302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to, gives what he calls the water method of 

 transferring. This plan for transferring 

 from diseased combs was given in Glean- 

 ings^ page 237, March 15, last year. Aside 

 from the inconvenience in ])roviding a tank 

 of water large enough, the plan has much 

 to recommend it. Briefly, the plan consists 

 in providing- a wash-tub, or other tank large 

 enough and deep enough to allow the box 

 hive to be entirely submerged in water. 

 Remove the top and bottom of the hive and 

 place the new hive on top. While the two 

 hive-bodies are held in contact, very slowly 

 lower the box hive into the water until the 

 bees have been forced off the old combs up 

 into the combs of the new hive up on top. 

 Mr. Milieu's bulletin is interesting, and 

 is well worth careful reading. 



Report of the National Convention in 

 Chicago; Continued from p. 258 



On the afternoon of the last day, after 

 the address by S. G. Snooks, Freight Claim 

 Adjuster of the Erie Railway, the dele- 

 gates brought in their report, setting forth 

 their recommendation in regard to the mat- 

 ter of reorganizing and naming new offi- 

 cers. This has already been given on page 

 217, March 15. 



Following this, Mr. E. D. Townsend de- 

 livered an address on the subject of " Ship- 

 ping Comb Honey by Parcel Post." He 

 showed several packages that he had been 

 using. For the parcel-post trade he did not 

 deem it practicable to ship it further than 

 the second zone. The postage on a gallon 

 of honey for that zone is 19 cts. ; on the 

 third zone, 34 cts. But no one, he thought, 

 would pay this latter price. 



Names of prospective customers he se- 

 cured by advertising. While many would 

 suppose that local papers would be the 

 medium, he had found the women's journals 

 of national circulation much more satisfac- 

 tory. All the names that he secured he 

 kept in a card index, and then followed 

 these up with circular letters which he 

 wrote from time to time. He was surprised, 

 after he had gone into this kind of adver- 

 tising, to see how many orders he received 

 for honey to go by freight and express. 

 The general results of advertising showed 

 that about 25 per cent was for honey by 

 parcel post, and the rest for freight or 

 express. 



A sixty-pound package is a little large 

 for family use. He had been using the half 

 size, or 28-lb. package for freight or ex- 

 press. He would offer as large a package 

 as a family would take. If he offered only 

 a gallon size, a gallon was all they would 



take. Where possible he would sail a 28-lb. 

 size; but of course this would be too large 

 for parcel post. 



Postal regTilations for liquids (and this, 

 of course, includes honey), he said, require 

 that the container shall be hermetically 

 sealed, and the box surrounding the con- 

 tainer must have a double tliickness. He 

 did not find it practical to use friction-top 

 pails, as they were not secure enough. He 

 used nothing less than the screw top. The 

 suggestion was made, however, that the 

 friction top might be used providing four 

 drops of solder were used to hold the to^D 

 in place. 



Prof. Francis Jager, in charge of the 

 Apicultural School at the University of 

 Minnesota, then followed with an address on 

 Beekeeping Improvements thru Agricultu- 

 ral School Work. There was a time, he said, 

 wlien we had to learn nearly everything by 

 ourselves. But the time has now come when 

 we have special schools for every line of 

 work. It takes a great deal of time and 

 work to secure the necessary knowledge 

 and experience by oneself. But now one 

 can get his instruction at a school where 

 oral instruction and demonstrations can be 

 given. Beekeeping at the present is taught 

 in a dozen different colleges in the country. 

 Three years ago there were only three such 

 schools of apiculture. They had at their 

 school 160 pupils, the most of whom were 

 from the homes of beekeepers. The object 

 of the school, he said, was to make better 

 beekeepers, not more of them. We not only 

 need better beekeepers but better beeyards. 

 Too many yards are poor and neglected. 



They give every year at their school a 

 short course in apiculture, where instruc- 

 tions as well as demonstrations of how to 

 do tlie work are given. Many questions are 

 answered ; as, for example, how to winter 

 bees in a modern packing-case; how many 

 bees to put into winter quarters in order 

 that they may properly maintain their win- 

 ter temperature; information is furnished 

 in regard to handling bee diseases; where 

 this and that kind of honey can be secured. 

 In Minnesota they are making a large map 

 showing where the beekeepers are located, 

 where foul brood is, where the best clover 

 areas are situated, etc. 



The demand for beekeeping instructions 

 has been increasing. At first Prof. Jager 

 tried to do all the work himself, but since 

 has been obliged to call in an assistant. 



As the writer was not present at all the 

 sessions he is unable to report all the 

 addresses or papers that were given. Some 

 of them will, therefore, be conspicuous by 

 their absence. 



