1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



131 



also referred to his moth trap, oflFering the use 

 of it to any g-er.tleman present. 



J. ]\I. Beebe, of Casadaga, exhibited and ex- 

 plained his patent hive and feeder. 



Mr. Rubbaid also exhibited and explained his 

 hive and avowed it as his opinion that these two 

 were the best now before the pnblic— an opinion 

 aenerally concurred in by those present. 



On motion it was resolved that the next 

 annual Bee Meeting be held at Mayville — the 

 time to be designated by the Executive Commit- 

 tee. A semi annual meeting will be called in 

 the spring. 



Ira Portek, 

 Secretary pro tern. 



The following reports are additional to those 

 referred to and received since the convention 

 adjourned : 



Report of Elliott Baclielor, of Stockton. 



I commenced the season of 1870 with three 

 swarms of bees. One in the Langstroth, one in 

 the box, and one in J. M. Beebe's hive. From 

 the three I received twelve young swarms and 

 120 lbs. box honey, which was taken from the 

 Beebe hive, with the exception of 6 lbs. 



Report of Pranklin Kelley, of Pomfret. 



Commenced the spring of '70 with two stocks 

 of bees — one in the Bingham and one in the 

 Beebe hive. The Bingham hive gave mo one 

 young swarm and 48 lbs. of surplus. The Beebe 

 hive gave three young swarms, and the first 

 young swarm swarmed, making four young 

 swarms, and 108 lbs. surjilus honey. 



Report of Sylves'er Hunger, of Delanii. 



Commenced the season of '70 with five colo- 

 nies of bees — some in the Langstroth, some in 

 the Beebe, and some in the box hive. I I'eceived 

 300 lbs. of box honey and eleven young swarms. 

 I prefer the Beebe hive to any I ever saw. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



We have been looking over the ''A7i7inls of 

 Bee Culture,'" for 1870, and must say we were 

 very much interested and consider the articles 

 generally remarkably well chosen, and well 

 written, with a view of bringing forward promi- 

 nently the progress made in the year. 



IMr. Thomas's article we should have felt in- 

 clined to criticise some ; but the editor in his 

 note at the end of the article, has said all that 

 we would say, and perhaps more, although we 

 think bee-keepers of large experience in arti- 

 ficial swarming, will very nearly agree with Mr. 

 Adair. 



By the way, Mr. Editor, we did think your in- 

 dulgence rather severely trespassed upon, when 

 the vendor of a patent hive took the columns of 

 the Journal to proclaim boldly his hive the 

 " best in America," without so much as saying 



"in his opinion," and then to refer your readers 

 en via^ise to the advertising columns. We could 

 not help wondering what a rush there must be 

 (if every one credited the strong assertion) to 

 make an offer. An otter for what ? When will the 

 community ever learn that the fact of a patent 

 having been granted on an article, does not 

 necessarily imply that said patent is of any 

 value? 



What would be thought of a man who should 

 locate himself on the beach of Lake Erie, and 

 proclaim that some barrels of water he had just 

 dipped up ^'mrisi be S(?W," and urge the commu- 

 nity to make liim an offer at some price or 

 other? In case he could i^ersuade people, (and 

 that is what patent right men do do as a general 

 thing,) that the water he had just dipped up 

 was superior to that remaining in the lake, he 

 would probably make a sale. 



As Mr. Thomas had his "say" several times 

 in the .Journal, he certainly cannot complain of 

 what is alh)wed to be said of him and his hive on 

 pages 103 and 105. 



Mr. Kretshmer's article in the "Annals" on 

 in-door ».<i. out-door wintering of bees, we must 

 think a step backward. To settle the matter 

 he says, he concluded to test it himself, and 

 then gives the result as though no one had 

 ever made a similar experiment before, and in- 

 forms us just why it is. Does ]Mr. Kretshmer 

 forget that almost all the bees in America ((re 

 wintei'ed on their summer stands ; yet they do 

 not get two swarms and 149 lbs. of honey, each, 

 for all that. Why is it? 



From the last few lines of his article we 

 thought we might get his idea, namely, that the 

 7(ives commonly uned are not suitable, and now 

 the happy thought struck us, that we would 

 write to Mr. Kretshmer and ask him if he will 

 be kind enough to tell us just what sort of hive 

 he uses. But here again the thought occurred 

 that Jie too may be a patent hive man ; and, oh, 

 lamentable human nature ! the facts they give 

 are much one-sided, and 149 lbs. 8 oz. does look 

 surprisingly like some of Jasper Hazen's experi- 

 ments to get at FACTS. (We might think of the 

 two swarms that he has besides, and Mr. Hazen 

 don't have ; but we won't until we see if it is 

 really a patent hive.) 



We presume Mr. Quinby, Adam Grimm, and 

 hosts of others have tried the same experiments 

 in wintering, for a great number of years, and 

 Avith hundreds of stocks, and yet we believe they 

 are satisfied that special repositories are a de- 

 cided advantage. In our locality we think it 

 safe to say, that one-fourth of all the bees raised 

 are lost in wintering out of doors, that would be 

 saved if properly protected, from the frost and 

 sudden changes. 



We really doubt if it be possible to winter bees 

 in an apiary of fifty stocks, all strong and well 

 supplied with honey and winter passages, with- 

 out losing some of them ; and those remaining 

 will, many of them, be so weakened by losing a 

 few more at every sudden change of weather, 

 that they will not compare at all with those 

 wintered in-doors. 



In regard to brood, all of our stocks that we 

 opened, (and that was a good many,) had con- 



