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VISITINa. 



An Account of a Tour Among 

 tlie Bee-Fi'iilcrnity. 



Written for the American BeeJau/mai 



BV KEV. WM. F. CLARKE. 



The kind " personal" on page 211, 

 referring to my little visit with the 

 Editor when in Chicago the other day, 

 calls for a word or two of correction 

 and explanation from me. I am spoken 

 of as President of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, which is not 

 quite correct. I had the honor of 

 filling that office last year, but my 

 term expired in January, and the chair 

 is now occupied, and most deservedly, 

 by Mr. Allen Pringle, one of our ablest 

 Canadian bee-keepers — a highly intelli- 

 gent, scholarly man, a good speaker, 

 and a forceful writer. I wish he were 

 better known to the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity, and I trust he will be, l)ut he 

 is a modest, retiring man — needs push- 

 ing, to get him before the public. 



Then as to that " crutch." It is a 

 rather pathetic picture of me which is 

 presented, and suggests, "Pity the 

 sorrows of a poor old man." It was, 

 however, a true picture at the time, 

 for, owing to a fall 1 got in the early 

 part of my journey, I was compelled 

 to obtain a crutch after my arrival in 

 Chicago, and, much to my chagrin, 

 had to go on it the rest of mj' tour ; 

 but, I am glad to say, I have been able 

 to dispense with it since my return. 

 The sciatica, and need of a cane, still 

 remain. 



Mj' trip took me first to the annual 

 meeting of the Western Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, which was held 

 on March 13, at Essex Centre — a brisk 

 little town 17 miles east of Detroit. 

 Though the roads were at their worst, 

 we had a fair attendance, and some 

 interesting discussions. The members 

 of this body are an enterprising, pro- 

 gi-essive class of bee-keepers. 



It may surprise the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal, to learn that 

 one of the topics discussed at this 

 meeting was the honey exhibit to be 

 made at the World's Fair in 1892. We 

 Canadians are a unit in favor of Chi- 

 cago for that great event. Foreigners 

 cannot see America by visiting New 

 York. That's only Gotliam. To see 

 the continent that Columbus discov- 

 ered, people must, at least, go as far 

 west as Chicago. 



I must congratulate the American 

 Bee Journal and its enterprising pro- 

 prietors on their removal to the centre 



of the city, and on the commodious 

 ([uarters now occupied b}' them. I 

 always felt it a long pilgrimage, even 

 by street-cars, to 925 West Madison 

 Street. It meant two hours time, going 

 and returning, when your business lay, 

 as it usually does, in the heart of the 

 city. The office is now within 100 

 numbers of its original location, when 

 I removed it from Washington to Chi- 

 cago, in 1872. It was then 146 East 

 Madison Street. It is now 24t), on the 

 same side of the street. I see onlj' 

 one objection to the present spot, viz : 

 Being easily accessible, it may be fre- 

 quented by bee-men of leisure, who 

 happen to be in Chicago, and do not 

 know the value of a city man's time. 

 A hint to such may not come amiss. 



" Call upon a man of business; 



In hours of business ; 



Only on business; 



Transact your business, 



And go about your business; 



In order to give him time, to attend to bis 



business." 



If the only objects of the call are to 

 see the Editor, shake him by the hand, 

 speak a cheery word, and see where 

 the American Bee Journal is con- 

 cocted — that's the " business " of the 

 occasion ; do it, and depart, leaving 

 the Editor aforesaid in a happy frame 

 of mind, and firmly persuaded that 

 you are a person possessed of some 

 common-sense. I may add (but friend 

 Newman can skip this), that he used 

 to be a good-looking fellow before La 

 Grippe got hold of him ; but he has 

 evidently had a severe mauling by that 

 mysterious visitor, and the barber, uo 

 doubt thinking they did not match his 

 haggard visage, has cut oft' the beauti- 

 ful, twirling ends of his mustache, 

 giving his face a very shorn and 

 shrunken appearance. Seriously, and 

 with fraternal sympathy, let me say, 

 that family affliction, as well as La 

 Grijipe, has ploughed furrows in liis 

 countenance. All who read this will 

 join in the hope that the shadows may 

 soon betake themselves from his house- 

 hold, his hollow cheeks fill up, his 

 mustache assume its former jaunty 

 curves of manly beauty, and "Rich- 

 ard" be "himself .again !" 



But I must get on with my tour. In 

 returning, I spent a day witli Mr. Hed- 

 don, who, fortunately for me, was 

 "under the weather," and obliged to 

 stay in the house, not having fully es- 

 caped from the clutches of La Gripjic. 

 He is such a busy man when quite 

 well, that one can only talk with him 

 by jerks. Owing to that plaguy crutch, 

 aforesaid, I couldn't run around with 

 him to the bee-yard, work-shop. Times'' 

 office, and others of his haunts. At 

 home, I had Iiim pretty mucli to ni}'- 

 self all the time that I was there, and 

 did not have to take him "on the 

 fly." 



Well, Mr. Heddon looked quite hag- 

 gard, too, and not unlike that first 

 picture of him that appeared in tlie 

 laee-papers, and which, he thought, 

 made him look like a " live corpse." 

 But he, like friend Newman, will 

 doubtless get back his good looks in 

 time, and become "killing" again. 



The greater part of the talk two 

 bee-men have when they get together, 

 is unreportable for a variety of rea- 

 sons, and I can only touch on a few 

 topics that we discussed, viz : 



Wintering Bees. — I think the les- 

 sons of the past winter have made Mr. 

 Heddon incline to a better opinion of 

 out-door wintering. He frankly ad- 

 mitted that his out-door colonies have 

 done by far the best during the past 

 winter. The cellar-wintered colonies 

 show some signs of diarrhea, but the 

 out-door ones are entirely free from it. 

 Of course, the season has been an ex- 

 ceptional one, but I would like to see 

 Mr. Heddon become a complete con- 

 vert to the out-door method, if for no 

 other reason, because I am satisfied it 

 is one of the many good points of his 

 new hive, that, being shallow, it econ- 

 omizes heat. For the same reason it is 

 a good hive for spring, being favorable 

 for early brood-rearing. 1 have win- 

 tered rather weak colonies out-of-doors 

 in the half brood-chamber, and had 

 them come out stronger in the spring 

 than they were in the fall. 



The New Hive. — Judging by the 

 testimonies given in his circular, which 

 I read just before starting on my tour, 

 my own experience and observation, 

 together with what I gleaned from Mr. 

 Heddon himself, I am of the opinion 

 that the new hive will be popular only 

 with a select class of bee-keepers. It 

 requires a nicety of mechanical con- 

 struction which few bee-keepers can 

 attain who make their own hives, as I 

 suppose the majority do. It does not 

 admit of any slouchy, go-as-you-please 

 management. Not much manipula- 

 tion of it is needed, but it must be 

 done just so, and in the nick of time. 

 The bee-keei^er who uses it must be 

 quick to see at a glance the state of 

 things, know by instinct what is to 

 be done, and do it right there and 

 then. I frankly own that my chief 

 reason for liking the new hive, is that 

 I prefer to hantlle hives instead of 

 frames. 



The Thick Toi>-Bars. — Mr. Heddon 

 showed me some old, weather-worn 

 fi'ames, with thick top-bars — relics of 

 the " long ago." 1 have some myself. 

 The}' were used in the Thomas hive, 

 which I had as far back as 1864. I 

 did not find them eftectual preventives 

 of brace-comb building. The close 

 honey-board placed just above them 

 with only a bee-space between them, 

 was often fastened with comb along 



