isy, 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



821 



Report of the Mitmesota Couveutlou. 



BY .1. r. WEST. 



The Minnesota Bee-Keepers' AssociatioQ met at Minneap- 

 olis, Dec. 8, held their ninth annual meeting during one day, 

 and adjourned to meet at the State Fair, in September, prob- 

 ably on Wednesday. The society concluded to try the experi- 

 ment of holding a meeting at the time of the F'air, for several 

 reasons, viz : 



1st. Many of our members are horticulturists, and desire 

 to attend the meetings of the society. 



2nd. At the State Fair we shall be certain of reductions 

 in railroad fares. 



3rd. It is a better time of the year for farmers to get out 

 and talce a rest, and see the sights In the Twin Cities, besides 

 attending a 6rst-class fair and the meeting of the bee-keepers; 

 and we shall be more likely to have our friends from other 

 States present to assist us. 



I hope the experiment will prove a success. We had 23 

 presen^ at this last meeting. The following officers were 

 elected : 



President, .1. P. West, of Hastings ; Secretary, Dr. L. D. 

 Leonard, Syndicate Block, Minneapolis; and Treasurer, L. E. 

 Day. 



The society has over $80 in the treasury. A good meet- 

 ing was held, and considerable business was transacted. 

 Many bee-questions were discust. Five members handed In 

 their dollar for the United States Bee-Keepers' Union, which 

 has been sent to the General Manager, Hon. Eugene Secor, 

 Forest City, Iowa. 



I wish to call the attention of the Minnesota bee-keepers 

 to the importance of joining the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Union, and also the necessity of sending in their dues to the 

 Minnesota Bee-Keepers' Association, if members, and if not, 

 now is a good time to join. 



Many will remember the account in the July 15th number 

 of the American Bee Journal, of Mrs. B. J. Livingston's great 

 affliction. A letter to the President, from her, written by her 

 daughter, was read at the convention. The letter reads as 

 follows : 



Dear Mr. West : — I was glad to get your letter and would 

 like to tell you and my fellow bee-keepers some of my experi- 

 ences in this dark country to which I have come, but the fam- 

 ily are very busy making all snug for winter, so I will not ask 

 them to copy a very long letter. I write upon slates, and as I 

 sometimes write two or three lines in the same place it is not 

 easily copied. Blindness has its compensation. That which 

 I prize most after the words and deeds of kindness is the 

 freedom from responsibility. Then I can never tell what my 

 own family have been to me since the darkness came. I could 

 not make you understand. My health is good now; there has 

 been entire freedom from pain since the operation of iridec- 

 tomy In April. I am happy to say I can wash dishes, milk- 

 cans, etc., help at cleaning vegetables, dressing poultry, and 

 knit, knit, knit. If I get out of yarn, I am like an opium 

 eater without the drug. 



I wish my daughter, who takes care of the bees, could 

 attend your convention. She is doing her best for " mother's 

 bees," but it is all from a sense of duty — she has no enthusi- 

 asm. She was pleased to harvest about 1,500 pounds of fine 

 honey the past fall, but she does not care for It as she does 

 her poultry yard. I would like to compel her to love bee- 

 keeping, as I have robbed her by my sickness of the practice 

 of her chosen profession. She holds the diploma of a trained 

 nurse. 



You may assure my bee-keeping friends that I am ;not 

 unhappy. Our 38 colonies of bees put in the cellar the last 

 of November were In good condition. 



With kindest regards, your friend, 



Per L. G. L. Mrs. B. J. Livingston. 



Mrs. Livingston was unanimously elected a life honorary 

 member of the Association. 



It has been a pretty hard year for the tntjority of bee- 

 keepers in Minnesota, the crop of honey being very short in 

 most localities. l$ut there is lots of enterprise and determina- 

 tion among the bee-keepers, and when we do get a good year 

 things will be lively at our fairs, as the exhibit at our State 

 this year clearly demonstated. 



BEEDDM BDILED DOWN. 



Treating Foul Brood. — The editor of Gleanings having 

 advised that in the fall foul-broody colonies should be starved 

 till all the infected honey was consumed, then two or three 

 lots dumpt into a single hive on foundation and fed, F. A. 

 Gemmill asks why not take McEvoy's short-cut, and dump 

 them on five combs of sealed honey. Editor Root says he is 

 glad to acknowledge that plan shorter, giving the bees very 

 much better chance for wintering, providing McEvoy is sure 

 there will be no recurrence of the disease in the future. 



New Honey-Package. — The Canadian Bee Journal an- 

 nounces that its publishers have been seeking, together with 

 its editor, for an improved honey-package, and the result has 

 been highly satisfactory. Just what the package is, is not 

 stated, but it is hinted that it is not tin, which discolors honey, 

 but something novel, strong and cheap, and useful where tin 

 could not be used. Twenty-five 10-pound packages can be 

 packt in a sugar barrel, which costs 10 cents, and being in a 

 barrel the honey can be shipt at a lower freight rate. 



Wanted to Shake. — The two H's of Review want this 

 " boiler " to shake, he of the shorter name desiring it because 

 the department is " enough like ' this 'ere ' for exchange of 

 civilities ;" while he of the longer name and form wants the 

 style of this department shaken off or a name put at the top. 

 The first invitation is Hastily and cordially embraced with a 

 warm clasp, but the second is '• respectfully declined with 

 thanks."- This department is all copied, style and all, and if 

 it had a style of its own It couldn't afford a fresh one for such 

 second-hand stuff. 



Queen Stinging a Worker. — The rule is that a queen 

 will never demean herself by stinging anything less 

 than royalty, and a statement of an exception wituest by an 

 American bee-keeper was received with some doubt. J. K., 

 in the Australian Boe-Bulletin, gives a circumstantial account 

 of an instance that came under his observation. He put a 

 worker into a cage which contained a virgin queen. They 

 dasht together, and the worker was stung to death at once. 

 A second worker was put in. Dashing at each other, they 

 suddenly seemed to realize that a mistake had been made, and 

 ceast fighting. 



Wintering on Sealed Combs. — F. A. Gemmill repeats in 

 Gleanings that he wintered bees succssefully on combs filled 

 solid with honey in a section of a Heddon hive, putting under 

 a two-inch rim to give the bees more room, using 20 colonies 

 for the test. He says the plan of wintering on solid combs is 

 McEvoy's, who has practiced it for 20 years. "Mr. McEvoy 

 claims that empty comb is a detriment rather than an advan- 

 tage, as the cluster remains unbroken until the approach of 

 spring ; and there being no brood-rearing at an unnecessary 

 time, the bees winter better, and spring-dwindle less ; In fact, 

 they seem to boom right along when so prepared." 



What Shall Cover Sections on the Hive ?— There is 

 difference of opinion as to whether sections in a super should 

 have some kind of covering tilting close down to them, or 

 whether they be covered, as some have exprest It, " with a 

 layer of air." In Gleanings, M. A. Gill says : " I use no cloth 

 or quilt on top of the sections, believing that I can keep the 

 sections cleanest without them." The editor of Gleanings has 

 been making a visit to Miles Morton (the man who has a 

 " brother-in-law"), and says that while he cannot bring him- 



