1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



727 



anti- adulteration law was passed three or four 

 years ago ; and following this there were ar- 

 rests and convictions, with the result as above 

 stated. 



Dr. Mason called attention to the good work 

 that had been done in Ohio by Pure-food Com- 

 missioner Blackburn, of Columbus. "We have," 

 he said, " a good pure-food law, and an hon- 

 est and energetic official to enforce it ; and 

 the result is, there is but little if any adultera- 

 tion in our State." 



FEEDING IN THE OPEN AIR. 



There was quite a spirited discussion on this 

 subject. Mr. Coggshall happened to mention 

 that, after his combs were extracted, they were 

 hung up in the building for the bees to clean 

 out. Some objected to this, as it would make 

 a regulary*?/n?/'^ in the apiary ; that they prac- 

 ticed the plan of putting combs in hives stack- 

 ed up, leaving a small entrance at the bottom 

 for the bees to carry the honey out slowly. 

 This would not encourage the robbing tenden- 

 cy, yet at the same time it would accomplish 

 the results desired ; namely, get the extract- 

 ing- combs cleaned up ready for use another 

 season. But there were some among them — 

 notably G. M. Doolittleand G. W. Whitcomb— 

 who objected to even this practice; "for," 

 said they, " if the robbing habit is once started 

 among the bees it causes a great deal of an- 

 noyance to the apiarist, to say the least." 



"a LITTLE STRENGTH." 

 At one of the evening sessions we listened to 

 an address by G. M. Doolittle. He first read 

 the third chapter of Revelation, and out of it 

 selected as his text, " I have set before thee an 

 open door. Thou hast a little strength." It 

 would be impossible to give even a digest of 

 this, and I would therefore refer our readers to 

 a verbatim report that will probably appear in 

 the American Bee Journal. The point em- 

 phasized by Mr. Doolittle was that great op- 

 portunities were before us — the " open door;" 

 and the " little strength " we have we should 

 develop, and help our brother bee-keepers. 

 He illustrated the talk with various amusing 

 stories. 



CAN A HIVE BE RUN FOR BOTH COMB AND EX- 

 TRACTED HONEY AT THE SAME TIME? 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton did not believe that a 

 comb-honey hive was also equally well adapt- 

 ed for extracting. A combined thing or ma- 

 chine adapted to a variety of uses was not as 

 good for a certain specific purpose as one spe- 

 cially fitted for that purpose and nothing else. 

 He had used the Langstroth, one, two, and 

 three stories ; but he now prefers what is gen- 

 erally known as the Long-idea hive, all in one 

 story — hives containing 24 frames. He had 

 used this for 30 years, and was well pleased 

 with it. But he wished to emphasize the fact 

 that it was adapted for extracted honey and 

 not for comb. The frames were deep, or what 

 would be called the square kind. He had 

 tried in the mean time the two-story Lang- 

 stroth, but was very glad to get back to his old 

 Long-idea hive, for the simple reason that he 

 could get more honey with it. If he were 

 running for comb honey he would use the 

 Langstroth hive. 



W. I,. COGGSHAtt ON THE WITNESS-STAND. 



Mr. W. L. Coggshall, who was present, was 

 perhaps the most extensive bee-keeper at the 

 convention. As he knew a heap about prac- 

 tical methods, in order to draw him out he was 

 interviewed by the whole convention. When 

 asked how many colonies he had — well, he 

 did not know ; but he estimated it was be- 

 tween 1300 and 1400. He was plied with doz- 

 ens of questions ; and while he was on the 

 stand I asked him if his bees were always as 

 cross as they were when I visited him. He 

 laughingly said, in reply, that he "and the 

 boys stirred up the bees on that occasion for 

 Mr. Root's special benefit." When asked 

 what kind of hive he used he said that he pre- 

 ferred the Langstroth, although he had used 

 some others. He did not take very much 

 stock in having hives in "straight and regu- 

 lar rows." It costs too much. He kept bees 

 for the money he could get out of them It 

 was results he was after. Mr. Niver, who was 

 quite familiar with his ways of working, add- 

 ed that Mr. Coggshall studied carefully the 

 shortest methods. Whatever plan would give 

 him the best results in money, no matter 

 whether it was orthodox or not, for the mini- 

 mum of labor, that was the method he would 

 use. 



BEE-KEEPING AS A SPECIALTY. 



Editor W. Z. Hutchinson read a paper on 

 the subject of bee-keeping as an exclusive 

 business. He took the ground that the busi- 

 ness was a little too uncertain for one to put 

 all his hopes in it ; but it could be made to 

 pay, and pay well, and be used as a sole 

 means of livelihood, providing the business 

 could be done upon a sufficiently extensive 

 scale ; but one with only 100 or 200 colonies 

 had better have something else to tie to. 



In the discussion that followed, there seem- 

 ed to be a general indorsement of the position 

 taken by Mr. Hutchinson. And there were 

 in the room specialists who were making a 

 good living off their bees with no other source 

 of revenue. 



CONVENTION PHOTOGRAPH. 



At one of the sessions we adjourned to the 

 front of the convention building, and assem- 

 bled on the steps while W. Z. H., with his 

 large new camera, took two "shots" at us. 

 I have before me the result; and while W. Z. 

 H. says it is not all he could desire, it might 

 be a great deal worse. He has them for sale 

 at 50 cts. each. Address W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 Flint, Mich. 



The street in which the photo was taken 

 was very narrow, and poorly lighted ; and it 

 was difficult for any one to determine just 

 how much exposure would be needed. 



Your humble servant happened to stand by 

 the side of Doolittle. The contrast is rather 

 striking. Doolittle, large, pleasant-faced; 

 over six feet tall, and weighing over 200 

 pounds, makes the chap beside him look 

 small, insignificant, and cadaverous ; indeed, 

 I had not recovered from my car sickness. 

 Some people and things appear to good ad- 

 vantage by contrast; but /do not happen to 

 belong to this class when compared with our 

 Borodino friend. 



