IS'.fJ 



r.LEANINCS IN HEE CULTURE. 



and tilt' full iiupnit of w liicli is not vft fully ap- 

 prcriattMi is tlic Ponci- bcc-cscapc (which is 

 rt'ully tilt' luilv i;<H)(l csraptv 'IMiis can In- usfil 

 most siu'i'cssfully wilh the shallow i-asc, and 

 with no othor. With this casi' the hot. disa- 

 prt'cablc wofU of liiiishiiiir bees fiotn the coinhs 

 is at an i-nd; also tht> rxposuit^ of diippiiiii 

 conihs when fiMiifucd to the hive. .\n(l now 

 the only thinij in the way of cnalilins one man 

 to fxifact fi'oin douhh' the nuinbcf of i-oloiiics 

 ho now dtti's is an nncaiipinfi-inachinc and a 

 olu>ap inotof: and lot ino tril you. fiicuds, elec- 

 tricity is fioins to do it. 



The I., fiainc is a {rood cnoufrh frame in the 

 l)i()od-clianilii'r foe piobably a iricat nui.jority 

 of lM'(>-ktH>pi'rs: but tin' tendency of the times 

 is to liavc every thing iialf story above it. 

 There are other favorable points in the sliallow 

 liive in relation to feeding, wintering, and niov- 

 injr. and the above pt);nts were arri\('d at 

 amont; the hills of New ^'ork. in actual work 

 with over a hundred boomin^r colonies. When 

 the prejudice and factional feeling tiiat has 

 been aroused by perhaps a too acrimonious dis- 

 cussion subsides, the di\isible brood -chain her 

 will occupy a more prominent place in the 

 liroad tield of apiciiltural pursuit. The race for 

 suiui'inacy is for the most deserving: and in 

 the hours of tli(> night, and while in the elegant 

 home of Mr. Heddon. an<l w hile the tlnmders 

 were rolling and the lightning flashing, our 

 disturbed slumbers saw the grand race tor the 

 prize. •' Who will win ?" is the query of the 



R A. M HI, Eli. 



[The junior editor has never had the pleasure 

 of meeting Mr. Heddon personally, although 

 we have talked back and forth pretty freely 

 over the typewriter. We expected to meet him 

 at the Michigan State convention at Gi'and 

 Rapids, but for some reason or other our Dowa- 

 giac friend did not make his aiipearance. It is 

 DO dout)t true, that Mr. Heddon has contributed 

 to the world several useful inventions. He has 

 a keen perception of what is useful and practic- 

 al for the apiary. 



Well, now. about that dream. You have put 

 Heddon in the lead, but we hope he is not after 

 the sugar-barrel only. It is "Success in Bee 

 Culture" that he is after, not sugar. We sup- 

 pose that is Dr. Tinker who has hitched his 

 hive to Mr. Heddon's. Possibly Tinker may 

 object to that im[)ersonation: if so. let him score 

 the Rambler. That man I'orter is getting there 

 too; and the other fellows who would be his 

 rivals seem to be utterly demoralized in the 

 race. And there comes Bro. Newman, of the 

 Amerlr/iii Bee JourudJ. He seems to be com- 

 batting successfully some imps which we sup- 

 pose to be new.spaper canards. The oin- he has 

 slain is probably tiie wily Wiley of aitihcial- 

 comb notoriety. We wonder whether some of 

 those imps are not grip seeds floating around 

 seeking a lodging-place. If so. we hope Bro. 

 Newman will make them all bite the; dust. 

 Bro. Doolittle is riding on a log skep as an em- 

 blem of nature, and carrying along his two 

 hobbies, his telescope and rifle. Hello, tliere is 

 Alley riding Runic bees uj) I'unic Alley for his 

 hobby: and E. L. Pratt seems to be jiretty well 

 on top. Who is that gentleman by the stump'.' 

 Why. that must be Dr. ('. ('. Miller. In his on- 

 waifi tlighl he must have encountered, with his 

 personal pronoun/, the editorial 'cc in the shape 

 of a snag or stump. How could you. Rambler? 

 You have gone and cartooned both the senior 

 and junior editor: aiifi. worse than all. you 

 have got Heddoii'x liive nearer the goal tlian 

 the Dcnetailed. \Ve suppose the little fellow 

 behind, with glasses, on the Safety bicycle, 

 must be the chaj) who went through York 

 State, and came Ijack home crazy on tixed -iis- 

 tances. 



There. Just as we exoei'led. The onward 

 rush has lieen so great tnat the Kambler has 

 tinally lainied in the (iulf of California; and 

 (Uir friend the artist is l)arely able to keep his 

 head above water. Well, dreams are (h'cef)- 

 tive: hut sometimes tlwy come "awfully near" 

 picturing ti'uth.l 



MICHIGAN STATE BEE-KEEPERS' CONVEN- 

 TION AT GRAND RAPIDS. 



NOTES 15 Y KKNEST 1{. liOOl'. 



I arrived at (Jrand Rapids on the morning of 

 the 31st of December. After registering at the 

 hotel I intiuired wherc^ the bee-keei)ers' con- 

 vention-room w as. As I did so, somebody who 

 looked very much like the Rambler turned and 

 inquired whether I was Ernest. In the language 

 of the Rambler, we "exchanged our identity.'" 

 Instead of being the California man, however, 

 it was none other than a bee-ki'cpi'r whose 

 acquaintance I had long desired to mak(> — 

 (Jeorge E. Hilton, of F'remont, Mich. Mr. Hil- 

 ton explained that only a few had come, and 

 tliat most of the trains on which th(! bee-keepers 

 would come aii'ived aft(M' on(^ o'clock. After 

 making the acquaintance of the few who were 

 present, we adjourned to Mr. Hilton's room, 

 where we had one of those delightful, informal 

 conventions. 



It was not e.xpected that the attendance 

 w ould be very large, or even up to what it had 

 been formerly. Michigan bee-keepers had pass- 

 ed through another very poor honey season. 

 Very few indeed there were who could report 

 an average yield of more than 10 lbs. per colony. 

 But there was a fair attendance at the opening 

 of the convention, in the afternoon. After the 

 transaction of a little business we listened to 

 President Taylor's address. I was prejjared to 

 take notes in the usual way; but as I listened I 

 became more and more convinced that the ad- 

 dress was so valuable, and so vital to the inter- 

 ests of all bee-keepers, that it would be an ag- 

 gravation for you to read only a brief resume 

 of it. I accordingly stopped taking notes, and 

 at recess requested a copy of the address in full, 

 which I am glad to present and recommend to 

 the careful perusal of every bee-keeper. Mr. 

 Taylor prefaced the reading of his address by 

 stating that he had chosen for his subject, 



EfONOMY IN HONEY PRODUCTION. 



Another year has come, bestowing its bless- 

 ings where it listed, and is gone; and whether 

 it lias favored us as we had hoped and desired 

 or not. we may well look, and in no complain- 

 ing spirit, to discover, if we may, by what rule 

 its largesses hav(^ been bestowed, and why our 

 expectations ha\'e not been met. To the coun- 

 try at larg<>. its bounties have been unexampled; 

 y)ut to t-iiose who pursue that vocation which 

 this convention is met to promote, they have 

 been, we will pretty generally agree, in one 

 point at least, rather meager. But are we al- 

 together right ill our estimate '.* Are we not too 

 much given to cultivating a feeling of disap- 

 pointment, that we do not get a heavy crop, 

 rather than to accepting an average crop with 

 gratilicatioii. oi' to making the most of a small 

 crop".' Relatively we have, of course, had a 

 bad year. .• .Some have even had no surplus at 

 all; but. on the average, has the year been 

 necessarily an nnprofitaole oiu^'.^ I say necex- 

 s(irU]i. because sometimes one has notions of 

 the prolitable character of the venture he is 

 about tp engage in S(j elevated that he wastes 

 sut'ticient to make a fair profit. 



Once, many years ago, a craze for the pro- 

 duction of hops took possession of the farmers 

 ill a certain localitv near where I lived. Prices 



