690 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



J^ov. A. 



of white clover and.alfalfa, aod quite a sprinkle of basswood 

 and sweet clover. 



Leaving the Kretchmer exhibit, the next was that of Mr. 

 G. M. Whitford, of Nebraska, who had on exhibition some 

 very fine comb and extracted honey, put np in nice cases and 

 glass packages of all sizes that would be hard to beat any 

 where or place. 



Next was the exhibit of Lovesy & Bouck, of Utah. They 

 had some fine alfalfa comb and extracted honey that cannot 

 be excelled in flavor and ripeness. 



J. Prichard and C. M. Lewelling, both of Nebraska, had on 

 exhibition some fine comb honey put up in the 24-pound 

 cases, all alfalfa, that ought to bring a good, round price in 

 the market, from its whiteness and fine flavor. 



Mrs. R. M. Lewis had some very fine honey-vinegar, that 

 could not be beaten by all the home-made vinegars. 



The Minnesota Bee-Keepers' Supply Mfg. Co. exhibited a 

 lot of hives, bees and queens, and implements used about the 

 apiary. Mr. Westcott, of Nebraska, represented this com- 

 pany, and was aiaking a success of talking it up and introduc- 

 ing the business. 



L. D. Stilson, of York county, had some all-purpose chaff- 

 hives that will winter bees every time, and without very much 

 work to prepare them for winter. 



August Davidson and wife has the second largest display 

 of bees, queens, and comb and extracted honey that was on 

 the grounds. Mr. Davidson deserves a vote of thanks by bee- 

 keepers in the manner in which his display was gotten up and 

 shown to the public. He also had some fiue samples of bees- 

 wax, and a large number' of honey-plants of Nebraska and 

 other States. 



Mrs. E. Whltcomb exhibited some fine samples of flowers 

 made wholly from beeswax, just as itcame from the extractor, 

 that drew the first premium. She also had a fine sa-aple of 

 cake and honey-jumbles made from honey that the taste of 

 honey could hardly be detected. Also, Mrs. E. Kretchmer 

 had some fine cake made from honey that would equal those 

 made from sugar or other sweet. 



The Omaha Bee, of Sept. 23, gave the State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention a good send-off, and did not get bee-talk mixt up 

 as newspaper reporters usually do. 



Mr. Stilson, Secretary of the Nebraska Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, talkt a little as if he would send a full report of the 

 proceedings of the convention, held in the honey-building 

 Sept. 21 and 22, to the American ]5ee .Journal. Now we will 

 see if he does it. 



E. Kretchmer has some fine samples of beeswax from 12 

 different countries across the great water, also 14 samples 

 from different States in the United States, showing the differ- 

 ent colors of the wax. 



August Davidson had a large horseshoe, about two feet 

 wide, made from beeswax that weighs 50 pounds. It is quite 

 handsome, and is well worth looking at. 



The bee-keepers of Nebraska held an interesting conven- 

 tion in the honey hall Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, that 

 was quite well attended, and many points of interest were dis- 

 cust. 



C. M. Lewelling gave a written report of one colony that 

 stored 184 pounds of honey during the season of 1897 ; 18 

 pounds of this was extracted honey, and 166 pounds of comb 

 honey. 



William Stolley also gave a written report of one colony 

 that stored 148 pounds of extracted and 72 pounds of comb 

 honey, and 12 pounds of uncapt. These two reports were 

 sworn to, had seals, and are In possession of Supt. Whltcomb. 



August Davidson had on exhibition a section of a bee-tree 

 two feet long, cut off square at both ends, that contained the 

 bees just as it came from the forest. Some bumble-bees were 



in this same section of bee-tree ; whether or not they both in- 

 habited the tree when in the forest I am unable to say. 



L. D. Stilson had charge of the York county exhibit, in 

 the agricultural building, and did not have much time to look 

 after matters relating to the bees and honey. Mr. Stilson has 

 been appointed State Superintendent of the Apiary Depart- 

 ment of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, to be held next year. 



Three entries were made for the best exhibition of ex- 

 tracting to be done upon the grounds. Those competing were 

 E. Kretchmer and his son, and R. M. Lewis. Mr. K. made the 

 best time, and did the work much nicer. Two full combs of 

 honey were uncapt and thrown out in five minutes, using the 

 two-frame Cowan extractor. Cass Co., Nebr. 



Thin Hoaey in Combs — Dragging Out Larvae. 



BV O. O. rOPPLKTON. 



On the first page of the American Bee Journal for July 1, 

 1897, Mr. C. P. Dadant says : 



" During the first two or three days after it is harvested, 

 clover or basswood honey is usually so thin as to shake out of 

 the combs very readily, or even to drip out, if the comb is 

 upturned." 



This is not according to my experience. I have rarely or 

 never known honey to readily shake out of the combs after 

 the same day it was gathered ; that is, not after it has been in 

 the hives over night. During a heavy flow of honey little or 

 none will shake out early in the day, but later it will com- 

 mence to shake out slowly at first, increasing until night. I 

 had noticed this point many years ago in Iowa, but the pecu- 

 liar honey-flow In Cuba enabled me to observe it much more 

 thoroughly than I have ever been able to in this country. 



Of course, this thin honey must be handled right or it 

 may make trouble. I know of only two ways to do it — one is, 

 not to extract any until after the heavy flow is over ; it is not 

 practical to do this in all cases, and. I doubt whether it pays 

 in any. The other way is to run the honey from the extractor 

 into large, tall cans ; let it stand until this thin honey has all 

 risen to the top, then draw into barrels or other vessels from 

 the bottom, leaving thin honey in the can. 



Cause of Dragging Out Larv.e. — On page 599, Dr. 

 Miller, in answering a question as to why bees sometimes 

 drag out their larv.c, fails to give one very important reason, 

 in fact the one which, when it occurs, requires the promptest 

 of attention from the bee-keeper. I refer to their dragging 

 out worker-larv;c in the spring, or rather early summer, be- 

 cause of starvation. This is most liable to occur about the 

 beginning of clover harvest. Bees at that season are rearing 

 very large amounts of brood, and If a few days of bad weather, 

 or any other cause, entirely stops the flow of honey for a few 

 days, such colonies as have no reserve of honey In their hives 

 are liable to starvation, and one of the signs of that condition 

 is the carrying out of larviv. 



Destroying Inferior Queen-Cells. — I would like to 

 suggest to "Bee-Student" that his having a bad case of 

 " California fever," or his living in Texas (a la Dr. Lay), are 

 the only excuses I know of for any one to write what he does 

 on page 594, that " It is but a minute's work to destroy all 

 Inferior cells" in a hive from which a swarm has just Issued. 

 Multiply the minute he allows for the work by 5 or 10, would 

 be nearer fact. Dade Co., Fla. 



^ 



Comb FouudatJott— Is Its Use Profitable ? 



BY c. r. dadant. 

 In beginning this article on a subject which Interests me 

 financially as well as theoretically, I wish to state to the readers 

 that I write this reply to S. A. Deacon's article on page 579, 



