THE SlVtHHIC^KPf VWB JOUKKKI^. 



S19 



Prof. Cook — We need have no feai's 

 of ill-liealth from liaving bees in the 

 cellar, if tlie cellar is ventilated as all 

 cellars ought to be. I think that sub- 

 earth ventilation is not needed, nnless 

 it be used to control the temperature. 

 I know of many who have wintered 

 hundreds of colonies with no sub-earth 

 ventilation. 



S. Cornell — The only advantage of 

 sub-earth ventilation, is that it maybe 

 used in tempering the air by bringing 

 it in under the earth. I venture to say 

 that I can winter bees in a tempera- 

 ture of 25 , by having the walls of the 

 hive thick. 



J. B. Hall — Where is the man who 

 winters his bees out-of-doors ? You all 

 talk about out-door wintering, but 

 when it comes right down to it, if you 

 do not put your bees into a cellar, you 

 build a little cellar around each colony. 

 W!iy not put them all into one big 

 cellar ? 



K. L. Taylor — It has been urged that 

 bees should not be taken out of the 

 cellar too early. My experience is, that 

 it is better to take them out earh'. If 

 the}" have wintered well, there is no 

 danger of spring dwindling. 



The convention tlien adjourned un- 

 til 1:30 p.m. 



AFTEKNOON SESSION. 



President Mason called the meeting 

 to order at 1:30 p.m., and the conven- 

 tion then proceeded to select the place 

 for holding the next meeting. Keokuk, 

 Iowa, was chosen, and the election of 

 officers was tlien held, which resulted 

 as follows : 



President— R. L. Taylor, Liipeer, Micb. 

 First Vice l're».— Buuene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 

 Secretary— ('. P. Dadant. Hamilton, Ills. 

 Treasurer— Dr. C. C. Miller, Mareugo, Ills. 



The other Vice-Presidents are to be 

 chosen by the executi\e committee. 



REl'OKT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 



The report of the Committee on Res- 

 olutions was re:id anil ad()i)tcd. It is 

 as follows : 



Renolv'd. Thai the coi'ilial thanks of this 

 Assiwialion are due. and are hcroli.\ tcnilei-ed 

 to the Brant lU'C-Kccpers' Assoiiatiou, for its 

 kiiiil invilalioii (exteiideil at its last sosslou) to 

 meet at ffni Ml lord, and for the tfencrous and 

 eftieient mannir ill which it has received and 

 entertained I his eonvcntion. 



Bumlved, That our tlianks are also tcadeiod 

 to the Mayor and City Council of llrantford, 

 who have so kindly carried out ttie evident 

 wish ol tlip eit.\ . in Brantiug us the free use of 

 this hall, and in friviuK usa f?onei<)iis wokonie. 



BeHnlved. That the thanks of tliis Assoeiatioii 

 are due. and hereliy e.\tendoii to such liee- 

 periodieals as liave ^iven us the gratuitous 

 use of their columns for notices of meelinifs. 

 and in other ways triven their assistance to 

 make this moetinV a success. .\nd to the city 

 and other papers who have kindly pul)lishcd 

 our nrocecdinirs. an<l fcir the correct manner 

 in which Ihey have repoiied our m(?etinfrs. 



BcKiilved. That the thanks of this. \.ssociat ion 

 are due anti hereby tenrlcred to the (piarteltc 

 whoso kindly assisted in cnlivcninir onr ses- 

 sion by the siiiKiiij; of our bee-keepers' sonj;s. 



Bomlved, That the thanks of our .\ssoeiation 

 arc due and hereliy tendered to the hotels ami 



railroads for roduced rates and accommoda- 

 tions. 



Resolved. That havinp been Informeil by a 

 communication from ex-President Thomas G. 

 Newman (read bv the PresidentI, of the severe 

 Illness of his wife, and of his regret at not 

 beinif able to be with us in this convention, 

 we hereliv tender him our most cordial sympa- 

 thj-, and e.xpress our sincere regrets that he is 

 iKit. permitted to l>e with us. 



To the Kev. L. L. Langstroth, the acknowl- 

 edged father of modern apiculture, who is 

 with us in thought liut absent on account of 

 failing health, we send most cordial greeting, 

 and wish him a restoration to health and 

 strength, and express our regrets that he is 

 not here to cheer us by his presence, and en- 

 lighten lis by his counsel and wisdom. 



To 8. T. Pett it, of lielmont. Out., and E. D. 

 Keene\-, of Arcade, N. Y., who send regrets 

 for their Inability to be with us on account of 

 ill health. 



Tt>.l. y. Detwilcr, of New Smyrna, Fla., who 

 came so far as Toledo. ().. and was prevented 

 from attending this convention because of the 

 death of iiis father, we also send words of 

 cheer and our regrets at their enforced 

 absence. K. K. Holterm.inn, I ^ 



K. L. Tavloh. ('"'""• 



The following telegram was sent to 

 Father Langstoth : ■■ The International 

 bee-keepers send affectionate greeting, 

 and wish you were here." 



Next came an cssa)" from S. Cornell, 

 of Lindsay, Out., upon 



Heal-Uetainiiisr Hive— How it is 

 lleitil Obtained. 



Regarding the protection of bees against 

 cold in winter, and during the time of rapid 

 brood-reariug iu spring, I take the ground 

 that warm air inside the hive is of the first 

 importance, and that the temperature of 

 the air outside the hive is only a secondarv 

 matter, provided the hive walls are com- 

 posed of good heat-retaining materials. In 

 a hive of bees we have, as it were, a self- 

 acting furnace, keeping up a constant tem- 

 perature of 65 degrees in the centre, and at 

 least 50 degrees in the atmosphere imme- 

 diately surrounding it, when the bees are 

 the most quiescent. 



As with live stock during our winters, so 

 with bees, the better the heat is retained in 

 the air in contact with them, the less food 

 they consume, and the less vital work is re- 

 quired to keeji up the standard tempera- 

 ture. That much of the heat generated 

 may be retained by the selection of the best 

 materials for the hive, is evident from the 

 following account given by Prof. Pepper, 

 in his work on "Heat:" 



" One of the most interesting novelties 

 displayed in the department devoted to 

 Norway, iu the F'rench Exhibition of 1867, 

 was the self-acting Norwegian cooking-ap- 

 paratus, constructed in the most simple 

 manner, of a wooden box lined with four 

 inches of felt, in which the saucepans con- 

 taining the food, previously boiled and 

 maintained at the boiling-point for five or 

 ten minutes, according to the nature of the 

 food to be cooked, are placed. The heated 

 sauce-pans are covered with a thick felt 

 cover, and, the lid of the box being fastened 

 down, the rest of the cooking is done by 

 slow digestion, no more heat being added. 



"The heated vessels containing the food 

 will retain a high temperature for several 

 hours, so that a dinner put into the appara- 

 tus at 8 in the morning, would be quite hot 

 and ready bv 5 in the afternoon, and would 

 keei) hot upto 10 or 12 at night, because 

 the felt clothing so completely pr&vents 

 the escape of the heat; and as the whole is 

 enclosed in a box, there are no eunents of 

 air to carry off any other heat by convec- 

 tion. 



"The principle on which this cooking- 

 apparatus acts, is that of retaining the 

 heat: and it consists of a heat-retainer or 

 isolating aiiparatus, sliaped something like 



a refrigerator, and cue or more sauce-pans 

 to tit into it." 



In selecting the ma:terials for hives, with 

 a view to the greatest warmth, it should be 

 rememliered that air conducts nearly twice 

 as much heat as cork, the ratio being as 49 

 to 2!). Carded wool and wool-felt conduct 

 about four times as much as cork. Blotting- 

 paper conducts aliout as much iis wool. 

 Sawdust conducts at)Out seven times as 

 much as cork. Wood generally conducts 

 seventeen times as much heat as cork, 

 " more than four times as much as wool, 

 and more than ten times as much as air." 



Cheshire says, " If a hive side of %-inch 

 zinc have its protective power represented 

 by 1, that of a double side with dead(0 

 ah- space would equal 4, while the same 

 wooden sides packed tightly with chaff 

 would equal 10." "Further experiments 

 proved that the cork-dust in lieu of the 

 chaff-paclcing, gave a uon-eonduetivity to 

 be represented liy 14." 



My own experiments have satisfied me 

 that straw is a much better heat-retaining 

 material than wood. Each straw has a 

 dead-air chamber lietween the joints, and 

 and when the straws are pressed together, 

 the air lying between them is compara- 

 tively "dead." 



I made some experiments last winter 

 with an old-style Jones' hive made of 

 straw, and a single-walled eight-framed 

 Laugstroth hive. I found that the same 

 quantitj' of hot water cooled much more 

 quickly in the Langstroth. For covering 

 hives on top, there is nothing available as 

 good as (juilts filled with sheep's wool. 

 There is a kind of batting used by uphol- 

 sterers which I think would answer nearly 

 as well. It is made of old woolen rags, and 

 costs, at wholesale, less than half the price 

 of wool. 



Cork-dust at wholesale costs about five 

 or six cents per jionnd. A cubic foot well 

 packed weighs aliout eight pounds. About 

 three pounds will be required to give 1^{ 

 inches of tilling for the walls of ordinary 

 hives. I use picture-backing and three 

 thicknesses of carpet felt-paper for the 

 inner skin of my hives, and ■H-inch pine for 

 the outer sUiu. Hives with walls thus filled 

 will measure about 2'.; inches larger each 

 way. They will weigh about five or six 

 pounds more, and will cost about as much 

 more as single-walled hives of the same 

 capacity. 



The question which every bee-keeper will 

 ask before incurring the extra expense is, 

 Will it pay to use these double-walled 

 hives! I think it will be admitted that 

 their advantages for early spring brood- 

 rearing are as great as for wintering; Imt 

 leaving the former out of the question, if, 

 during the time one of these hives lasts, it 

 should be the means of saving in good con- 

 dition a colony of bees, which in a single- 

 w ailed hive would have died, it will pay to 

 use hives with packed walls. 



S. COBNEII.. 



Mr. Sturgeon used and preferred the 

 chafl' hive. 



J. B. Hall— Yes, but there are really 

 a lot of little cellars, witli a tube from 

 each, through which the bees may lly. 

 Mine are in one large cellar, with no 

 tube for them to tly out. 



Mr. Sturgeon — Yes. but I have tried 

 putting bees in a cellar in chaff hives. 



J. B. Hall— Yes, yes ; but you pro- 

 tected them too much. When I go into 

 a warm room, I take off my overcoat. 



J. B. Aches — Does Mr. Sturgeon 

 o-ive upward ventilation to his hives in 

 the cellar ? 



Mr. Sturgeon- No, sir. 



