1888 



gLeakings in BEk cuLtuke. 



107 



J^jYgELF WD MY]S[EI6pBei^S. 



What shall it profit a man, if he shall g-aiD the 

 whole world, and lose his own soul?— Mark S: Sfi. 



OUK •' YORK STATE "' NEIGHBOR.S. 



TTp T the appointed time, January 17, at 2 

 gMk P. M., I was on liand ready for the 

 '^m York State bee-keepers' convention ; 

 ■^^ and, in fact, I was the only one on 

 hand. Altlioiigh 1 came all the way 

 from Ohio to this convention, there was not 

 a York State man present in the convention 

 looms at the opening hour. I should not 

 have been thns early, perhaps, had it not 

 been announced that friend Doolittle would 

 open the discussion in regard to using full 

 sheets of foundation in the brood-chamber. 

 As it happened, however, he was not present 

 at all, neither did he send in a communica- 

 tion. Neither was C. V. Miller present, nor 

 H. D. Cutting; and although the pro- 

 gramme announced that Oapt. Hethering- 

 ton would lead the discussion in regard to 

 organizing an international bee-keepers' 

 association, he was not present, neither did 

 he send in any communication. In the 

 same way, we did not meet Julius Huffman, 

 L. C. Root, E. F. Ilolterman, nor C. R, 

 Isham. In fact, of the eleven different 

 prominent bee-keepers who were announced 

 on the programme, only two were present. 

 Shall we complain of the York State bee- 

 keepers that they are lacking in enthusiasm 

 or a sense of duty? God forbid. Very like- 

 ly it is a Christian duty to do a certain 

 amount of complaining, and remonstrate 

 occasionally as one goes through the path of 

 duty ; but I think, dear friends, the great 

 trouble is, we shall complain too much in- 

 stead of not enough. I do not know just 

 why these friends were all absent, nor do I 

 know why the number in attendance this 

 winter at Utica should have been so much 

 less tlian those who attended a year ago. In 

 many localities the drought and short crops 

 have made bee-men feel poor; but York 

 State, during the past season, has been 

 blessed in honey- crops far above her sister 

 States. Doubtless many of the friends were 

 kept away by sickness or impoitant duties ; 

 but I fear the greater part of them remain- 

 ed at home because the weather was severe- 

 ly cold, and because of a sort of indifference 

 that is the greatest obstacle in the way of 

 furthering any good work. Some may ask, 

 "• Brother Root, are you really sure that it 

 pays in any sense to attend conventionsV Is 

 it really worth while to keep them up, es- 

 pecially when we have so many publications 

 devoted to our industry, and so many cheap- 

 er ways of giving and receiving knowl- 

 edge?" To which I reply, '' Dear friends, I 

 do feel satisfied that it pays to attend con- 

 ventions, if they are properly conducted." 

 Well, what shall we do to make sure that 

 they are properlv conducted? " Why, at- 

 tend them yourself ; pay your dollar toward 

 the support of the iiistitutiou, and then ex- 

 ercise your privilege as an American citizen, 

 of voting for that which is right and good 

 and pure and true. If you decide not to at- 

 tend, do not, I beg of you, criticise and ob- 



ject, and lind fault with those who do 

 attend.'' 



I was very much pleased to find the meet- 

 ing was to be opened with prayer by one of 

 the resident pastors of tlie city of Utica. 1 

 had an opportunity of having just a few 

 minutes' conversation with him, and it 

 made me feel like praising God to know 

 that such good stanch servants of his are to 

 be found all over our land, in our great cit- 

 ies as well as in our country towns. I very 

 soon learned to love and respect our good 

 president, Mr. W. E. Clark. I have also 

 learned to feel a very warm friendship for 

 the patient, quiet secretary, friend Knick- 

 erbocker. As the treasurer was absent, Mr. 

 K. was obliged to act for liim part of the 

 time, both as secretary and treasurer. 



The hrst topic was, " Does it pay to culti- 

 vate plants specially for honey?" This 

 seemed to be decided almost unanimously 

 in the negative. Better devote your time 

 and land to alsike and mammoth clover, 

 buckwheat, and rape, in localities where the 

 latter nourishes. A Mr. Crocker, Avho was 

 present, reported about 80 acres in alsike 

 clover during the past season, within range 

 of his bees. This alsike was raised by the 

 farmers about him, specially for a forage 

 crop, without reference to honey at all. 



One member of the convention informed 

 us, that at one time when acres of buck- 

 wheat in his vicinity were producing no 

 honey at all, he got quite a good yield of 

 buckwheat honey by moving his apiary sev- 

 eral miles to another locality where the 

 buckwheat was yielding honey. In this 

 case it was the buckwheat on the hills that 

 produced the honey when that in the val- 

 leys did not. I remember to have met a 

 similar case in my own experience. 



" Does it pay to use full sheets of founda- 

 tion in the brood-chamber ?" was discuss- 

 ed generally ; and I believe the result was, 

 that very few had tested the matter suffi- 

 ciently to be satisfied. Mr. Crocker, mention- 

 ed above, had used about 40 of the Ileddon 

 hives, and thought he had a little better re- 

 sults in comb honey where he put nothing 

 in the brood-chamber but starters. Of 

 course, the new swarms that were worked 

 on the above plan had little or no stores for 

 winter, as the result of giving so much from 

 sections. When asked if he did not think 

 all the gain made was on account of the 

 lack of stores in the l)rood-ehamber, he said 

 he thought not, and his experience seems to 

 agree with the teachings of Ileddon and 

 liutchinson, that it pays us to get all the 

 white honey in the sections, even if it does 

 result in leaving the bees entirely destitute 

 of stores when the season is over. 



No one present had succeeded with ar- 

 tificial fertilization, unless, indeed, the old 

 Kohler method of causing drones and 

 (|ueensto tly a little later in the day than 

 tlHMisual time, be called artificial. 



The topic. " How can we organize an in- 

 ternational bee-keepers' association that 

 will best promote the interests of bee-keep- 

 ers?" occupied more time and attention 

 than any other one thing. The trt)ub]e 

 seems to be, so many have different ideas in 

 regard to what this organization shall ac- 



