Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



Vol. XI 



MARCH, 1901 



No. 3 



NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF 

 BEE-KEEPERS' SOCIETIES. 



A Condensed Report of Its Third Annual 

 Meeting, at Geneva. 



BV SECRETARY HOWARD. 



THE third annual meeting of the New York 

 State Association of Bee-keepers' Societies 

 was called to order by Pre^dent W. F. 

 Marks, at 11 a. tu. The report of the Secretary and 

 Treasurer was read and adopted. 



The President's annual message. It is expected 

 that this will be published in a later issue of The 

 American Bee-keeper. However, it might be 

 said here that Editor Root, in commenting upon 

 it, said that he considered it a very valuable paper 

 and hoped that the Association would act upon it. 

 O. J. Baldridge : ''I believe adulteration is a 

 great injury to our extracted honey market, not by 

 the amount that is consumed, but if a customer 

 once gets a taste of it he will want no more extract- 

 ed honey. One bottle, I think, would last a family 

 a year." 



Mr. Baldridge was appointed as a committee to 

 procure a sample of adulterated honey and bring 

 it to the convention room for inspection ; also a 

 bottle was sent to the Geneva Experiment Sta- 

 tion to be analyzed. 



Mr. Stewart : Adulteration is carried on very 

 largely in the cities of New York and Albany. 



President Marks read the law of this State 

 on adulteration of honey and it was recommended 

 to make an attempt to get the law in the hands of 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture. 



E. R. Root : Honey adulterated with sugar 

 syrup is not easily detected; but when adulterated 

 with a cheap grade of glucose, which is commonly 

 used, and which can be bought for about one cent 

 a pound, it is very easily detected. It has a metal- 

 lic taste, and, by getting used to the taste of glu- 

 cose, it can be told even if only a small per cent, 

 is present. Another way to test is by putting in 

 wood alcohol and stir it thoroughly, which will 

 give it a cloudy appearance. 



Mr. Stewart: Black-brood was introduced into 

 this State in the northern part of Schoharie County 

 and was probably brought from the South. It is a 

 disease that seems to lose its power or virulence 

 in the hands of thorough bee-keepers. It has an 

 acid or gluey smell; more of the brood dies before 

 it is capped than in foul-brood. Fulton and Mont- 

 gomery Counties are the counties most affected. 

 I never saw foul-brood and black-brood both pres- 

 ent in the same apiary. It has been my experi- 

 ence that the McAvoy treatment will cure black- 

 brood and I do not think it necessary to close the 

 hive; but believe the principal cause of spreading 

 is from the honey being carried from one colony to 

 another by the bees going into the wrong hive. 

 The Italian bees will withstand the disease the 

 best and combat its ravages better than any other 

 race. 



Prof. S. A. Beach, of Geneva Experiment Sta- 

 tion, who had been conducting quite extensive 

 experiments on spraying fruit trees while in bloom, 

 under the law which had been amended for that 

 purpose, said in part : " I take the position that 

 it is not best to spray plants while in bloom. The 

 fruit-growers in the western part of the State bad 

 a sort of a craze for spraying trees while in bloom 

 and made very determined efforts to get the law 

 repealed, and succeeded in getting it so amended 

 that experiment stations could spray for experi- 

 mental purposes. The influence the insects have 

 on the setting of fruit is very beneficial* in fact, 

 some varieties cannot set fruit without the aid of 

 insects. It is also beneficial to the flowers to 

 have pollen brought from other flowers. As an 

 example of the evil effects of spraying fruit trees 

 while in bloom, the following will serve : In a 

 sugar solution nearly all of the pollen grains grew. 

 In five per cent, sugar solution and five per cent. 

 Bordeaux mixture none of the pollen grains grew. 

 In two per cent, sugar solution and two per cent. 

 Bordeaux mixture very few of the pollen grains 

 grew. The experiment resulted the same with 

 Paris green as with Bordeaux mixture. 



R. M. Kellogg, of Michigan, tried spraying 

 strawberries while in bloom, to his sorrow. On an 

 orchard where part of the trees were sprayed and 



