders from the time we 

 landeithe bees here, until last fall, 

 when it began to dawn upon our be- 

 clouded vision that different manage- 

 ment was necessary here from any 

 other place in which we had ever kept 

 bees. One thing we know, and that 

 is, for Cuba the Holy Land bees are 

 far superior to the Italians. Why ■:* 

 Because they will breed through the 

 fall months and the dearth of honey, 

 and when Dec. 1 comes with the 

 honey harvest, they have bees to 



