

^ST BEE^PAPc^ 



"V AMERICA )^^ 



42dYEAR 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOV, 13, 1902. 



No, 46. 



^ Editorial Comments, ^i^ 



Keeping Combs of Pollen — To preserve combs of 

 pollen from one season to another, it has been recommended 

 to dust well with powdered sugar the cells containing pollen 

 as a protection against mold. In addition to this, some 

 say sprinkle water over the sugar that is sifted on, treating 

 only one side of the comb, then in a few days, after this 

 side has become dry, treat the other side in the same way. 



Generally, pollen may be left safely in care of the bees, 

 especially if left near the middle of the broodnest. But 

 you may have combs of pollen outside the hives. If no 

 honey be in the comb containing the pollen, don't put it in 

 a damp place fitted to encourage mold, but, if you can do 

 no better, leave it outdoors protected from mice and rain. 

 Mold will hardly trouble it before severe freezing, and it 

 will certainly not take any hurt during severe freezing 

 weather, nor till well along in the spring. Then, before it 

 gets warm enough for it to hurt, either by drying or mold- 

 ing, give it in care of the bees. They will turn it into 

 brood. 



Electing Officers at Conventions Mr. F. L. Thomp- 

 son doesn't like the way officers of bee-keepers' associations 

 are generally elected. In an article in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Bee Journal he gives the following as the usual form 

 of proceeding : 



" Mr. President, I nominate So-and-So for president," 

 (or secretary or treasurer, as the case may be). No other 

 nominations. "Mr. President, I move the secretary be 

 instructed to cast the ballot of the association for So-and- 

 So as piesident." Seconded and carried. So-and-So is 

 then supposed to be the choice of the association. 



Perhaps he is ; and perhaps he isn't. 



This seems to result in electing usually the first man 

 named, whether the best man for the place or not. Instead 

 of this we should have the very best man available for the 

 place, and there should be full opportunity to have each 

 member suggest the man he thinks thus fitted. As to the 

 means of accomplishing this, Mr. Thompson says : 



There is only one way to do this, namely, by taking an 

 informal ballot before the decisive one, and doing away 

 with verbal nominations altogether. The informal ballot 

 is the best kind of nomination, because it is a nomination 

 by everybody who has ideas of what he wants. Verbal 

 nominations are made only by a few, who may not come 

 near covering the field. After an informal ballot, every 

 one knows clearly what to choose between ; after a verbal 

 nomination he is often not conscious of much more than the 

 temporary and adventitious prominence of those actually 

 named. One may very readily, for the time being, even 

 forget the existence of as efficient workers (or even more 

 eflBcient ones) as those who happen to be named. 



Entirely right, Mr. Thompson. The moment a name is 

 ^mentioned on the floor of the convention, that moment the 



personal element enters, and any one making a second 

 nomination is likely to be considered more or less as antago- 

 nizing both the previous nominee and the man who nomi- 

 nated him. With the informal ballot all this is avoided. 

 Then the formal ballot which follows is made intelligently. 



It may be objected that balloting takes time. If there 

 is to be a very short session, there may be some weight in 

 this. But with one or more sessions of considerable dura- 

 tion, a good presiding officor will expedite matters so as to 

 save a good deal more time than that lost in balloting. At 

 any rate, if we want the best of anything, we must be will- 

 ing to pay something for it. 



Bee-keepers, perhaps, are not less informed on this 

 subject than are other people. But, really, it was laugh- 

 able to see how the election of officers was conducted at the 

 Denver convention. We think it was the most poorly man- 

 aged of anything we ever saw in that line. For instance, 

 nominations of candidates was allowed first, and then what 

 was called an "informal " ballot was taken \ The informal 

 ballot, as we understand it, is to take the place of public 

 nominations. Then, afterward, the formal ballot is taken, 

 which is to elect one from the persons nominated by the 

 informal ballot. 



We do not believe in public nominations for otTice, nor 

 in nominating-committees. Neither method is fair. The 

 informal ballot first is the best way, especially for impor- 

 tant offices. 



Hiving Swarms on Starters — A practice that has 

 been a good deal recommended is to hive a swarm on four 

 or five frames furnished with narrow starters, and then 

 when these frames are filled out to give the remaining 

 frames filled with foundation. In Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture G. M. Doolittle gives a kink that is new, and it has a 

 good look. When the five frames are given at the start, 

 one or more of them are likely to have drone-comb started 

 in them, and when once started it is likely to be continued 

 to the bottom of the frame. So Mr. Doolittle fills the hive 

 with frames at the start, and 36 to 48 hours later he takes 

 out half of them, leaving those that have only worker-comb 

 in them, and these will be filled out with worker-comb. 



A Hive-Scraper.— R. D. Cleveland sends a pen sketch 

 of a tool that he finds very useful as a hive-scraper. He 

 says, " It is nothing but a common three-cornered scraper, 

 but it 'everlastingly scrapes,' and with the angles and 

 points to the head, you can scrape on all sides and into all 

 corners with it." The tool is an excellent one, although by 

 no means new, and a blacksmith can make one by fasten- 

 ing a handle into the center of one of the sections of the 

 sickle of a reaper or mowing machine. For ordinary use 

 in scraping hives nothing is better, although when it comes 

 to the wholesale cleaning oflf the tops of brood-frames some 

 who have tried both say they prefer a common hoe, well 

 sharpened. It does the work as well, and much more 

 rapidly. 



