598 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



remarked that the Quinby frame had 

 neither bottom nor top. Mr. Hall 

 saw no ii.se in a reversible frame. 

 What he wanted was a reversible bee, 

 and that he had ; a bee that would 

 build comb and store honey whenever 

 there was a chance, whether at the 

 top or the bottom of tlie frame. 



W. P. Clarke remarked that in the 

 early days of Methodism, a preacher 

 took for his text. " The men tliat have 

 turned the world upside down have 

 come hither also." His heads of dis- 

 course were : I. The world is wrong 

 side up ; II. It needs turning upside 

 down ; and III. We are the people to 

 do it. For his part, he should not 

 turn his frames upside down until he 

 had some evidence that they were 

 wrong side up. He still believed that 

 for some wise purpose there was an 

 upward inclination of the outer edge 

 of the cell— it was " tip-tilted," as 

 Tennysun politely said of the lady's 

 pug nose. Nature )iad some reason 

 for this, and he went against all un- 

 necessary interference with nature. 

 The strongest arguments he had 

 heard for reversing frames was that 

 the bees sometimes failed to continue 

 comb building to the bottom of the 

 frame, but this could be cured with- 

 out reversing. Mr. Hall had some of 

 the most perfect frames of comb lie 

 had ever seen at the exhibition 

 ground, and would sliow them to any 

 one who wished, at the same time ex- 

 plaining how they were built. A 

 leading supply dealer had told him 

 (Mr. Clarke) to-day, that no bee-keeper 

 was up with the times who did not 

 use reversible frames. Well, he first 

 wanted to know if the times were 

 right before he cared about being up 

 with them. 



A member asked if Mr. Hall could 

 not explain to the convention liow he 

 got his combs built out to the bottom. 

 Mr. Hall replied, " Cheerfully :" if he 

 had a donkey that wouldn't go with- 

 out whipping him, of course he would 

 whip him, but if he did not need 

 whipping, "dy'e think I'dwalhip him';" 

 O! no! no!" The bees will build 

 combs right down if the comb founda- 

 tion is heavy enough, and brought 

 within half an inch of the bottom- 

 bar. People said that was costly. 

 Well, if he was only going to use 

 comb one year it would not pay to use 

 foundation, but he calculated his 

 combs to last a life-time, and so was 

 willing to be at some cost and trouble 

 to get them good. He used founda- 

 tion only four feet to the pound. He 

 was obliged to make his own comb 

 foundation because he could not get a 

 manufacturer to make it heavy 

 enough for him. and this was all the 

 secret of obtaining such combs as he 

 had at the exhibition which had been 

 in use for several years, and were 

 only average specimens of what his 

 bees built. 



A second question was taken out of 

 the drawer, viz : "Is chilled brood 

 the same as foul brood V If not, will 

 chilled brood produce foul brood V" 

 Both questions were unanimously 

 answered in the negative in the dis- 

 cussion that followed. 



A piece of comb was exhibited, and 

 the qu,estion asked whether it was a 



case of foul brood. The answer was 

 deferred so that the comb might be 

 examined by daylight. ' 



The Association then adjourned 

 till the next day, an informal meet- 

 ing being appointed on the Fair 

 Ground, at 2 p. m., and the second 

 regular meeting at 7:30 p. m. in the 

 City Hall. 



SECOND DAY. 



The informal meeting held on the 

 exhibition grounds was truly informal, 

 no organization being attempted. 

 There were animated discussions by 

 groups of enthusiastic bee-keepers 

 who gathered around the several ob- 

 jects displayed in which they felt 

 special interest. Here was a knot en- 

 circling a portable bee-house, accom- 

 modating four hives, and arranged 

 for summering and wintering, sides 

 and roof to be taken off during the 

 working season, and being put to- 

 gether for chaff packing on the ap- 

 proach of cold weather. Extractors, 

 bee-feeders, bee-tents, reversible 

 frames, Caruiolan bees, and, as the 

 auctioneer's are wont to say, " other 

 articles too numerous to mention " 

 attracted the attention of bee-men 

 experienced and inexperienced — es- 

 pecially the latter. Apiarian veter- 

 ans drew off aside to discuss bee- 

 literature, the pollen and other win- 

 tering theories, election of officers, 

 and the general interests of bee- 

 keeping. The meeting, though like 

 the primeval earth, " without form," 

 was by no means " void," and it may 

 be questioned whether any duly or- 

 ganized meeting of the Association 

 was more useful and profitable than 

 this "go-as-you-please" assembly. 

 Novices came into close contact with 

 the older heads, and those uninter- 

 ested in supplies, ventilated the 

 graver questions now before the bee- 

 world, to their hearts' content. 



President Thom occupied the chair 

 at the evening meeting, which, after 

 the transaction of a little routine 

 business, was wholly devoted to the 

 all-important subject of wintering. 

 The early part of the meeting was a 

 glum affair, being taken up by several 

 members with a melancholy detail of 

 "the losses of bees that they had 

 known," during the past severe win- 

 ter, all of whom wound up with the 

 stereotyped " I want to know, you 

 know," how to do it without fail next 

 time. Then came the more cheerful 

 experiences of those who by various 

 methods had wintered their bees with 

 a fair measure of success. Cellars, 

 clamps, bee-houses, chaff hives and 

 straw-packing had each their advo- 

 cates, but nothing new was elicited. 

 It was found, however, that those 

 who had prepared their bees for win- 

 ter early, and used proper care, had 

 done comparatively well. One or two 

 members were enthusiastic about cork 

 dust packing, while another aflirined 

 that it drew moisture, and congealed 

 into a solid mass. W. P. Clarke ex- 

 pounded at some length his theory of 

 hibernation, and as it was the first 

 time he had found an opportunity of 

 going into it fully before a Canadian 

 audience, much interest was awaken- 

 ed, and many questions asked. 



Mr. D. A. Jones detailed the 

 methods of others in the use of which 

 they had been more or less successful, 

 but did not particularize in regard to 

 his own, because he had so often 

 described it that all knew what it 

 was. He would not advise those who 

 kept only a few colonies of bees to 

 build costly double-walled bee-houses, 

 like his own, but thought they should 

 use some form of chaff or sawdust 

 packing on the summer stands. He 

 was not prepared to say that bees 

 hibernate, but he felt sure that the 

 qiiieter they were kept the better. 

 Whatever method was adopted, he 

 would strongly urge upon bee-keepers 

 to make their winter preparations 

 early. Bees ought not to be dis- 

 turbed in the brood-nest later than 

 the first or beginning of October. He 

 spoke of wintering under snow, and 

 said that bees buried under four or 

 five feet of " the beautiful " always 

 did well. It was a porous protection 

 allowing air, but not admitting cold, 

 or allowing the escape of heat. 



Mr. Clarke's plan of providing a 

 riddance of dead bees by means of a 

 hopper under the hive, met with con- 

 siderable favor, several testifying to 

 the loss of fine colonies resulting from 

 putrid heaps of dead bees, causing 

 the whole colony to become diseased 

 with plenty of stores in the hive. 



Mr. Cornell described a new pack- 

 ing in the shape of " mineral wool," 

 of which he had a specimen, and 

 which he said was the best non-con- 

 ducting material known. It could be 

 had in New York for $3.50 per hun- 

 dred weight, and an inch in thickness 

 was ample packing. This would 

 make the cost .50 or 00 cents per hive. 



Several cases of supposed hiberna- 

 tion were given, in which the bees 

 became so torpid that it took some- 

 time to arouse them. A member men- 

 tioned the surprised experience of a 

 lady who had 2 colonies, both win- 

 tered alike, one of which upon being 

 put out in the spring was active and 

 lively, while the other was motionless 

 and to all appearance, dead. She 

 emptied them out upon the ground 

 and left them. The day was warm 

 and sunny, and before long they 

 awoke to find themselves out of 

 house and home. 



The discussion was kept up until 

 a late hour, and closed unfinished. 

 A remarkable feature about it was 

 that wintering on sugar stores found 

 no advocate, and none expressed 

 themselves in favor of it except as a 

 supplement to an insufticient supply 

 of honey. Strong things were said as 

 to the wisdom of wintering bees on 

 the best honey, gathered early in the 

 season, and thoroughly evaporated. 



The Toronto Industrial Exhibition 

 lasts two weeks, and during the first 

 week the Provincial P'air was going 

 on in London, which kept away the 

 bee-keepers of Western Ontario. This 

 fact, and the desire for fuller discus- 

 sion of many topics, led to a resolu- 

 tion of adjournment until the next 

 week, to which time, the election of 

 officers and some other business was 

 postponed. 



The Directors of this enterprising 

 Exhibition have this year offered as 



