924 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



ber of coloiiios. iln^ more ti'aveliiig to and fi'om 

 the different hives, and the more space of grass 

 to mow down. 



As will be noticed, the hives are all of the 

 new dovetailed type, and every one of them 

 contains Hott'man IVames. They are ready at 

 almost any moment, aft(M' closing the entrances 

 and securing the cover and bottom, to be load- 

 ed on to a wagon like cord wood, or to be car- 

 ried into the cellar without handling with care 

 or right side up. 



Every hive is elevated on a Heddon hive- 

 stand, and this contributes in no small degree 

 to one's comfort in working over the hivi^s, and 

 in the preservation of the bottom-board and . 

 the consequent dryness on the inside of the 

 hive for either summer or winter. But of these 

 I shall have occasion to speak in another article. 



Perhaps the most conspicuous feature are the 

 <^vergreens, which were set out in 1879; and 

 now they have grown to such a size that they 

 form an admirable windbi'eak. In a few years 

 more we expect to cut oft' the tops, and then, of 

 course, the limbs will intertwine closer than 

 they do now. As it is. it is not pleasant for 

 either man or beast to crowd by their branches, 

 if, foi'sooth, he can. During some of our I'ecent 

 cold windy days I noticed a marked contrast be- 

 tween the amount of air circulating inside and 

 that outside of the inclosure. While the ever- 

 greens waved and roared with the wind from 

 without, inside it was comparatively quiet. 

 When A. I. Root desired something better than 

 a high board fence he builded (oi', rather, set 

 out) better than he knew. 



Two or three weeks before this picture was 

 taken, our hives had not been leveled up, and 

 some visitors who had called seemed to be very 

 much surprised that they were not in straight 

 rows, and square with each othei'. We tried to 

 explain to them that the hives had just been 

 unloaded, and that we had not had time to 

 draw them to a line. The explanation did not 

 satisfy them. However, I determined, befoVe 

 more visitors came, that the hives should be 

 lined up, and they were. As to how well the 

 work was done may be evidenced by a look up 

 the first row at the right. They are all "'level- 

 ed" — that is to say, the front end of the hives 

 is a trifle lower than the back, so as to shed 

 water from the entrances. Yes, our whole 

 apiary, even including the hexagonal part of 

 it (only a very small portion of which shows in 

 the picture), had been brought to a line. 



1 presume some of you have been asking, 

 "Whose brick house is that just beyond the 

 trees?" Well, that is the paternal mansion'of 

 Rootville. We do not all live there — oh, no! 

 While it is a large and comfortable dwelling, it 

 is not big enough for more than one family. 

 My mother has always said that she loves her 

 <laughter and daughter-in-law too much to in- 

 cur the risk of having them with their families 

 under the same roof. This may account in no 

 small degree for the fact that there have never 

 been any " family rows " in Rootville. We all 

 live under (mr own roofs, within about a stone's 

 throw from eacli other. 



NOTES FROM THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. 



AS KKPORTKD BY I)K. MUA.VM. 



The Chicago convention was good. It always 

 is. Nine states were represented, and a crowd 

 of good workers were there. I think a little 

 more solid work than usual was done. A busi- 

 ness trip to the North by O. O. Poppleton gave 

 US a representative from as far away as Florida. 

 A. I. Root, who formerly did not favor conven- 

 tions, has been converted from his eri'ors: and 



as he never does things by halves, he is now a 

 convention man all over, and was a faithful 

 worker through every session. 



I saw there for the first time J. H. Larrabee, 

 the representative of the United States govern- 

 ment. I like him. He is modest enough not to 

 think he knows every thing, and I don't see 

 any reason why he should not be a real help to 

 the fraternity. He was ui'ged to communicate 

 more frequently and more directly with bee- 

 keepers, and he expressed himself as d(>sirous to 

 hear from them, and especially to know upon 

 what subjects they wanted experiments made. 

 I think he has doiie this before, but. strange to 

 say. I believe he reported that only one man 

 had sent in any request as to experiments. This 

 should not continue. 



The convention tackled the very important 

 item of grading honey. I think no convention 

 has ever had the hardihood to undertake it 

 before. A committee of seven, with Dr. Mason 

 as chairman, were insti'ucted to report a scheme 

 for grading. Several times the report of the 

 committee was called for, but each time the 

 reply was, "Not ready." At last the report was 

 that they couldn't agree. Then the convention 

 resolved itself into a committee of the whole, 

 and "rassled " with the pioblem in dead ear- 

 nest. But the problem "downed" the conven- 

 tion, and dinner time found them without an 

 agreement. "Too bad that we couldn't agree 

 upon something, and at least make some kind of 

 a start." was the comment of more than one 

 during the noon hour. 



After dinner, with perhaps a little feeling of 

 desperation, the subject was renewed, in the 

 attempt to see how far there could be any 

 agreement. Then the good sense and the good 

 spirit of the convention showed itself, and each 

 one seemed willing to make any reasonable 

 concession to the views of others. So a system 

 of gi'ading was agreed upon, subject to the 

 revisional judgment of the assembled Albany 

 wisdom. I think it is far from a perfect system; 

 but it is a sUirt, and that is at least something. 



Among other things, the ubiquitous question 

 as to Sunday closing of the World's Fair came 

 up. Two to one were in favor of Sunday clos- 

 ing, but in the interest of harmony the majori- 

 ty yielded. It is not entirely clear to me why 

 it would not have be(>n just as graceful and 

 proper for the minority to yield to the majority. 



Although no action was taken, there was 

 considerable discussion as to honey being en- 

 titled to the same bounty from the government 

 as maple sugar. It was argued that the Mc- 

 Kiiili'V bill had so lowered the price of sugar 

 impoited, that the home product could not 

 compete. To this it was replied that the same 

 action had brought down the price of honey to 

 meet sauces made with cheap sugar. 



The convention, backed by two commission 

 men, recommended the shipping of comb honey 

 in single-tier cases holding 13 or 24 sections 

 each. The weight of opinion seemed to favor, 

 for extracted hon(>.y, square 60-lb. tin cans 

 packed in wooden cases, two in a case, but some 

 were quite earnest for cheap barrels. 



Publication of honey quotations had some at- 

 tention. The practice of publishing above or 

 below what could be actually obtained was 

 deprecated, and it was urged that those pub- 

 lishing quotations should give them somewhat 

 as they were given of staples such as butter 

 and wheat. That is, a man who sells on com- 

 mission should say at what price honey is 

 actually selling; and if he is a cash buyer he 

 should say what price he is paying. 



Action was taken toward allowing the society 

 in future to be part and parcel of the State so- 

 ciety organized last winter. It was the general 

 opinion that this would be a good thing for both 



