1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



12S 



sand dollars' worth of our property. A 

 broken shipment is more often due to pure 

 carelessness or cussed ness on the part of rail- 

 road employees than to any thing else. 

 Here is the remedy — "take a stitch in 

 time." 



THE OHIO STATE BEE-KEEPEKS' CONVEN- 

 TION AT CINCINNATI. 



The Ohio State Bee-keepers' Association 

 met in convention at the Grand Hotel, Cin- 

 cinnati, Feb. 16 and 17. The attendance 

 was not quite as large as at some meet- 

 ings, but it was made up of enthusiastic 

 bee-keepers who listened to a number of 

 talks and papers. 



There is hardly space for us to give even a 

 digest of the proceedings. Chas. H. Weber 

 read a paper entitled "Shipping Comb 

 Honey." In this he put special emphasis 

 on the importance of careful and honest 

 grading; cautioned against shipping by ex- 

 press, and advised shipping by freight in 

 carriers. 



Mr. Chalon Fowls presented a paper show- 

 ing why bee-keepers should seek to develop 

 their own home markets; showed how one 

 could develop a trade in honey butter, which 

 he would put up in glass. 



Prof. N. E. Shaw, State Entomologist, 

 and also State Inspector, read a paper en- 

 titled "The Foul-brood Situation in Ohio." 

 He exhibited a map that he had prepared, 

 showing how American foul brood had been 

 found by his inspectors in a large number 

 of counties, and he v/as fearful that the oth- 

 er counties that had not yet been visited 

 also contained considerable disease. He 

 and his inspectors were able to cover only a 

 limited portion of the State, owing to the 

 limited appropriation at their command, 

 for the Ohio brood bill had been enacted 

 into law ajter the Legislature had made its 

 general appropriation for the Department of 

 Agriculture; but the Department had made 

 arrangements by which his nursery inspec- 

 tors could devote a little of their time to the 

 inspection of bee diseases; but he hoped 

 that, with the larger appropriation, with a 

 specific sum for bee-inspection work, which 

 he would get from the Legislature at this 

 coming session, he would be able to cover a 

 a larger field. 



Cincinnati, outside of New York and Chi- 

 cago, probably has the largest market for 

 honey of any city in the United States; and 

 Mr. Muth questioned whether it would not 

 outstrip Chicago. It is the center of a line 

 of railroads, and on the Ohio River. For 

 that reason it has cheap transportation 

 from the South. Since the days of Chas. F. 

 Muth, of many years ago, honey has been 

 streaming into Cincinnati and going out. 

 Cincinnati is also a large center of baking 

 interests, and therefore consumes no small 

 share of the extracted honey received at that 

 market not suitable for table use. 



Some discussion was aroused whether 

 there was any such thing as a red-clover 

 queen and red-clover bees that would actu- 

 ally work on common red clover. While we 



stated that we had at one time strains that 

 would work on the plant it was easy to see 

 that there was a big question-mark in the 

 minds of some. The report given on page 

 149 of this issue, by .1. F. Brady, is a sample 

 of many others we have received, and ought 

 to go far to set at rest any question on this 

 point. 



We met a number of bee-keepers from 

 Kentucky, and received the gratifying as- 

 surance that the Kentucky bee-keepers are 

 happy over their new foul-brood law and the 

 good work that is being done in eradicating 

 disease. 



IS IT POSSIBLE TO SHUT BEES IN THE 



HIVES DURING THE SPRAYING OP 



FRUIT-TREES? TAKING A 



STITCH IN TIME. 



Every spring we get numerous inquiries 

 as to whether bees can be shut in their hives 

 during the time that ignorant fruit-growers 

 are spraying their trees while in bloom. 

 We regret to say that this is not practical; 

 that is to say, it would not be possible to 

 shut bees in the hives by nailing wire cloth 

 over the entrance. This might be done, 

 however: Nail wite cloth over the enttance, 

 and then place a screen top over the whole 

 top of the hive, and over this again the reg- 

 ular hive-cover raised up about an inch, so 

 as to let in the air, and yet shut out the di- 

 rect rays of the sun and storm. 



But the spraying in bloom may last three 

 or four weeks, because different trees come 

 into blossom at different times. The only 

 thing that the bee-keeper can do is to hand 

 out to such ignorant or willful offenders 

 some of our little pamphlets entitled "The 

 Bee-keeper and the Fruit-grower," and 

 ask them to read the statements of experi- 

 ment stations, showing that it is bad policy 

 for the fruit-grower as well Tas for the bee- 

 keeper to spray trees while in bloom. See 

 the article by C. E. Layman, on page 139 

 of this issue. The best authorities on ap- 

 ple-growing and fruit-growing are on record 

 to that effect. See what Albert A. Waugh, 

 one of the leading authorities in the United 

 States, has to say in his book entitled "The 

 American Apple Orchard," published by 

 the Orange Judd Co., New York. 



In many cases our friends by iising tact, 

 and the pamphlets referred to, have induc- 

 ed the fruit growers to let up on their spray- 

 ing, and, instead, to spray before and after 

 the trees are in flower. 



Say ! it wouldn't be a bad policy to sweet- 

 en some of these people with a few nice 

 samples of comb and extracted honey some 

 two or three months before, the spraying 

 season comes on. It doesn't cost much to 

 get on the good side of ihem if you begin 

 early. This literature ought to be handed 

 out to them after they have been sweetened 

 up, and when they are in a good humor 

 toward you, rather than after they get start- 

 ed to spraying at the wrong time, and when 

 they would be inclin. d to resent your polite 

 protest that they are destroying your proj)- 

 erty. See ? 



