1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



103 



2d — For in-door winteriiij^ a hive may be 

 made as shallow as five inches in the breeding- 

 apartment, 



3d — We believe the breedins^ chamber 

 should not contain less than 2,000 cubic inches 

 actual breeding space, nor more than 2, 500, the 

 same to be so constructed as to admit ofujiward 

 ventilation at pleasure, and the entrance to be 

 contracted so as to admit of no more than one or 

 two bees to pass or repass at the same time dur- 

 ing the winter, believing that every heavy 

 current of air being allowed to pass through at 

 this season of the year will serve as a cause of 

 disease. 



4th — "We believe that a hive to be cheap i;i 

 cost to the beekeeper, and, at the same time, 

 adapted to procuring honey, either in the comb 

 or by the use of the melextractor, should be so 

 constructed as to admit of boxes of shallow 

 frames, or of frames equal in size with those of 

 the breeding chamber. This we regard as a 

 hive well adapted to general as well as special 

 purposes. 



5th — We would not under any circumstances, 

 recommend or encourage the use of any but 

 movable comb hives, feeling well convinced 

 that no other method will enable the beekeeper 

 to make the profession successful and profitable. 



E. Rood, 



G.BOHRER, 



A. C. Balch. 



After some discussion, in which the hive 

 question was pretty thoroughly ven'ilated, the 

 resolutions were jjassed with only one dissenting 

 voice. 



The meeting then adjourned till to-morrow 

 morning. There was quite a large attendance 

 this evening, and great interest was manifested 

 in the discussions. 



THURSDAY MOKKING. 



Kalamazoo, Sept. 22, 1871. 



Mr. McKee, of Laingsburg, cRjcupied the chair 

 this morning. The following officers were 

 elected : 



President — Ezra Eood, of Wayne. 



Vice President — Mr. McKee, of Ingham. 



Secretary — A. J. Cook, of the State Agricul- 

 tural College. 



Treasurer — Arad C. Balch, of Kalamazoo. 



Dr. Bohrer, of Indianapolis, was made an 

 honorary member. The subject of hives was 

 again taken up. Mr. Bingham defended side 

 opening hives. Dr. Bohrer and Mr. Rood 

 opposed them. Dr. Bohrer preferred the Langs- 

 troth hive. 



Mr. Baldridge used an extra hive and changed 

 his bees in the spring. This system, he said, 

 worked well with him. 



Dr. Bohrer thought the Convention ought not 

 to act on the subject. Practical beekeepers 

 vmderstood what they wanted. 



Mr. E. Gallup read a very carefully prepared 

 and interesting essay on " Artificial and Na- 

 tural Queen Raising," for which the society 

 voted him their thanks. 



Mr. Marvin read a paper prepared for the 

 meeting upon " The Production of Honey and 

 the Forage for a Great Yield of Ilouey." It was 



well received, and the author was by the meet- 

 ing thanked for the same. 



The association then adjourned, to meet again 

 this evening. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Tlie feature of the evening session was the 

 paper read by Dr. Bohrer on the subject of 

 " Drones and Queen Bees." The views set forth 

 in the pajier were endorsed by members, espe- 

 cially by Professor Cook, of Lansiisg, who is 

 well known as an accomplished entomologist, 

 and by Mr. Hettrou, another close observer of 

 insect life. 



The secretary was instructed to notify delin- 

 quent members to pay their dues forthwitli. 



The subject of foul brood was brouglit up 

 again. Mr. Edward Mason believed foul brood 

 was caused by the death of the larva, caused by 

 chilling when the hives were exposed. This 

 view was vigorously combatted by Mr. Rood, 

 Dr. Bohrer and many others. 



Secretary Cook announced that there would be 

 a session to-morrow morning, when some import- 

 ant questions would be introduced for discussion. 



The Convention then adjourned. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Trip to Michigan. 



Mr. Editor :— Sometime previous to a regu- 

 lar meeting of the Michigan State Beekeepers' 

 Association, held at Kalamazoo, during the 

 19th, 20th, and 21st of the present month, I 

 received an invitation to be present with them 

 and participate in the discussion of the difterent 

 subjects that might be brought before them dur- 

 ing their several sessions. But what has, by 

 some means or other, got to be termed the drone 

 quei^tion (which phrase is understood to have 

 reftjrence to the inlluence exerted upon the drone 

 oft-spring of the queen bee, through the medium 

 of her fertilization, as well as the ability of a 

 drone from a virgin queen to impregnate a 

 queen), was more particularly assigned to me 

 than any other. As my views, however, on that 

 subject will be likely among other parts of the 

 proceedings, to appear in print, I will not here 

 repeat any portion of the argument which I 

 used in support of the Dzierzou theory. I say in 

 defence of the Dzierzou theory, because I heartily 

 endorse it, and because such a subject would 

 naturally embrace his theory, or rather bring us 

 to consider the correcting of his views. But I 

 will confine myself to a description of what I 

 saw and heard during my trip. Sly route lay by 

 way of Fort Wayne, Indiana, at which point a 

 change of cars was necessary. From this point 

 I could reach Kalamazoo by taking either of two 

 difterent routes — one being direct and the other 

 leading thither by way of .Jackson. But as the 

 latter route is the longest by at least sixty miles, 

 I sough to avoid it if possible ; yet from neglect 

 on my part to look at my railroad guide, or, 

 still worse, the neglect of the ticket agent to 

 give me what he knew to be reliable and truth- 

 ful information, when I asked it of him, 1 soon 

 found myself on the way to Jackson, As it was 



