120 



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bees from breeding, and the excessive 

 rains waslied tlie honey from the flow- 

 ers ; yet in spite of this, the yield was 

 about 76 per cent, of the crop, being 

 50 per cent, better than in 1888. In 

 1880 our State had 146,000 colonies, 

 and produced 1,097,000 lbs. of surplus 

 honey; but the winter of 1880-81 killed 

 half the bees, which reduced our sur- 

 plus to 690,000 lbs., making a difference 

 in the two crops of 407,000 lbs. These 

 were very extreme changes. 



The yield of 1887 was 1,624,000 lbs.; 

 in 1888 the number of colonies in- 

 creased, but the yield was reduced to 

 923,000 lbs.— the effect of dry weather. 

 Pay more attention to packing bees for 

 winter ; be more thoughtful about 

 taking honey too close, and increasing 

 too fast. The majority of our winter 

 losses come from diarrhea and starva- 

 tion. 



Our exhibit at the State Fair was 

 creditable, although not as large and 

 impressive as becomes our State. If 

 ■we ask for more space, we can get it. 

 The business of bee-culture is increas- 

 ing; every farmer's family has a mem- 

 ber who could learn to handle bees. 

 Farmers are advised to grow small 

 fruits — why not produce their own 

 honey? Finally, attend all agricultural 

 societies, for it pays to attend them. 

 E. H. Collins. 



BEST METHOD TO GET COMB HONEY. 



This subject was ably presented in a 

 well-prepared essay by Geo. C. Thomp- 

 son, of Southport, Ind., in which he 

 said : 



" My method is the result of careful 

 study. To secure a large crop of comb 

 honey, we must have strong colonies. 

 The hive must be full to overflowing 

 with bees. A weak colony may give 

 fair returns of extracted honey, but 

 will not work in the sections so as to be 

 profitable. Construct the hive so as to 

 be easy of access in all parts at all 

 times, and capable of being contracted 

 or expanded at will, as circumstances 

 may demand. The surplus cases should 

 be easy of manipulation. The colonies 

 must be kept strong during the entire 

 j'ear ; swarming must be prevented, 

 for, when bees swarm, they do not 

 store as much honey as those which do 

 not swarm." 



PREPARING HONEY FOR MARKET. 



This was the subject presenter! by 

 G. H. Hornbuckle, of Glenn Valley, 

 who said : 



"First convince the purchaser that it 

 is pure, and just what you represent it 

 to be, as honey is no new article. We 

 must educate the people as to how 

 honey is produced, and from what 

 kind of flowers the best honey is gath- 

 ered. I find honey on market that 

 people condemn, and should not be 



put on the market. At home is the 

 place to establish a market. Never 

 put honey in the hands of commission 

 men. If our people were more educa- 

 ted on the honey-question, we would 

 find a more ready sale. E.\,tracted 

 honey is better than that in the comb." 

 Action was taken to prepare for a 

 better exhibit at the State Fair, and to 

 secure more and better arranged room. 

 During the thi-ee sessions, a number 

 of essays were read and discussed with 

 much interest. A part of the discus- 

 sion was too theoretical, as usual, but a 

 number of practical workers from the 

 field, gave us much accurate informa- 

 tion on the details of successful man- 

 agement. How easy it is, when a 

 stranger begins to speak, for one of 

 experience to tell whether he is a prac- 

 tical bee-keeper or not. Very often 

 the first sentence betrays him. Theory, 

 unless based on experience and simply 

 reaching into the future to pave the 

 way for experiment, is undesirable in 

 any such meeting. It is not worth a 

 cent. But I must not be misunderstood. 

 The convention was not burdened 

 with it more than such meetings usually 

 are, while one member after another 

 arose promptly, and told his method, 

 and why it succeeded well with him. 



At recesses and intermissions, be- 

 tween sittings, the audience was chat- 

 ting freely on various topics of common 

 interest, and were slow to leave the 

 house. 



A communication from Mrs. Wycliffe 

 Mason, spoke of Mr. Mason's recent 

 death, of typhoid fever. Mr. ]\(]lason 

 was a prominent member of the society. 

 Every essay on the programme was 

 read, their being no failures, and a few 

 volunteer essays were offered. 



Ofiicers were elected for the ensuing 

 year, as follows : President, E. H. 

 Collins; Vice-President, OraKnowIton; 

 Secretary, Geo. C. Thompson ; and 

 Treasurer, J. M. Hicks. 



The following Committee on Pro- 

 gramme was selected : Mrs. C. Rob- 

 bins, and Messrs. Knowlton, Hender- 

 son, M3'ers and Wilson. 



The programme for the next meeting 

 devotes the first session to an object 

 lesson adapted to juvenile bee-keepers' 

 by our worthy Seci-etary, Geo. C. 

 Thompson, in which he will open a 

 hive and show his method of manipu- 

 lation, and his arrangement of the 

 honey-board and sections. The pro- 

 gramme in full will soon be published. 

 It will include exhibits of samples of 

 hfiney and honey-|}lants, also supplies, 

 etc.. with a list of essays by practical 

 bee-keepers. 



Although we had a very pleasant re- 

 union, and made many new and desir- 

 able aciiuaintances, we expect next 

 winter's meeting to be the largest and 



best this Society ever held in Indianap- 

 olis. The stenographer's report of the 

 meeting will be printed in the State 

 Agricultural Report. — Indiana Farmer. 



NEW YORK. 



Report of the New Tork State 

 Convention. 



The New York 



Association began 



State Bee-Keepers' 

 its first session of 



the 21st annual convention, at 2 p.m., 

 on Feb. 5, 1890, in the Supreme Court 

 room, at Rochester, N. Y. About 50 

 well-known bee-keepers of the State 

 were present. 



President P. H. Elwood called the 

 convention to order, and the Secretary, 

 George H. Knickerbocker, read the 

 minutes of the last meeting. Consid- 

 erable time was consumed in receiving 

 new members. 



METHODS OF REARING QUEENS. 



A short essay presented by G. M. 

 Doolittle, on the "New methods of 

 queen-rearing," was read bj' the Sec- 

 retary. The essay was merely sugges- 

 tive of questions relating to queen- 

 rearing. The methods of rearing 

 qtieens over a queen-excluding honey- 

 board were suggested. Some still 

 claim that queens shall be reared by 

 the swarming system. Mr. Doolittle 

 did not wish to advise the use of the 

 larval system, but he wished to call 

 out a discussion on this point. 



President Elwood thought that bet- 

 ter queens could be obtained from nat- 

 ural cells, than in any other way. By 

 the other methods, satisfactory queens 

 could be obtained, if pains were taken 

 in selecting the larva3. 



Mr. Doolittle finally said that "when 

 the Creator put the bee in the world, 

 he placed it there under the same con- 

 ditions as other beings — that is, with 

 the instruction to increase and multi- 

 ply. The rule of " the survival of the 

 fittest" reigns in the bee-family. The 

 results were, that we had the very 

 highest quality of queens until man 

 stepped in, and tried to improve upon 

 the Creator's method. 



T. H. Cyrenus said that if the same 

 care was taken, and the bees given the 

 attention, under the force method, as 

 under the natural method, satisfactory 

 queens might be obtained. He did not 

 consider queens thus obtained, so 

 hardy, however. 



Mr. Doolittle said : " Upon the 

 queen depends all thei-e is in bee-keep- 

 ing. If you are going to scrimp any- 

 where, do it some other way than on 

 the queen. You cannot rear a bee or 

 produce a pound of honey without the 

 queen. When this fact comes to be 

 recognized, bee-keepers will find them- 

 selves more successful." He also said 



