1861 



Jj^ERICA.^ 



HE OtS^^^ ^^\^^ 



42dYEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JULY 3, 1902, 



No, 27, 



^ Editorial Comments. ^^ ^ 



Fears Poisoning from Spraying.— We have just re- 

 ceived the following- letter from a larg-e bee-keeper in 

 Richland Co., Wis., dated June 24, 1902 : 



Editor American Bee Journ.\i, — 



Dear Sir : — We have been having quite an experience 

 in the bee-business, and I write you for some information. 

 Our bees have been very strong, and I never saw more 

 healthy looking bees, or more of them, than we have had 

 all spring. About three or four weeks ago we noticed a few 

 bees looked ragged. Their wings were all frayed out, and 

 they looked badly. Last week there were large numbers of 

 those bees, and the colonies weakened down in quite an 

 alarming manner. We have been studying and thinking 

 of all sorts of causes, and at present we have settled down 

 on the spraying- of fruit-bloom as being the cause of the 

 bees going to pieces as they have. The young bees seem to 

 disappear, and now we wonder if it could be possible that 

 the brood reared during fruit-bloom could have been 

 poisoned. 



Can you tell what theeifect of spraying fruit-trees when 

 in full bloom would be on bees ? Would it affect the work- 

 ing bees? And could it affect the brood? Would the 

 brood hatch fed on poisoned pollen, providing there was 

 only a slight poisoning? or would the brood die if there 

 was any poison in the food at all ? If it should hatch, 

 could it produce healthy bees ? • 



Now, Mr. York, it has become an alarming subject to 

 us, and we are very interested to know all we can on the 

 subject. The sick bees seem to have flown away. There 

 are no bees crawling around the yard as they do with bee- 

 paralysis. The brood hatching now seems to be all right, 

 and the young bees in the hives look as healthy as any bees 

 I ever saw. 



This will be enough to start on. 



Yours truly, 



Now, we don't know a thing- about this, as we never 

 saw any bees that were poisoned by spraying fruit-bloom, 

 nor do we remember having read a description of such re- 

 sult. But there may be a number of our readers who have 

 had just the experience this bee-keeper is having. If there 

 are any such, will they please sit right down and write to 

 us the answers to the questions in the foregoing, and also 

 add any other information bearing on the subject ? We 

 should be pleased to publish very full replies to the ques- 

 tions asked in the foregoing, as it appears to be a very 

 vital matter, one in which all beekeepers would be deeply 

 interested. It certainly is a serious affair, as described in 

 the above, and needs to be understood thoroughly so that 

 proper measures can be taken to prevent a recurrence of tlie 

 disastrous proceedings. 



Young Queens and Swarming.— At one time it was 

 held as a safe rule that when a colony contained a j'oung 

 queen of the current year's rearing there would be no 

 swarming. Then it was learned that with Italians excep- 

 tions were too freqneent to allow aty dependence on the 



rule. Perhaps, however, there is little difference in this 

 regard as to the behavior of Italians and blacks. The 

 truth seems to be that a colony will not swarm if it con- 

 tains a queen reared the current year in the colony itself, 

 but if a young (jueen reared elsewhere is introduced it 

 makes no difference as to swarming, even if the young 

 queen should not have been laying two days. Just why 

 there is this difference has not been explained, but it is well 

 to know the fact that a colony inclined to swarm will not 

 be diverted from its purpose by the introduction of a young 

 queen reared elsewhere. 



The General Managership of the National We have 



received the following from the former Acting Chairman of 

 the Board of Directors of the National Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, which refers to a statement made by Mr. Abbott, 

 on page 403 : 



TO THE JIEMBRRSHIP OF THE NATIONAL BEK-KEEPERS' 

 ASSOCIATION. 



In the statement made by Mr. Abbott to the public there 

 are two propositions : First, the Board of Directors of the 

 National Bee-Keepers" Association has the right to receive 

 the resignation of Mr. Secor and elect his successor; or, 

 second, it does not havesuch right. Let us consider the 

 first proposition. I was appointed Acting Chairman of the 

 Board of Directors by Mr. E. T. Abbott, who was then 

 Chairman, to put the vote on the selection of a new General 

 Manager, Mr. Secor, the old Manager, having sent in his 

 resignation to Mr. Hutchinson. I did so, and the result of 

 that vote on the part of the Board showed six votes for E. 

 T. Abbott, one vote for E. M. Abbott, and one for W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



I was in doubt whether I could declare this an election 

 or not. I finally turned the matter over to Mr. Abbott, who 

 was Chairman of the Board, saying that I thought that E. 

 M. Abbott was intended for E. T. Abbott, and could be so 

 construed as the " intent of the voter." Mr. Abbott then 

 issued a circular letter to the Board, declaring an election 

 for himself as General Manager, and at the same time an- 

 nouncing that he had resigned as Chairman of the Board. 

 I was then appointed by him as Acting Chairman until a 

 permanent Chairman had been elected. 



Subsequent developments showed that the Board was 

 very much dissatisfied with the procedure. The contention 

 was that E. M. Abbott was not E. T. Abbott, and that there 

 were only six votes— not a majority. I was criticised for 

 not declaring the vote myself instead of turning it over to 

 an interested party. In the meantime it developed that the 

 resignation of Mr. Secor had not been accepted either by 

 the Executive Committee or the Board of Directors. Some 

 thought that Mr. Secor should have sent his resignation to 

 the Chairman of the Board. To avoid complication Mr. 

 Secor then sent his resignation to me. This I placed be- 

 fore the Board with the result that every member voted not 

 to accept. It was further contended that because this resig- 

 nation had not been accepted Mr. Secor was legally General 

 Manager at the very time :c'e uere trying to elect his succes- 

 sor, and that, therefore, the procedure was irregular and the 

 election void. At the time of submitting this resignation I 

 also stated that an appeal had been made from Mr. Abbott's 

 decision to the efl'ect that he was elected General Manager, 

 and inquired whether that decision should be sustained. To 

 this there were ten negative votes and one affirmative. I 

 then announced to the Board tliat Mr. Abbott's decision (or 

 mine, if Mr. A. prefers to have it so) was overruled, and 

 declared Mr. Secor General Manager. 



