imi 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



180 



tinued the furniture and undertak- 

 ing business to engage in bee- 

 keeping and farming, in 1894; 

 though he had been a bee-keeper 

 since 188G to some extent. Mr. 

 Pierson has seventy colonies in the 

 home yard, which are run for comb 

 honey, while the out-apiary has 

 thirty colonies devoted to the pro- 

 duction of extracted, Mr. Pierson 

 winters in packing cases on the 

 Summer stands with success. He 

 has pulled some first and second 

 prizes from the State exhibitions, 

 upon his apiarian products etc.. 



Mr. Edwin Austin, First Vice- 

 president, is a veteran in the ranks, 

 having begun bee-keeping with a 

 box hive in 186.2, and in 1866, or 

 thereabouts, purchased the right to 

 use the Gallup hive. He was one 

 of the first to introduce Italian bees. 

 In the production of comb honey he 

 uses the wide frame. Queen-rearing 

 was added to the business about 

 ten years ago, and his average 

 number of colonies has been about 

 one hundred for the past twelve 

 years. 



The initiation of Mr. J. S. Sec- 

 comb, Second Vice-president, dates 

 back to the seventies, when he pro- 

 cured a colony in a "log gum," and 

 since that time, as a rule, has made 

 the business pay. His stock has 

 varied from ten to ninety colonies 

 — last season he had ninety-four — 

 but having sold and lost to some 

 extent he is now operating about 



fifty. 



TROUBLE IN ROCHESTER. 



Early August issues of the Roch- 

 ester (ISF. Y.) papers were very much 

 animated over the repeal of the 

 city's bee ordinances. From the 

 meagre information gleaned from 

 this source it appears that an alder- 

 man sought to wipe out the bees 

 from the city by introducing some 

 sort of an amendment to the exist- 



ing ordinance. The Herald^ in re- 

 porting the council meeting, has 

 this paragraph: 



After a mix-up in which, Frederick L. 

 Dutcher as attorney for the Bee-keepers' 

 Association appealed in oppo.sition, the 

 discussion of tlie amendment was inde- 

 finately postponed. Inasmuch as the 

 present ordinance had been declared un- 

 constitutional and the law officers of the. 

 city (Ud not wish to appeal the case on 

 the law, there was nothing left but to 

 repeal the ordinance. So the old ordin-" 

 ance was repealed with only one dis- 

 senting vote. This left no ordinance 

 whatever on the subject, but it is pos- 

 sible Alderman Baker may make the 

 effort to get a new ordinance adopted 

 soon. 



The Ecening Times, though, is 

 the paper that waxes warm over 

 the matter, and, by the way, in- 

 dulges in an exposition of a lot of 

 bee keepers' secrets (?) not hereto- 

 fore made public. The following is 

 extracted from its editorial columns 

 and is, therefore, official. Now 

 read : 



The introduction of Alderman Bakers 

 bee ordinance marked another step in 

 the etfort to rid the city of nuii^ances. 

 Its repeal by the Common Council last 

 niglit. The Tunes . believes, was an ill- , 

 advised step and one that wjW be regret- 

 ted. Why anyone should wish to keep 

 bees in a city is a mystery. Anyone who 

 has ever watched bees at work around 

 sewer openings. street gutters and damp,, 

 filthy places o.f every nature should be in 

 full sympathy with Alderman Baker's 

 project. 



People who grow grapes aud other 

 fruits will albo appreciate his efforts in 

 this direction. At the time grapes are 

 ripening we usually have very little rain, 

 there are no flowers for bees to work on 

 and street tilth is scarce because of the 

 dry weather. Then bees attack the 

 rhiening grapes, bite a hole through the 

 skiu and suck the juice out. More grapes 

 are spoiled in this way every yeai- than 

 all the bees in tlie city are worth many 

 times over. We may hear about beis 

 going miles to load up with honey, but 

 they don't do it when they can get any- 

 thing nearer home, and they are not 

 particular insects. 



"York State" beekeepers have a 



