282 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



was when the highest ambition of the 

 apiarist was to obtain a starter — a 

 comb-guide; but with the improve- 

 ment in foundation, the guide is a 

 thing of the past. The necessities of 

 to-day are full sheets of worker foun- 

 dation to build up colonies by which 

 we are enabled, in a great measure, 

 to control the number of drones in the 

 hive, which has always been a serious 

 drawback in the production of honey. 



The beekeeper of to-day can hive 

 his colony on lull sheets of comb foun- 

 dation, and in less than twenty-four 

 hours, under favorable circumstances, 

 can see the queen supplied with ceils 

 in which to deposit brood as fast as she 

 can use them, and the workers storing- 

 honey. They can also All their sec- 

 tions with foundation, and under fav- 

 orable circumstances, have them nicely 

 lilled and sealed over in four, six or 

 eight days. With these facilities, it is 

 left with individuul beekeepers to de- 

 cide whether they will use a clean, 

 light foundation which will make a 

 surplus honey to please the most fas- 

 tidious taste, and buildup a reputation 

 for nice honey such as no other nation 

 can produce; or whether they will use 

 a dirty, heavy foundation and make 

 such a honey as no one ever wants tiie 

 second time. Choose ye between the 

 two. 



Make a nice surplus honey and es- 

 tablish a reputation which will com- 

 mand a ready sale at a good price. 

 You have the fiicilities for making 

 either. It is for you to decide whether 

 you will use au inferior foundation and 

 ruin your reputation for nice honey or 

 a superior foundation and establish a 

 reputation such as no other nation can 

 compete with. 



Quite a discussion followed the 

 paper, but it was a repetition of what 

 you will tind in the reports of the pro- 

 ceedings of the N. E. B. A. in our 

 March number for ISS-i. 



T^he question, Is it advisable to re- 

 verse the brood fi'ames? was next con- 

 sidered by the convention. 



Mr. Van Deusen stated that his son 

 has had several reversible frames for 

 five or six years, and I think that if 

 there had been any advantsige in this 

 method it would have been adopt*. d 

 long ago. 



Mr. Hall saw no good in revers- 

 ing. Nearly every one of his con)l)s 

 is nicely attached to the bottom and 

 top, and if the bees are troubled about 

 attaching them he placed them in 

 supers above thel)rood-cliamber. Cells 

 are invariably built on an incline. 



Mr. Ira Barber agreed with Mr. 

 Hall. 



Mr. Betsinger disagreed with them 

 and stated that he had overone thousand 

 reversible frames in his apiary, would 

 not be without them, and that they 

 were the coming frame. We must 

 have our brood-chan)liers full of brood 

 in order to get our honey. An ounce 

 of honey left in the brood-chamber 

 robs the surplus of two ounces. Only 

 brood should occupy the brood-cham- 

 ber. AVhen the honey-harvest is com- 

 ing on, reverse the combs and tlie 

 honey will be carried into the sections. 

 My object is to so reverse the combs 

 as to have them occupied with brood 

 before the honey-harvest comes on, 

 when the bees will carry the honey all 

 up, but if you reverse them late the 

 honey will all be carried down. 



Mr. Pettit. When my combs are 

 cemented fast to the top and bottom- 

 bars, the frost cracks them and the 

 bees gnaw and waste the combs in the 

 spring. 



Mr. L. C. Root. We must be care- 

 ful what impressions we send out as 

 a convention. I think that reversing 

 the combs for having the honey car- 

 ried into surplus arrangements, or to 

 have the combs built solid, can result 

 in no detriment, though I am not 

 sure that any great advantage would 

 come from it. 



Mr. Betsinger. I think that I have 

 given you all that is practical. I am 

 experimenting and have not the mode 

 of reversing the frames perfected yet, 

 but hope that our friends will experi- 

 ment on this point. I would never 

 advise reversing a comb that was not 

 built on foundation, or at least any 

 comb which would bring more or less 

 drone-comb top, as it would give us a 

 lot of useless drone-brood. 



The question was then dropped and 

 the committee on the revision of tiie 

 constitution was called upon and re- 

 ported as follows : 



The committee on revision of the 

 constitution, on consultation with Mr. 

 N. N. Betsinger who was present at 

 tiie meeting held at Philadelphia in 

 1876, tind that the " North American 

 Beekeepers' Association" should be 

 composed of delegates from all of the 

 local societies throughout North Amer- 

 ica. They would therefore recommend 

 and urge that the local societies do 

 carry out this feature and send dele- 

 gates to the meeting of this society at 

 Detroit in 1885. The local societies 

 will please correspond with the execu- 

 tive committee regarding this matter. 



