468 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 13, 1905 



Alfalfa and sweet clover will very soon follow, and with 

 suitable weather conditions a fair honey crop may be ex- 

 pected, where bees are in proper condition. 



Generally speaking, winter losses of bees were heavy here. 

 It was not until May 26 that I removed the winter packing in 

 my apiary. Yesterday 1 had my first swarm of the season, 

 and this reminded me of the severe criticism I suffered at the 

 hands of Mrs. L. Fees (page 38), and our Afterthinker, Mr. 

 Hasty (page 38), upon my applied "shot-gun remedy," as re- 

 ported by me in the American Bee .Journal of 1904, page 838. 

 However, Miss Emma M. Wilson, of "Our Bee-Keeping Sis- 

 ters," in a very sensible and able way defended me against 

 the slur of the " telescope " sister, and I can well afford to 

 trust that other practical and sensible bee-keepers will judge 

 similarly with Miss Wilson about it. 



It is true that a person with a weak vision, cross-eyed, or 

 lacking in good judgment, will most likely make a bungling 

 job of bringing down a swarm of bees (when clustered out of 

 reach) by a well-aimed shot or two, but I hope that my report, 

 and this rejoinder to the comments made upon my veracity, 

 will cause other apiarists, who will have to deal with " high- 

 flyers" this season, to apply the shot-gun remedy, and thus 

 be convinced of the entire practicability of " bringing them 

 down." 



I regret that the "inner consciousness" of Mr. Hasty 

 was so seriously aroused as to cause him to say that swarms 

 shot off of trees can not always be landed at a spot before- 

 hand ascertained. If Mr. Hasty had read carefully what I 

 say about it in my article, his conscious troubles would have 

 been avoided entirely, because I have not claimed that the 

 cluster of bees will always, and under all circumstances, fall 

 where the operator desires it to fall ; but I said, " as it hap- 

 pened," etc., it brought down the cluster of bees in every in- 

 stance right in front of the hive, properly adjusted. And it 

 did. 



Mr. Hasty's voluntary counsel and advice to adjust the 

 hive after the dropping of the swarm is not very good advice, 

 whereas the adjusting of the hive can be done much better, 

 in most cases, before the shooting takes place, for the simple 

 reason that even most gentle bees, after they have struck the 

 ground when shot down, are angered and infuriated to such a 

 degree that it is decidedly unpleasant to fool around them 

 adjusting the hive. If Mr. Hasty will give it a practical trial 

 he is almost sure of being convinced. I have tried it in former 

 years, and have profited by experience. 



It is also my opinion that even in cases when bees are 

 clustered too far out of reach for hiving them, and so located 

 that they can not be brought down in front of a properly 

 adjusted hive, several shots of fine shot fired right into the 

 cluster is a very practical way to prevent absconding of the 

 swarm, in a majority of cases. 



Should it happen that the queen is killed by the shooting, 

 the bees will, on their own account, return to their old hive, 

 and thus not be lost to the apiarist by absconding. 



Hall Co., Nebr., June 10. 



=\ 



Contention 

 Procecbings 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Coaventlou, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904. 



The 14th convention of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee- 

 Keepers' Association was held in Chicago, Nov. 30 and Dec. 

 1, 1904. The first session was called to order by Pres. George 

 W. York, at 10:30 o'clock a. m., Nov, 30, after which Rev. 

 R. B. McCain offered the following invocation : 



"Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the 

 fellowship of thy servants in the world who, whatever their 

 avocations and occupations may be, may come together in 

 fraternal relations and speak to each other of the interests 

 of their lives. We thank Thee for the goodly number that 

 have come here to talk over their daily work ; and we pray, 

 Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt give us the Master who 

 walks in the midst of the blooming fields and waving corn, 

 and who speaks the words of eternal truth to those who 

 listen to Him. Wilt Thou give His direction and the guid- 

 ance of His spirit in all we have to do. We pray Thou wilt 



bless those left at home, protect them and keep them and 

 watch over the interests of all Thy people. Guide us to Thy 

 praise and glory while we live, and afterwards may we have 

 an eternity to spend in Thy presence with Christ, our blessed 

 Redeemer. Amen." 



Pres. York at this point took the opportunity of intro- 

 ducing those present to one another, after which the secretary 

 read the minutes of the preceding convention, which, on mo- 

 tion, were confirmed. 



Secretary Moore — A great many years ago there was an 

 honest old gentleman by the name of Jimmie Griffin, when 

 I was very small, and he says, "Francke, blow your own 

 horn or you'll never get a wife." So we have to blow our 

 own horn a little or people won't know we are doing any- 

 thing. The Executive Committee about three months ago 

 got together and decided they would try to have a big meet- 

 ing here this fall. We decided to send out two thousand 

 notices of this meeting. We sent it to everybody that would 

 likely, as we thought, come to the Live Stock Show in Chi- 

 cago in December. Atr. York thought we would get quite a 

 few dollars in. We got $23 in the mail as a result" of that, 

 and we are hoping we will get many more dollars at this 

 meeting. 



The President appointed Messrs. Fluegge and Jacob as 

 ushers. 



Dr. Miller — After hearing the report of the Secretary I 

 feel, as an officer of the National Association, like thanking 

 the oificers of this Association for the action they have taken. 

 It didn't occur to me before that a thing of that kind would 

 mean so much to the National as it does ; and that sort of 

 thing I think will help to increase the membership of the 

 National. It is an auxiliary to it in increasing its numbers. 

 I believe the action in that respect is worthy of commenda- 

 tion. 



Pres. York — There were some who did not get the no- 

 tice we mailed, and the reason is this : We took the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal list, commencing with the State of Wiscon- 

 sin and stopped when we got to the end of the two thousand 

 notices, which included Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and In- 

 diana. There was no intention to slight anybody, but we 

 thought we had better stop when we got to the end of the 

 two thousand. 



Sec. Moore — I thought we would get a lot of people in, 

 but I didn't expect to get even $23 in the mail, but I was 

 sure we would have a very big meeting. 



Mr. Abbott — I want to call attention to one fact, that 

 because only $23 came in is no argument against the cir- 

 cular. Publicity is the biggest part of advertising. We 

 newspaper men find they .are always trying to play that 

 racket on us every time, but a man doesn't throw his money 

 away when he docs not get returns. He lets people know 

 he is in the world, and that is the biggest part of advertising. 



The treasurer's report was read and approved, after 

 which an intermission of ten minutes was taken to allow 

 those present to pay their annual dues. 



THERMOMETER IN THE BEE-CELL.\R. 



"Where should a thermomenter hang in a bee-cellar?" 

 Dr. Miller — I should say that it is not an easy matter 

 to decide always where a thermometer should be hung in 

 the cellar. Quite a number of degrees difference will be 

 found in different parts of the cellar. At the top it will be 

 warmer than down at the bottom, so I try to find where I 

 think will be about an average temperature for the cellar, 

 and it does not matter so much where it is as that you 

 keep you thermometer in the same place all the time. If 

 I have it in any one place and decide about what I think 

 the temperature is at wiiich the bees are quietest, then I 

 try to keep it at that temperature. .Another thing, you can- 

 not go by absolute degrees, because thermometers vary so 

 much. As I said before, it doesn't matter so much, then, 

 what temperature you have as that you find at what tem- 

 perature the bees seem most quiet, and then try to hold it 

 at that. 



Mr. Dadant — I wish to emphasize what Dr. Miller says 

 as to the temperature at which bees are quietest. The 

 thermometer is always needed to tell you whether, when the 

 bees are not quiet, the temperature is too high or too low. 

 If you find your bees quiet at say 40 degrees and you come 

 back again and find they are not quiet, and the temperature 

 is 42 degrees, you know it is a little too high. If you did 

 not have a thermometer you would not be able to tell whether 

 it vi-as too high or too low. I believe that is the only pur- 

 pose of the thermometer. If you can get your bees quiet and 



