742 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 20 1902. 



and less loss in wintering. But south of the Ohio River the 

 chaff-hive is not used ; even south of the lakes in our locality 

 the chaff-hive and cellar-wintering- are used about equally. 



Then the question of buckwheat cuts considerable 

 figure in the Rain-Belt. Take it in Ohio and most of the 

 Eastern States, there is nothing we expect with any degree 

 of certainty after the basswood flow; there maybe a fall 

 flow, but it is so exceptional we don't expect anything, and 

 our intention is, so far as possible, to get done brood-rear- 

 ing and keep the colony in as neara dormant condition as 

 possible when wintering comes on, and then prepare for 

 wintering. 



In the State of New York there are vast fields of buck- 

 wheat, and shortly after the honey-flow of basswood and 

 white clover then comes on the buckwheat, and there will 

 be a flow for two or three weeks, or longer, perhaps, putting 

 the bees in the best possible condition for wintering. So 

 that even in the Rain-Belt we have conditions that vary 

 considerably. 



As I went over the country studying conditions that 

 exist in various portions of the United States, I have said 

 two or three times that the knowledge one bee-keeper might 

 have in the East would avail him but little if he went to 

 the West : it is true, one who is thoroughly experienced 

 with bees can go West and carrj' on bee-keeping, as we 

 know they do do, and do it successfully, but I have known 

 of cases where Eastern bee-keepers, who were successful, 

 have gone West and failed just because they have gotten 

 •into ruts and couldn't possibly change their conditions : 

 they thought they must continue stimulating by rearing 

 brood, and soon, when that procedure would result almost 

 in disaster when carried on to the same extent in the West. 



Other conditions, which I noticed were a little peculiar 

 in Arizona, and they are the matter of shade and the mat- 

 ter of entrances : that is, in Arizona, where it is so warm, 

 when the temperature ranges up towards the hundreds, and 

 perhaps more, they have these shades I speak of, and 

 ■which were illustrated on the screen ; they put their hives 

 in such a way that the hives are protected from the sun. It 

 is so very warm there that in Arizona I did not see a single 

 hive out in the apiary exposed to the sun, and it seemed 

 to me such shade as that would be very advantageous here 

 in Colorado, in Central California, in Texas, and many 

 localities where the sun beats down so hotly. The shades 

 which I saw in Arizona were cheaply put up, made of 

 common material, oftentimes over a rude, rough trellis, put 

 up, perhaps, 20 or 30 feet wide, and perhaps 100 feet long, 

 and so arranged that weeds or grass could be piled on top 

 to make a shade, to protect it from the hot rays of the sun. 

 I am convinced that that would be a great advantage in 

 localities where the sun beats down very warmly, and it 

 would better conditions all around. 



As I said a moment ago, the greatest difficulty about 

 one bee-keeper migrating to a new country is because he 

 sticks to old ruts. If one wants to know about the condi- 

 tions in the West he must study them thoroughly, and take 

 the advice of those around him, and not follow the old 

 methods of the old text-boods that were prepared and writ- 

 ten for bee-keeping as it exists in the Rain-Belt. 



Pres. Hutchinson— I think Mr. Root has covered that 

 subject very well, but if there is any one that would like to 

 speak further he is privileged to discuss it. 



A. Nelson— In reference to shade, I would like to say 

 one word. In southeastern Utah we have a few colonies of 

 bees. I have some which stand out under a row of trees, 

 facing the east, and the sun shines on those trees, and at 

 12 o'clock those bees are in the shade the rest of the day. I 

 also have bees right out in the open ground where the sun 

 shines on them all day. The bees that are in the sun all day 

 long are the stongest colonies, and gather the most honey 

 in our section of the country. The heat is not so strong 

 there that we need to shade them. I don't know whether 

 that would be the case here in Colorado or not, but that is 

 the case in southeastern Utah. The sun seems to have a 

 great effect on brood-rearing in the early spring, and, con- 

 sequently, we get stronger colonies by having them out in 

 the sunshine all day long. 



Dr. Miller — What is the warmest weather you have. 



Mr. Nelson — The warmest weather we ever have is 110 

 degrees. 



Dr. Miller— In the shade ? 



Mr. Nelson— In the shade. 



E. S. Lovesy — I am authorized by the Utah beekeepers, 

 and the Governor of our State, the Chamber of Commerce, 

 and the citizens of Utah, to invite this Association next 

 year to hold the convention on the shores of the great and 

 only Salt Lake. Brethren, if you come along you won't 



regret it ; you will feel the way we do to-day. A gentle- 

 man that just sat down was somewhat undecided whether 

 to come to this convention or not. Yesterday he said to 

 me, " Why, Mr. Lovesy, I wouldn't have missed this conven- 

 tion for ten times the cost of the ticket." We wish to 

 thank heartily the people of Colorado, and the bee-keepers 

 of Colorado, for the generous way in which they have 

 treated us. But, then, it is not to be wondered at ; even the 

 people from Illinois, Ohio and New York, when they get 

 out into this mountain air, can't help but feel generous, 

 whole-souled and big-hearted. 



We produce some honey out in Utah, and we raise many 

 other things. I brought a few things along here, and I 

 wish the people to take them away. I brought a box 

 weighing 7S pounds, and I had quite a job getting it here, 

 and I don't want to take it back again. I need not boast to 

 you about our honey-flow when I show you an article of 

 that kind [exhibits a bottle of honey.] I have had reports 

 from nearly all over the State, in the last three weeks, and 

 while there are quite a number of places where they have 

 not produced a great deal of honey, we have a number of 

 reports that cover an average of 300 pounds per colony. 

 When we get a flow of that kind, and honey like you see 

 here, we have to have a big flow of honey to do it. You 

 all know that bees always gather the best, and when you 

 get a first-class quart of white honey it is always the best. 

 I was thinking yesterday* when the subject of adulteration 

 was up — and. do you know, it is a fact that we have to 

 adulterate this honey to get rid of it? [Laughter.] A 

 great many people declare up and down that it is sugar and 

 water, when v?e present them with the very best quart of 

 white alfalfa honey, and they say, "We don't want your 

 sugar-honey." But if we put something dark-colored in, 

 and give it a golden tinge, it is all right. 



One gentleman, up in Idaho, wrote me last week, 

 lamenting that he had left Utah and gone up there ; he 

 said, " Mr. Lovesy, the nights are too cold here, and we 

 have too much wind, and Idaho will never be the country 

 for a honey-flow that Utah is." 



Nature, in her distribution of her treasures, made no 

 mistake ; the Saints made no mistake, the Mormons made 

 no mistake, whan they settled down in that country. We 

 read and sing about the mountain sides covered over with 

 Saints, milk, honey and wine. I wouldn't vouch for the 

 former, and I am very pleased to say we do not have much 

 of the latter, but when it comes to the milk and honey we 

 have plenty. I remember a little story told when the Mor- 

 mons were going to Utah. A man told Brigham Young he 

 would give SlOO a piece for every ear of corn he could raise 

 out in that country. " Why," he said, "a digger Indian 

 can't live out there." Brethren, if you come out there next 

 year we will show you what we are doing. 



I thank you for your attention, and I hope you will 

 come along and meet us next year, and if you do we will 

 meet you the following season in St. Louis. 



Dr. Mason— I had a letter from Mr. Lovesy, who is 

 president of the Utah Bee-Keepers' Association, expecting 

 to introduce it at the proper time, but he has got the start 

 of me, so I won't need to read it. I wanted to show him I 

 was not negligent in the matter, and wanted to attend to it. 



John Merkley — I want to say amen to what Mr. Lovsey 

 has said. I will say, as one of the Utah bee-keepers, we 

 will try and make you welcome. If you will come and see 

 us I believe we can make it interesting for you. 



J. Bolinger— In reference to keeping bees in the sun- 

 shine in Colorado, I have kept bees in Morgan County, 88 

 miles east of Denver, for 12 years, and I have never kept 

 any in the shade except a colony or two, and I don't have 

 my hive-covers painted either, and in 12 years I have never 

 had any melt down. I really prefer to have my bees in the 

 open sunshine, and not in the shade. 



I. Williams— If we are going to take up a place of the 

 next meeting I would like to have a word 



Pres. Hutchinson— This convention can't decide where 

 the next place of meeting will be ; the E.^ecutive Commit- 

 tee fixes the place. We might talk all day and we can't 

 fix that here. When the time comes we will have to depend 

 upon what rates we can get, and other things. All talk as 

 to where the next meeting will be held would be useless. 

 (Continued ne.\t week.) 



Honey-Dew in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Bee 

 Journal says, has never been seen until the present sea- 

 son ; but this year, Sept. 19, the bees were fairly crazy over 

 honev-dew on the willows. 



