THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



of course it will never do to dampen 

 the ardor of tiie uew convorts, the bee- 

 journals must have new hubscribers, even 

 if it be at the expense of candor, there- 

 by working for tlicir interest, instead of 

 ours who support them. Apiculturists, 

 like other business men, will only ac- 

 cumulate by strict economy, great energy 

 and skill. Capital only will save those 

 of us who are making the business a 

 specialty. We must run larger apiaries and 

 raise box honey, if we expect any profit. 

 The raw, uncapped, slung honey that in- 

 fests our markets, is not as toothsome as 

 80c. syrup. Theses views are the result of 

 my experience and observation, but am at 

 all times open to conviction. 



In response to many inquiries from 

 those present, the Secretary gave a de- 

 tailed account of his method of securing 

 box-honey, an epitome of which we sub- 

 join, as follows: 



I can see but one way to make bee- 

 culture at all profitable, and that is to 

 raise our surplus honey for market, in 

 small glass boxes. It then, not only com- 

 mands a ready sale, but a fair price also, 

 which eaiinoi be said of honey in any 

 other shape. The boxes should have, at 

 least, two glass sides, comb-guides, and 

 abundance of room at bottom for ingress 

 and egress of the bees. Get your bees 

 strong in numbers by the time of the lin- 

 den harvest, and then put on three boxes 

 over centre of brood nest. When these 

 are nearly full put on three more and 

 keep adding until the set is complete. 

 When the first three boxes are capped 

 over, remove them, putting on empty 

 boxes in the place of the full ones re- 

 moved. Keep this up as long as the honey 

 season lasts, and if the flow of nectar has 

 been at all good, you will have no cause 

 of complaint that bees will not store honey 

 in glass boxes. 



Dr. Southard — Would not small frames 

 be preferable to boxes ? 



H. A. BuRCH — Small frames possess no 

 advantage whatever over the little boxes. 

 Just as much honey can be procured in 

 the boxes as in frames, while the boxes 

 Bell more readily at a better figure. Honey 

 must be put up in fancy shape to sell 

 at all well in the city markets in the 

 future. It is also less work to manipu- 

 late boxes, but requires some skill to get 

 the bees to fill them rapidly, as in fact is 

 the case with any surplus receptacle. 



Pres. Balch — I understand you con- 

 sider the extractor is an unnecessary ad- 

 junct of an apiary during the storing sea- 

 son, when run to box-honey. Please tell 

 us how you keep the Italians from clog- 

 ging up the brood chamber with honey. 



H. A. BuRCH — I do consider that ex- 

 tracting the brood combs during a honey 

 harvest, is a most useless operation. As 

 well might we call such an apiarian skill- 



ful as the general who had made no pre- 

 parations for an attack until the enemy 

 was upon liim. To obviate all trouble in 

 this respect, I want a queen of the capacity 

 and disposition to lay 3,000 eggs per 

 day during the entire working season in 

 a hive of 1,400 cubic inches, so that she 

 can deposit only 1,500 eggs as a daily 

 average. The only time 1 would ever 

 use the extractor would be to remove all 

 over twenty pounds of honey that such 

 liivps might contain on the first day of 

 May ; then get your hive full of brood 

 before the honey harvest comes and your 

 queen will keep it so. In such hives thus 

 manipulated, the bees will have abund- 

 ance of brood below and will store the 

 honey above in the little boxes. 



As the time allotted to the afternoon 

 session had expired the Convention ad- 

 journed until evening. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The Convention w^as called to order at 8 

 o'clock. President Balch in the chair. 

 He expressed the opinicm that it would be 

 preferable to hold a short session, and de- 

 vote the balance of the evening to social 

 intercourse. The Secretary thought the 

 social element of our gatherings should 

 receive more attention, inasmuch as it 

 was an essential feature — one that was 

 more fully appreciated by those in at- 

 tendance than any other. Our personal 

 intercourse with each other will result in 

 pleasant memories that will be cherished 

 long after all else shall have been for- 

 gotten. After remarks from others, all 

 concurring in the sentiments expressed 

 above. President Balch's suggestion was 

 concurred in. 



James Heddon read Mr. Langstroth's 

 patent claims, interspersing the reading 

 with remarks to show that the admitted 

 requisites of the best features of movable 

 combs to-day are embodied in Mr. L.'s 

 claims. The shallow frame and lateral 

 movement of the same, slotted honey- 

 board and air space between it and the 

 top bar of the frames, and a small brood 

 chamber, are all essential t© an easy and 

 rapid manipulation, and the best success 

 in securing box-honey. 



Dr. W. B. Southard — I understand that 

 Mr. Stray has been experimenting largely 

 during the past season witli a view of se- 

 curing all straight worker comb. Will 

 he please give us the result? 



Geo. Stray — To secure all straigut 

 worker combs has been to me a long- 

 sought desideratum; but not until the 

 past season have I been entirely success- 

 ful. My method for securing this most 

 desirable result is as follows: Remove 

 all the capped brood from the hive, leav- 

 ing but two combs, which should contain 

 eggs and larvae. These are placed in the 

 centre of the hive with an empty frame 

 between them. As soon as this frame is 



