36 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 21, 



that depends upon where you can have them drawn the best, 

 and also upon the style of hive you were using. It you were 

 using a hive with the loug chamber, you could draw out at one 

 side of the hive, and still the queen and bee-bread would not 

 get into it. It would take 12 or l.T short frames, and at one 

 end you could have these combs drawn out. But in the shal- 

 low hives they can be drawn out in the top story in full sheets ; 

 not put in frames at all, simply fasten to top-bars and the bees 

 will draw them out as readily as they will full sheets. After 

 they are drawn out partly (and it is not best to have them 

 drawu out too muchj cut them up in correct shape and put into 

 the sections. That has been practiced to a great extent. You 

 can have them drawn out as needed, or you can have a full set 

 drawn out for each colony the previous year, in the fall, when 

 feeding bees for winter on sugar syrup — you thus kill two 

 birds with one stone — you have the foundation drawn out and 

 the syrup stored. The next seasou a sot of these are given to 

 each colony. The sectious are perfectly clean, of course, be- 

 cause it is not necessary to cut them up and put them into sec- 

 tions until you want to use them. You can leave them in full 

 sheets and in that way you can secure a large amount of comb 

 honey. The parties who originated this idea, and probably 

 practiced it to a greater extent than any other in the United 

 States, if not in the world, claim they could get as many 

 pounds of comb honey in that way as could be obtained of ex- 

 tracted, provided that the bee-keepers would allow their ex- 

 tracted to be sealed before it was extracted. Now, I have 

 given you an outline and you can work it out at your leisure, 

 if you wish. 



Dr. Miller — That was practiced a good deal longer than 

 12 years ago. 



Mr. Green — I used to practice that method considerable 

 myself, and I thiuk now that if I want to get the greatest pos- 

 sible yield of honey from a colony, I would do that yet. It is 

 not necessary, as Mr. Baldridge says, to have the foundation 

 drawn out very deep, but just so the bees make a start on it ; 

 they will go right to work. Put a few of these combs freshly- 

 ly-drawn in the supers, and the bees will go up there and work 

 on it. 



The convention then adjourned to meet in Springfield, 

 Feb. 2-4 and 2.5, 1897. 



THE NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



General Manager's 12th Annual Report, for 

 the Year 1896. 



BEES SPOTTING CLOTHES. 



One of the first cases of trouble for the year 189G is from 

 Durand, Ills., where Thos. Gildseth was persecuted by a jeal- 

 ous and meddlesome neighbor for keeping bees — claiming that 

 the bees spotted drying clothes hung on the line. A petition 

 was circulated asking the Board of Trustees to prohibit bee- 

 keeping in the corporate limits. Mr. Q. was much annoyed 

 and appealed to the Union for help to frustrate their plans. 

 The General Manager instructed an efficient attorney to at- 

 tend the meeting of the Board to show the Trustees what the 

 results would be the if the ordinance was passed. Copies of 

 the decision of the Supreme Court were freely distributed 

 among the ofBcials, and that ended the trouble. 



DAMAGE TO RAISIN CROP. 



In Riverside, Calif., A. F. Unterkircher was in trouble be- 

 cause a neighbor claimed that his bees damaged his raisins to 

 the amount of .?!()(). It appears that there are ten or twelve 

 apiaries near, but he chose to make the demand for damages 

 of Mr. Unterkircher. Being a member of the Union he natur- 

 ally appealed to it for defense. The Manager took the matter 

 In hand; sent him the Union "leallot" on "Honey and Flow- 

 ers," showing that bees are wrongfully charged with damage 

 to fruit, and had them distributed to enlighten the fruit-grow- 

 ers on that subject, gave the necessary instructions and now 

 awaits the suit. Mr. Unterkircher wrote on Doc. 19 as fol- 



lows : " I assure you it is very nice to be a member of the Un- 

 ion. Simply a suggestion of the fact brings the prejudiced 

 neighbors to silence. May the Union prosper." 



SWEET CLOVER AS A WEED. 



Dr. H. Besse, one of the old friends of the Union in Ohio, 

 had planted a three-acre field of sweet clover for pasturage for 

 his bees. Last July it was growing finely, two of the Town- 

 ship Trustees came there with two other men and cut 

 it all down. "It was," writes Dr. Besse, " growing on the 

 richest and best land on the farm, and was of very large 

 growth, and would have been in bloom until frost. My bees 

 had just commenced working in my sections. I have lost the 

 use of my laud, the seed that I sowed, and the honey crop as 

 well. Also had to pay the officers $27.20 as fees. Is this not 

 pretty tough treatment in a free country ?" The Doctor is 

 73 years of age, and was greatly incensed at this treatment. 

 The case was submitted to the Advisory Board and it was de- 

 cided to test the law. 



It is one of the duties of the Union to force correct con- 

 structions of law. A law calling wheat a weed, would clearly 

 be invalid, because unconstitutional, and if sweet clover is 

 raised as forage for bees or cattle (both domestic animals), is 

 it not equally invalid ? Such an outrageous law ought to be 

 tested. 



This matter is now under consideration, and the Union 

 will seek redress through its attorney. We understand that 

 the amended law in Ohio does not include sweet clover in the 

 list of weeds. Then it is a case of mal-administration through 

 ignorance. 



In Wisconsin the law clearly includes it, and C. H. Stor- 

 dock was notified last June to cut what there was of it on his 

 land as well as on the adjoining highways. This laws must 

 be amended, for it is unreasonable and unjust. 



UNLAWFUL PURSUIT. 



In Marine, Ills., M. Hettel has an apiary, and the Village 

 Trustees were requested to pass an ordinance to prohibit the 

 keeping of bees therein. Their attorney drafted such an or- 

 dinance and it was placed on its passage. Meantime Mr. Het- 

 tel appealed to the Union and the Manager took the matter in 

 hand, dosed the village officers and attorney with Supreme 

 Court documents, and directed the course to be pursued. 



It was really amusing to read in the ordinance that the 

 bees were to be confined to the owner's premises — averring 

 that they punctured fruit, etc. Of course the ordinance, when 

 its incongruities were exposed and the impossibility of enforc- 

 ing it was shown, was too dead to pass, and was accordingly 

 buried. 



Mr. Hettel under date of Dec. 8, wrote as follows : "Now, 

 Mr. Newman, this is entirely due to the influence of the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Union, for had I not been a member of it, 

 my bees would have to ' get,' the same as did those in some of 

 our neighboring towns, whose owners did not belong to the 

 Union. It was thought because it was so easy to make those 

 parties leave, they could do the same tome; but when they 

 discovered that I was backed by the Union and that there 

 would be a big lawsuit about it, they got scared and did the 

 best they could to get out of it. By this, (mother victory has 

 been won for the Union, and permit me to express my sincere 

 thanks for your kind aid in the matter." 



In Los Angeles, Cal., a provision in the City Charter pro- 

 hibits the keeping of bees within the city limits, with a heavy 

 penalty attached. One of our members residing there was no- 

 tified to remove his bees. He talked it over with other bee- 

 keepers, and Mr. G. W. Brodbeck wrote as follows : 



"In conversing with Prof. Cook, a short time since, on a 

 plan of procedure in opposition to this provision of the City 

 Charter, he stated that after consultation with an attorney he 

 had decided that the only conclusive plan would be for the Un- 

 ion to make a test case of it. This subject of making bee- 

 keeping prohibitive here in California, is not only confined to 

 this city but has been agitated in some of the various rural 

 districts, and unless the Union does some effective work out 

 here in defense of this industry, the results will not only be 

 disastrous to the bee-keeping fraternity, but the Union will 

 lose its prestige." 



One locality near Los Angeles, (whore boos are kept by 

 members of the Union) has been annext to the city, and the 

 charter prohibiting bee-keeping now applies to that locality 

 also. The Union has been appealed to, in this case, to pro- 

 tect the rights of its members, and all are awaiting develop- 

 ments, when a case involving the constitutiouality of the City 

 Charier may becoTno necessary. Ci 



MINOR TROUBLES. 



In New Mexico, William H. Thorpe anticipated trouble 



