1WI2 



(ii.KAMXtJs IN iJKK ( II, rii;i;. 



'I'lu'sc liiriirrs arc far t'loiii <lisiMiiiriiKiiifi. l>ui 

 th(>y speak powcil'iillv for kccpiiip cxpciisi's 

 (iown. Ill an avcras'' ItK-aticiii. (iiic wliospciuls 

 :ni.">ilays ill till' year (III l.V) colonics can not ex- 

 pect to tfet licli; liiil by iiiaUiii); six or seven 

 w eeUs do. lie can make his invest meiii pay well. 

 ilie ditl'ereiice in t lie luuiihei- of colonies in dif- 

 ferent apiaries, the presence of hnildiiii^s or 

 cellars that can he used witlioiit expeiis(> of 

 niakinjr special hiiildinsjs and cellars, and the 

 dilTerenci" in avcrai^e yiel(l> in dilVerent locali- 

 ties makes a jjreat dilteience in the nei cost of 

 honey: yet tlioiisili our circiiinstaiices vary 

 greatly in many ways, we can. neverlliel(>ss. hy 

 severally i"aU'iiiatinii the i-ost in our ri'sjiective 

 cases, assist one another in put tins; the business 

 on a more stable basis than it has hitherto oc- 

 cupied. I{. L. 'r.\ vi>on. 



Tiie presiileiit was so modest that lie jiassed 

 riirlit on to the lu^xt topic on the projrram before 

 tlie bee-keepe|-s present could enter into any 

 discussion. Hut duriiifi all the sessions the 

 subject of the address would lU'op out. .1. II. 

 Larrabee. of the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege, thoii.sht he could perform all necessary 

 work in a well regulated apiary — in fact, do 

 every thing in connection \\ith the business. 

 from the folding (d' sections to putting in start- 

 ers, to the linal disposition of the honey crop 

 on the market, and yet allow only half a day's 

 time for each colony. That is. 150 colonies 

 would re(iuire 75 days 300 colonies. 1.50 days. 

 It was suggested that the average bee-keeper 

 could not afford to do (('I the work — that it 

 would be cheaiKM' ffir liim to hire cheap labor 

 to perform such work as folding sections, put- 

 ting in starters, pi'oviding crates for the hives, 

 scraping the sections, etc.; that the time for 

 each colony might l)e thei-eby rc^duced very 

 malerialiy. leaving the exi)ert or owner of the 

 liees to do expert labor, such as getting the bees 

 into proper condition for a honey crop, manag- 

 ing the swarming, putting on and taking off 

 the sections. Some argued that Mr. Larrabee 

 was too economical of lime, and wanted to 

 know what would be done about swarms. Some 

 one suggested caging queens until the swarm- 

 ing season was over; others dividing, and still 

 others using drone-trapsor autcmiatic swarmers. 

 It wp.s too expensive to keep a man in each yard 

 to look aft<'r swarms. 



The iiuestion finally turned to the importance 

 of handling hives instead of fraines. I was 

 called upon to tell what I knew about it. As I 

 liave already made myself sufficiently plain in 

 previous numbers. I will not go over the ground 

 here again. Mr. Taylor then explained how he 

 could find (|iieens in the Ileddon hive with the 

 shake-(jut function, and how he cmild ascertain 

 the amount of bi'ood by simplv dividing two 

 sections of the brood -nest. 



Taking every thing into consideration, it was 

 plain that l)ee-kee|)ers had become accustomed 

 to putting too much time iipcjii their bees: that 

 the (jiily way tf) reduce the cost of honey per 

 pound was by handliii<r hives instead of frames. 

 or. as some of us ju-eferred to put it. diagnosing 

 hives more and liandling fi'ames Ukss. As to the 

 c(jst of comb honey pei' ixiund. S(H'retary Hilton 

 said that, prior to four or five years ago. his 

 crop averaged him. from one year to another, 

 about4cts.: but during the last three or four 

 years it had gone up jM-etty high. In one yard 

 which he had on shai'es. if I i-emember correct- 

 ly, he said the aveiage cost of comb honey pei- 

 pound was $1.00. Me had had enough of that.c 



There Is one very encouraging featnrej^in 

 I'resident Tayloi-'s address: and that is. that a 

 hee-kee|)er may make a slight margin of profit, 

 even whiMi his average is only "jo lbs. jier colony. 

 This is a fruitful theme, and Mr. Hilton lu'is 



promised to give us >ome more posiiiverdata on 

 the subject in a fuiiire issue. 



ItKsr.-.M.I.-ITKI'OSK HI!uol>-KI{.\.MK. 



Mr. Larrabee. in a well-written paper, dis- 

 cussed this subject. It was not dillicult, for 

 each one. he said, to decide upon one for him- 

 self; but no coin'ciitiiin of bee-keepers could 

 agree. The essential feal-iire of an all-purpose 

 brood-frame was, that it should have a top- 

 bar thick enough so as not to sag. and from 

 l/,;tol'n in width. lie liked the narrow bot- 

 tom-bar that Hro. Root had recently introduced, 

 for the reason that bees build combs down to it 

 better: and with such a frame, when with- 

 drawn from the hive, there was less danger of 

 rolling over or killing bees. The (pieen also 

 was less likely to liiid a hiding-place between 

 the bottom edge of the comb and the bottom- 

 bar. Fraine-eiids should be at least % inch 

 thick. As to whether theyjis a whole should 

 be of the lixeii or self-spacing style was a ])oint 

 upon which he had not yet decided, lie urged 

 that all bee-keepers, as soon as practicable, 

 adopt a staiidai'd size: and that standarti size, 

 in the I'liited Stales at least, was the Lang- 

 stroth. Mr. Larrabee then read replies from a 

 number of [irominent, siipply-d<'alers. all of 

 which, with one exception, indicated that thick 

 to|)-bars iwe about to displace all frames with 

 the narrow and thin lop-bar. 



I was called upon to giv(^ my exjierience with 

 the thick toiJ-liar. Most of our readers know 

 what 1 think about them, so I will not take 

 space to repeat it here. But I was surprised to 

 see how many there were who leslili(!d to the 

 value of the non-burr-eomb frame, after an 

 experience of from one to three years. I was 

 interested to note, also, how many, both in con- 

 vention and in between sessions, signifii^d their 

 intention of adopting Hoffman end-bars.; or 

 some st.yle of fixed frame. 



;epii-<)1uum. ok wili>ow-iiehh. 



I was indeed surprised to hear so many testi- 

 fy to the value of epilohium as a hon(>y-plant. 

 In some places it is called willow-herb, and in 

 others. I believe, tireweed. In localities wher(> 

 it grew profusely, even during the last poor 

 seasons, it has yielded well. At tln^ hotel table 

 it was my jdeasure to sample some of that Mr. 

 Hilton had brought in, on buckwheat cakes. 

 In l)ody and color it was all that could be desir- 

 ed, and in flavor superb. If I had taken it at 

 the first course, my opinion as to its qualities 

 miglit be taken at some discount: tint I tasted 

 it after having eaten a liearty dinner: and or- 

 dinarily the keen relish of taste must'have been 

 dulled S()ir'> 



THVINCi .VEVV r}IIX(iS. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, of the Bee-keepers' Revieiv, 

 read a very interesting paper on th(^ subject 

 above. Hee-keepers. he said, are given to try- 

 ing new things. They are ready and eager to 

 invest their hard-eanu'd dollars in new-fangled 

 traps. It is unwise to invest in and accept 

 every thing that is new, as good: and it is 

 equally iinwist! to re.ject ev<'ry thing simjily be- 

 cause it is new. \\e are to choose wisely. To 

 an experienced bee-keeper a description of an 

 article, device, or method, is all he may possibly 

 need to decide regarding its practicability; but 

 many are given to juin|)ing at conclusions with- 

 out carefully weighing and testing. .Among 

 the new things, he mentioned the later varieties 

 of bees, automatic swarming -[devices, cbee- 

 escapes. etc. 



At the conclusion ofj his !paper a lively dis- 

 cussion look plai-e in regard to the I'linic. five- 

 banded, and Carniolan iiees. The two latter 

 had their advocates, as well-as those who had 



