THE AMEBIC xiN APICULTURIST. 



285 



years he had been afflicted with par- 

 alysis, but was able to attend to his 

 apiary until about four months before 

 his death. He leaves a wife and 

 two daughters to mourn his loss, and 

 a wide circle of warm friends who 

 sympathize with them in their sorrow. 

 — Rural Califoniian. 



CONVENTION NOTES, 



WESTERN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION. 



The fourth annual meeting of the 

 Western Beekeepers' Association con- 

 vened in the Court House at Independ- 

 ence, Mo., at ten o'clocli, a. m., Oct. 

 15, 1885. 



President A. A. Baldwin occupied 

 the chair. The morning session was 

 taken up with the order of business. 

 The committee appointed by the North 

 Am. Beekeepers' Societv said that the 

 following railroads (A. T. & S. F., M. 

 P., U. P. and H. & St. Joe) gave flrst- 

 class freight rates on honey in glass 

 and third-class on extracted honey. 

 The committee also suggested that in- 

 asmuch as the transportation compa- 

 nies held monthly meetings that a com- 

 mittee be appointed that had more 

 time than the present committee to 

 prosecute the business further by vis- 

 iting these meetings and if possible ob- 

 tain a better schedule for beekeepers. 

 Report received and the appointment 

 of a committee deferred for the pres- 

 ent. 



The association next proceeded to 

 the election of oflicers for the coming 

 year, resulting in the choice of E. M. 

 Hayhurst of Kansas City, Mo., Presi- 

 dent, R. M. Leahy, Higginsville, Mo., 

 Vice President, JainesH. Jone.s, Buck- 

 ner, Mo., Treasurer and P. Baldwin, 

 Independence, Mo., Secretary. The 

 remainder of the morning session 

 passed pleasantly in the discussion of 

 several interesting topics relative to 

 bee culture ; and as tlie object of the 

 morning session was to get the ma- 

 chinery oiled up ready for business, 

 the president appointed a committee 

 to prepare subjects for the afternoon's 

 discussion, and the association ad- 

 journed to 1.30. 



Afternoon session. — The association 

 was called to order by president Hay- 

 hurst at 1.30. 



Several ladies took seats with the 



beekeepers, snd although they took no 

 part were very encouraging listeners. 

 The committee to prepare questions 

 brought out the following which were 

 taken up in order: "Does it pay to 

 feed extracted honey in order to pro- 

 duce comb honey and what way can it 

 be done the best?" Mr. Couser : I 

 think it takes about three pounds of 

 extracted honey to get one of comb 

 and do not think it will pay. I feed by 

 tipping the hive back and pour the 

 honeyln at the entrance ; I do this at 

 night. 



L. W. Baldwin : I feed only to get 

 unfinished sections completed which 

 can be done just as the honey harvest 

 is closing and not allow the bees to 

 stop comb building. There is money 

 in it if carried out in this manner. 



A. A. Baldwin : I have fed extract- 

 ed honey for this purpose and think it 

 will pay but have not tested it by act- 

 ual weighing and experiments. 



2. "Which race of bees is best to 

 keep for the purpose of getting comb 

 honey?" R. B. Leahy came forward' 

 with a plea for the blacks as far as get- 

 ting white capped and finished up 

 comb honey for market. I think they 

 enter the sections more readily before 

 swarming and are less disposed to 

 swarm. All things considered I pre- 

 fer the Italians. 



James H. Jones : I would*not keep 

 bees if I had to keep the blacks. Here 

 the discussion was quite animated in 

 bringing out the difierent traits of the 

 two races, but the association came 

 down solid for the Italians. 



Other races of bees were spoken of, 

 but no oue had handled them suffi- 

 ciently to be very enthusiastic over 

 them. 



3. "What way is best to winter 

 bees?" 



L. W. Baldwin : I winter my bees in 

 the cellar and have found by the scales 

 that on an average bees consume from 

 ten to twelve pounds more honey per 

 colony when wintered on the sunnner 

 stand than when wintered in the cellar. 

 This is quite an item in wintering a 

 large ajfiary. 



A. A. Baldwin : I think that outdoor 

 wintering brings the bees through 

 with more vigor and they usually 

 swarm earlier, and I feel confident 

 that bees packed with chaff will con- 

 sume at least five pounds less honey 

 than if not. 



Pres. Hayhurst : I think chafl'-pack- 

 ing saves stores. 



The general opinion was that bees 

 wintered on the summer stand should 



