Jan. 31, 1907 



87 



American Vae Journa 



cultural Society, which means that for $1.25 a 

 Minnesota bee-keeper can bucoiDc a meiriber 

 of :i organi/ationB, and Is entitled to the 

 t)enefits and literature of all. From the Hor- 

 ticultural Society literature in pamphlet form 

 i.s received every month, and at the end of 

 the year the whole in book form ; also the 

 programs and reports of bee-Ueepers' conven- 

 tions are printed with the report of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society ; in addition, 2 plant-pre- 

 miums arc given if the Secretary is notified 

 Imfore April 1. 



It would seem that the features mentioned 

 would be sullicient inducement for every 

 Minnesota bee-keeper to become a member of 

 the State Bee-Keepers' Society at once. Chas. 

 D. Blaker, Sta. F, Minneapolis, Minn., is the 

 Secretary, and Mrs. W. S. Wingate, 3013 Fre- 

 mont Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., is the 

 Treasurer, The membership diies of $1.25 

 may be sent either to Mr. Blaker or Mrs. Win- 

 gate. 



Suminer the Time for Bees 



'' Rummer." said the humming bee, 

 " Summtr is the time for me ! 



Rictiest fields of luscious clover, 



Honey-cups all brimming over; 



Not a cloud the long day through ! 



I like summer best — don't you?" 



— Selected. 



The Worcester Co.. (Mass.) Conven- 

 tion. — The Tth annual meeting of the Wor- 

 cester County Bee-Keepers' Association was 

 held Jan. 12, 1907, at Worcester, with Pres. 

 Burton Gates in the chair. After the brief 

 reports, the following officers were elected: 



President, Burton Gates; 1st Vice-Presi- 

 dent, F. H. Drake; 3d Vice-President, Chas. 

 Goodell; and Secretary-Treasurer, Arthur H. 

 Estabrook, of Leicester. 



There were nearly 40 bee-keepers present, 

 although the weather was very bad. Particu- 

 lar attention was paid to the status of bee- 

 diseases in Massachusetts. A copy of the 

 proposed Bill for Connecticut for protective 

 legislation against bee-diseases was read and 

 discussed. The Secretary was directed to 

 correspond with the Massachusetts bee-keep- 

 ers, in order to see what steps should be taken 

 to secure the needed law. The hope was ex- 

 pressed that inspection would not only reduce 

 the bee-diseases of the State, but that it would 

 do much to elevate the bee-keeping methods 

 and eliminate the primitive box-hives which 

 are still used to some extent. 



It was decided to hold, on Feb. 9 or 16 

 (according to the convenience of the speak- 

 ers), an all day and evening Institute with the 

 State Board of Agriculture. The full pro- 

 gram and exact date can be learned from the 

 Secretary. There will also be a banquet. 

 Everybody is invited to attend the meetjng 

 and banquet (the price of the latter being 50 

 cents). All kinds of implements, inventions, 

 and products of bees are solicited for the ex- 

 hibition. It is expected that there will be 

 present several hundred of the representative 

 bee-keepers of New England. No one who 

 can possibly attend can afford to stay away. 

 Further details may be had by addressing the 

 Secretary, A. H. Estabrook, care of Clark 

 University, Worcester, Mass. Also watch 

 the New England Homestead and Worcester 

 newspapers. 





Bee-Keepers' Supplies — Are 



they too High-Priced ? 



Gasoline Engines 



BY r. GKEINER. 



I ;iin not .ilisolutcly certain that the 

 bce-keepcrs ul our land have good rea- 

 son to comphiin about "high" prices of 

 supplies. It may be that too many mid- 

 dlemen are employed. If this is the 

 case, then it is not much different 

 from what we see all around us in other 

 branches of manufacture. Even the 

 products of our farm pass through a 

 chain of hands before reaching the con- 

 sumer, till the price the farmer receives 

 is doubled, tripled and quadrupled. 



The agents which travel from town 

 to town, and store to store, selhng the 

 goods of manufacturing concerns, must 

 receive their pay. which comes out of 

 the consumer, eventually. It is true, 

 our large supply - dealers employ no 

 traveling agents, their business being 

 largely a mail-order one, and it would 

 seem that there is absolutely no need 

 of a middleman, but they are there ! In 

 view of the fact that some manufactur- 

 ers, employing no agents, have .no 

 branch houses, offer goods much lower 

 than the other so-called "big manufac- 

 turers," it would almost seem that the 

 prices the latter class ask for their 

 goods are rather high. On the other 

 hand, it must not be lost sight of that 

 the bee-keepers are not without redress. 

 There is nothing to hinder our making 

 our own bee-hives, sections, sinokers, 

 and extractors. I have done so, and 

 still do so to some extent. 



Certain goods are difficult to make by 

 the bee-keeper himself; this cannot be 

 denied ; the honey-box or section, for 

 example. To make these, as large manu- 

 facturers make them, requires special 

 machinery, which is too costly for the 

 small manufacturer. Years ago we 

 sawed our sections on a circular saw 

 by horse-power. They were four-piece 

 sections, and had to be nailed, were 

 very rigid, and. when filled, were 

 glassed. Mr. Doolittle, I observe, has 

 adhered to this very section while near- 

 ly all the rest of us have adopted the 

 one-piece section or the four-piece dove- 

 tailed. We are not obliged to pay an 

 exhorbitant price for the one-piece sec- 

 tion as long a^ we. can make a good 

 four-piece for ■■urselves. 



If we, however, find it to our advan- 

 tage to use the large manufacturer's 

 goods, we have to pay him his price. 



The dovetailed hive is another ex- 

 ample. I ftiil t^' see the advantage of a 

 dove-tailed corner over any other, any- 

 how. With a plain circular saw we 



can make our hives with a "halved" 

 corner, which is much .superior to the 

 dove-tailed ; or we can simply cut off 

 square and nail together. Hives made 

 thus last a life-time, with good care. Why 

 go to the big manufacturer and con- 

 tribute to his riches? 



Since I began bee-keeping and the 

 manufacture of hives and other neces- 

 sary supplies, a great change has come 

 about. .'\s mentioned above, wc em- 

 ployed "the liorse" as the power to serve 

 our purpose ; this was 30 years ago. 

 Gas and gasoline engines have now 

 taken the place of the horse, much to 

 the comfort, pleasure and advantage, of 

 both the horse and his owner. It is now 

 a matter of great regret to me that 

 I did not, some years ago, employ the 

 gasoline engine to do my work rather 

 ask the faithful horse to do it; but I 

 was timid, fearing the engine would not 

 prove the thing for me. I also feared 

 the cost of the experiment. There may 

 be other bee-keepers similarly situated 

 as I was, and for their benefit I wTite 

 this. I would have given quite a Ht- 

 tile if some one, in whom I placed con- 

 fidence, could have told me what I know- 

 now about gasoline engines for bee- 

 hive work. It was a question with me 

 as to what size engine to purchase. I 

 finally settled on a two-horse power 

 engine. I reasoned thus : One horse hav- 

 ing been doing most of my w'ork, al- 

 though some time the power was hardly 

 adequate, why should not a 2-horse-pow- 

 er engine suffiice? True, a horse rnay be 

 "stimulated" to such an extent as to 

 produce a power equal to a two or four 

 horse power engine for a moment or 

 so ; with the engine such a course is 

 ■ not possible, but what the engine can do 

 at all, it can do all the time. 



I installed the two-horse pow-er en- 

 gine with some fears and misgivings, but 

 now I am glad to say that it is answer- 

 ing my purpose perfectly. It is so eas- 

 ily started that I seldom saw off as 

 much as one board with the hand-saw 

 any more. The engine is handy for 

 other work also. What untold hard, 

 backaching work I might have saved 

 myself and hired man had I invested, 

 some years ago. would be difficult to 

 cornpute. 



Since lumber is becoming higher and 

 higher in price, timber getting more 

 scarce, the little engine helps us to save 

 many an expense in this line. We util- 

 ize almost any kind of timber, of any 

 size down to 3 and 4 inches in diameter 

 for the bee-hive work. Shipping-cases 

 may be inade from basswood, poplar, 

 whitewood. pine, hemlock, chestnut, but- 

 ternut, and other timbers not too hard. 

 I have even used old chestnut fence- 

 rails which otherwise would have found 

 their wav into the kitchen stove. The 



