848 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



wisdom of this change was made apparent the 

 first evening. The Chicago Bee keepers' As- 

 sociation not only entertained us handsomely, 

 but paid all bills, and even furnished a big 

 brass band which came into the convention 

 hall and served us with some delightful music 

 during recess times. The great national con- 

 vention of bee-keepers — the largest conclave 

 that ever met in the Western Hemisphere, 

 will long be remembered. It is doubtful 

 whether there will be another meeting as 

 large until we meet again in that great hot- 

 bed of bee-keepers — Chicago. The Associa- 

 tion ought to consider this its home, and 

 should go home at le-i'.st once in five years. 



is on us. Friend Moore will win the prize 

 by a queen he bought of us. If we can 

 not find another daughter from our own 

 stock that will beat it, and no one else can, 

 Moore will get the prize. 



MOORE'S BEES WITH I,ONG TONGUES ; 23- 

 HUNDREDTHS LONG. 



In our last issue I spoke of the fact that we 

 had already got bees with tongues j-^V long, 

 and that I thought the time was near at hand 

 when we should be able to get a length of 

 \mi o"" ^^ even '4 inch. Well, what do you 

 think? J. P. Moore, the queen-breeder at 

 Morgan, Ky., sent us some bees which we 

 measured up before we knew any thing about 

 them. Some of the bees showed a reaching 

 length of fo'V, ^^^ one bee showed an actual 

 reach of fo-'(V- I was just about to write back 

 to friend Moore, and congratulate him, and 

 make him a bid on the queen that raised 

 those bees, when a letter came from him, 

 stating that the bees sent came from a select 

 tested we sent of our $200 red-clover mother. 

 I would have tried to buy that queen, but we 

 have about 50 more of that same choice stock. 



My notion of the matter is now that we can 

 let the problem of shortening the corolla- 

 tubes of red-clover alone. We shall be able 

 to reach the desired goal by another route — 

 that is, by stretching the tongues of our bees. 



Mr. R. G. Calvert, who measured the 

 tongue of a bee that showed a reach of f-^^, 

 held that bee up to my eyes and remarked, 

 "What do you think of that for a tongue- 

 reach ? ' ' 



" Why," said I, " that is the longest I have 

 ever seen ; " and it looked as if it were over 

 half the length of the bee itself. 



There are hundreds of daughters of this red- 

 clover queen among the queen-breeders and 

 honey- producers of the country ; and I would 

 suggest that where they /i'wozt' they have this 

 stock they all take particular care of it, and 

 and watch its performance next year, espe- 

 cially during red-clover times. 



The editor of the American Bee-keeper inti- 

 mates that all this talk about §200 queens is 

 for advertising purposes. I'll be frank to ad- 

 mit that it does look that way ; and, fuither, I 

 don't blame any one for taking that view. 

 But if Editor Hill could see what that queen 

 really is he would be as enthusiastic about 

 her as I. My real intention all along has been 

 to stimiilate effort in the production of high- 

 class red-clover stock, and that effort seems to 

 be bearing fruit. A large number of bee- 

 keepers and queen-breeders are competing for 

 the prize I offered of §25. 00 to the owner of 

 the longest-tongued bees, and now the joke 



BLACK BROOD UNDER CONTROL IN NEW 

 YORK ; THE GOOD WORK OF THE IN- 

 SPECTORS ; THE IMPORTANCE OF 

 FEEDING BETA-NAPTHOL SYRUPS. 



It will be remembered that the Commission- 

 er of Agriculture of New York took an active 

 interest in the matter of the suppression of 

 black and foul brood throughout that State, 

 as the disease was raging rather severely in 

 some portions of it. Four inspectors, com- 

 prising some of the most energetic and prom- 

 inent bee-keepers, were sent out, clothed with 

 the authority of the State, not only to treat 

 and destroy colonies having black brood, but 

 to instruct the owners how to handle it, show 

 them the importance of thorough disinfec- 

 tion, and the danger of leaving combs, that 

 were diseased, subject to the visitation of bees 

 from healthy stocks. The inspectors have 

 gone at the matter so thoroughly and energet- 

 ically, having examined from fifteen to twenty 

 thousand colonies, that I am pleased to an- 

 nounce that black brood is being rapidly 

 brought under control ; and that, while it was 

 raging quite badly last year in some sections 

 of New York, it has either been wiped out or 

 else corraled to such an extent that it is not 

 threatening the life of the bee keeping indus- 

 try as it once was. The inspectors are endeav- 

 oring to cover every portion of the State, and 

 e.specially are they anxious to get knowledge 

 of all localities where diseased brood of any 

 kind exists. Bee-keepers in New York will, 

 therefore, be conferring a great favor on them- 

 selves and on the industry as a whole by giv- 

 ing the desired information to the nearest in- 

 spector. This will greatly aid in the sup- 

 pression of black brood, and at the same time 

 protect localities already healthy. 



I now take pleasure in introducing to our 

 readers the four bee-inspectors (see page 839, 

 this issue) who have done such good work. 

 The gentleman on the left is Mr. N. D. West, 

 of Middleburgh, of West cell protector fame. 

 The next one, at his right, is W. D. Wright, 

 of Altamont, who has written more or less for 

 Gleanings, and is not, therefore, unknown 

 to our readers. The next is Mr. M. Stevens, 

 of Pennellville ; and the last is Mr. Charles 

 Stewart, of Sammonsville, both of whom are 

 known to the readers of bee-journals also. 



At the time the picture was taken they were 

 assembled at the home of Mr. Stevens, on the 

 13th of last August, and it is their custom to 

 get together occasionally and compare notes. 



In our issue for June 1, p. 445, we publish- 

 ed a list of the counties assigned to each man, 

 and it appears they have covered their re- 

 spective territories in a most thorough and ad- 

 mirable manner. Of course, there are some 

 localities that, from lack of time, and from 

 want of knowledge of the conditions, they 

 have not been able to visit ; but if I under- 

 stand correctly they are authorized to follow 



