8S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Feb. 



own. Those who carry their honey to mar- 

 ket in a spring wagon, can, without much 

 trouble, dispense witli separators ; also, it is 

 pretty well decided there is much less difli- 

 culty in getting straight nice combs where 

 the sections are not more than li or It inches 

 wide. Quite a number are talking about 

 using separators, one to each section ; but I 

 think they won't do it very long, if they give 

 it a trial. " 



^^— ^ 



OHIO BEE-KEEPEKS' CONVENTION. 



HELD AT COLUMBU.S, .JANUARY 14, 1,'), AND ItJ. | 



fWAS present at the convention only one 

 day, .January loth. JJefore telling you 

 — what i saw and lieard there, I want to 

 say a word about holding conventions in 

 general. This one was held in the Farmer's 

 Hotel. The proprietors were very pleasant 

 and courteous, and the bill of fare was good, 

 and the prices very moderate ; l)ut I experi- 

 enced a feeling of pain the moment I set foot 

 in their doors, on linding a large display of 

 liquors, the most prominent object in what 

 Avould have otherwise been a very pretty of- 

 fice. The room was one cloud of smoke, and 

 many of our bee-keepers contributed toward 

 keeping said cloud a dense one ; but I could 

 get along very well with this, if it were not 

 for the liquors. I do not know how many of 

 our bee-keepers drink. Only one of them 

 toJd me lie had had several drinks of whisky. 

 This one came there with his son, an exceed- 

 ingly bright and intelligent young man, and 

 1 am pretty certain he would not have drank 

 the whisky had it not been held in a build- 

 ing containing a whisky-shop, for he said he 

 voted for the second amendment. I Jcnoiv 

 why it is more convenient to have an associ- 

 ation to meet at a hotel. We usually get the 

 use of the hall free, besides reduced rates, 

 where so many put up at one place, and some- 

 times it seems quite inconvenient to get a 

 suitable hall, unless we take one belonging 

 to a hotel or drinking -place, if this is the 

 proper term. A great many of the conven- 

 tions I have attended in our own and other 

 States have been held in halls belonging to 

 liquor dealers ; and most hotels where I put 

 up had a display of liquors, or a liquor-room. 

 It may be there are no first-class hotels that 

 don't have any such attachments. If so, it 

 is a sad fact. If our juveniles are to attend 

 conventions, I feel like protesting against 

 taking them where they will see men, and 

 crowds of them too, pour down liquors at all 

 hours of the day. Is there no one among 

 you who feels as I do about it V Suppose it 

 does cost more money ; can we not profitably 

 furnish the money V 



SIZE OF SECTIONS. 



The first subject discussed in the morning 

 was the size of the section. After consider- 

 able talk on the subject a vote was taken, 

 and by far the largest part were in favor of 

 sections holding a single pound of honey, al- 

 though a few preferred larger ones. The 

 matter of separators and the narrower sec- 

 tion was then discussed at length, and the 

 majority seemed to favor a section made U 

 in. wide, or a little more, to be used without 

 a separator. If madp 11 inches wide it will 



hold about the same without separators that 

 the li in. section would with sejDarators; 

 therefore the standard for the l-lfi. section 

 will probably be 4ix4i as heretofore. 



IJEE-KEEriNO FOR W03IEN. 



Mrs. Jennie Culp made the best report of 

 any one at the convention this year, as she 

 did last. She also brought samples of her 

 honey, one and two years old, which she sells 

 in Columbus at IG cents per ft. I thought 

 the price a pretty good one ; but when I came 

 to taste it I found it equal to any honey I 

 ever saw at any price, and was not so much 

 surprised. She sells it in Mason's jars, quart 

 and half gallon. As we expect soon to give 

 a drawing of her pretty apiary in connection 

 with a report of her work I will not take 

 more space here than to speak of it. 



I'KOF. LAZEXBY, 



Of the Ohio State University, gave us a splen- 

 did talk on the "Nature, quality, and use- 

 fulness of nectar for the purpose of plant 

 fertilization." After this paper was read. 

 Prof. L. answered questions for us for some 

 little time, much to our profit and edifica- 

 tion. 



PERFO BATED ZIXC HONEY-BOARDS. 



These restrain drones without any trouble, 

 but do not always restrain queens. 



:mr. t. j. martin, 

 Of Tiffin, read an excellent paper on the 

 management of bees, which had been pre- 

 pared to be delivered at farmers' institutes 

 held throughout the States. Mr. Martin is 

 an exceedingly able man, and a talk like his 

 to the young farmers of our State must re- 

 sult in much benefit, even to those who might 

 not take up bee-keeping. 



KEEPING DOWN GRASS ANl) AVEEDS IN 

 THE APIARY. 



Mr. Fradenburg preferred the English 

 rabbit. They have to be kept in by a slight 

 fence of some kind, but will eat every kind 

 of weed that grows. Some use sheep in the 

 same way. 

 TO prevent the adulteration OF 



HONEY. 



Let every bee-keeper put his name on every 

 package he sells ; and if that name is not a 

 good, straight, honest name, go to work and 

 make it so, the first thing you do. 



Quite a good-sized table was well filled 

 with samples of honey and bee-supplies. 

 Uur good friend Henry Drum brought a case 

 made to hold sections of different sizes and 

 different widths, and so made to be easily 

 adjusted to any width the market demands. 



S. D. iliegel brought samples of honey and 

 an improved JJingham honey-knife, and a 

 pair of wooden tongs to shut down the tin- 

 foil caps quicker and neater than the strap 

 used by friend Muth. The honey-knife was 

 like the Bingham, only the blade was short- 

 er and the handle longer. 



Mr. Fradenburg had a sample of an atmos- 

 pheric bee-feeder that could be filled with- 

 out taking it off the hive. 



Samples of different bee-journals and bee- 

 books w^ere also on exhibition. 



The next meeting of the convention will 

 be at the time pf the State Fair, Like the 



