)72 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



APIS DORSATA AT THE BUFFALO CONVENTION. 



It will be remembered that the Ontario Co. 

 Bee-keepers' Association, made up of bee-keep- 

 ers of Ontario Co., N. Y., passed a resolution 

 recommending the general government to se- 

 cure the giant bees. This resolution, aft^r be- 

 ing published, received some unfavorable com- 

 ment, both in the American Bee Joiinia'. and 

 in these columns. At the Lincoln convention 

 a counter-resolution was passed, to the effect 

 that the members of the N. A. B. K. A. did 

 not approve of the idea of asking the govern- 

 ment to send an expedition for the big bee of 

 India. Shortly after I myself said a good deal 

 against what I termed the " scheme," honestly 

 believing that it would be better to use the 

 money that the government might see fit to 

 give in the interest of bee-keeping for experi- 

 mental work rather than to pursue after a will- 

 o'-the-wisp — a bee about which we know very 

 very little. 



On the second day of the Buffalo conven- 

 tion I could easily see that there was going to 

 be a fight over the matter. The Ontario bee- 

 keepers present at the Buflfalo meeting, and a 

 good many others of the York State bee-men, 

 were anxious to secure the passage of a resolu- 

 tion from the United States Bee-keepers' Union 

 favoring an attempt on the part of the govern- 

 ment to bring Apis dorsata to our shores. 



I had had some previous correspondence 

 with some of the York State bee-keepers, 

 prominent among whom was W. F. Marks, of 

 Chapinville, N. Y. In one of his letters he 

 said he would be glad to enlighten me in 

 regard to the "dorsata scheme," as I had 

 termed it ; and that he hoped he might have 

 the pleasure of talking with me on the matter 

 at the Buffalo convention. 



The result of the conversation, both with 

 him and with others, showed that the govern- 

 ment was willing to make some effort to get 

 Apis dorsata to our country, but that it was 

 nol Tvilling to give us money for experimental 

 or any other purpose. Messrs. Marks, Ritchie, 

 and others, in our private conference, could 

 see no reason why we should oppose the idea 

 when the government had plainly indicated 

 its willingness to secure for us Apis dorsata, 

 and when it had so positively declined to do 

 any thing else. Why not ask the government 

 to do what it felt inclined to do? The upshot 

 of the whole matter was, that a compromise 

 resolution was passed to the effect that the U. 

 S. B. K. U. assembled at Buffalo favored any 

 attempt to bring the big bees here. 



Just what course the government will take 

 remains to be seen. In the meantime The A. 

 I. Root Co. wdll go on with its plan to get the 

 dorsata. If our scheme fails, then we may be 

 very glad to get government assistance ; and 

 it is very possible that our man and the gov- 

 ernment appointee may together be able to ac- 

 complish what either' one alone could not. 

 Possibly the government could do no better 

 than to select our man ; if so, we shall gladly 

 give him up. 



In any case, it is not proposed to bring dor- 

 sata into a northern climate, but to take them 

 to some point in the South, say Florida. Mr. 

 O. O. Poppleton has signified his willingness. 



not only to take care of the bees, biit to give 

 them every attention. 



WHAT I SAW IN YORK STATE ; THOSE IM- 

 MENSE FIEI.DS OF BUCKWHEAT. 



Just before this issue goes to press I man- 

 aged lo get home from my trip among the 

 bee-keepers of the East, and just in time to 

 get in a few editorials. I have not space in 

 this issue to tell a tithe of the ideas that I 

 gathered in York S.ate and in Rhode Island, 

 for ideas were just what I was after. 



For the present I can only say this: That I 

 visited some of the largest bee-keepers in the 

 world, and witnessed their methods of man- 

 agement. Several told me I must see W. L. 

 Coggshall and his lightning operators. Last 

 year he took 78,000 pounds of honey, and this 

 year 50,000. To see those men work, yank- 

 ing the combs out of the hive, and again 

 yanking the honey out of the combs, was a 

 revelation to me. I'll tell you about it later. 



Yes, I have been in locations where from 

 one hilltop could be seen as many as 5000 

 acres of buckwheat-fields. I have been in 

 counties where there were all the wa}' from 

 2000 to 3000 colonies. I was in one location 

 (Boomhower's) where bees had access, within 

 a range of three miles, to 5000 acres of buck- 

 wheat-fields. 



I have known before that New York was a 

 wonderful hone}- State; but I believe I have 

 had my eyes opened wider than ever before. 

 Why, just think of it ! single county conven- 

 tions in York State being able to nnister up 

 125 bee-keepers! I managed to take them all 

 home in my Kodak, and I'll introduce them 

 later. With the possible exception of Califor- 

 nia, York State has more bee-keepers and 

 more colonies to the square mile ( I was about 

 to say to the square inch ) than an}- other place 

 on the globe; and I am not sure that even Cal- 

 ifornia should be excepted. 



Now, lest any of you think it would be a 

 good place to migrate to, I want to tell you 

 now to stay where you are. Generall}- speak- 

 ing, the whole of York State is overstocked 

 vdth bees; and any "tenderfoot" who should 

 go into that State thinking he might get a 

 generous slice of some desirable territory not 

 now occupied would be very much mistaken. 

 Why, it seemed to me as if every farmer kept 

 bees, and quite extensive apiaries too. 



In order to cover as nuich territory as pos- 

 sible I used the bicycle, and both steam and 

 electric cars; and even then I had to skip by 

 many a bee-keeper I had hoped to visit. For 

 instance, I had to pass by ]\Ir. Egbert Alexan- 

 der, of Delanson, N. Y., notwithstanding the 

 fact that I actually passed through his place 

 on the train ; but for want of time I just had 

 to go on. Well, I was told last year that this 

 man, with his 900 colonies, secured 400 barrels 

 of extracted honey ; but these barrels held 

 only about 1(50 pounds each, I believe. But 

 figure it up for yourself and even then you 

 will find it gives an enormous crop in the 

 aggregate — 32 tons. And let me wliisper in 

 your ear that, so far as I could learn, the 

 region round about Delanson is very much 

 overstocked; and in saying this I am telling 



