Deckmrkr, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



951 



A' 



C 



con vention 



full of snap 



and interest 

 " right from the 

 word go " was 

 that of the 

 Western New 

 York Honey 

 Producers' As- 

 sociation at Buffalo, November 13 and 14. 

 The attendance was good — over a hundred 

 at some of the sessions — and the beekeepers 

 pi'e.sent, many of wdiom numbered their 

 colonies by the hundreds, were there for 

 business. W. L. Coggshall, the 2000-colony 

 man, was there, as were S. D. House, 

 Charles Stewart, and other prominent men 

 of the State. There were present also some 

 representative beekeepers of Ontario — J. L. 

 Byer, E. T. Bainard, Wm. Couse, and J. 

 Lincoln. Altho the crowd was large and 

 there were many good-natured debates, 

 Pres. Demuth kepi the sessions exactly on 

 seh.edule tiuie, no changes having to be made 

 in the carefully prepared program that had 

 been advei'tised. The President in opening 

 the meeting said that no more important 

 work had been done by the Association dur- 

 ing the past year than the recommendation 

 of a minimum price by the market-repoi't 

 committee. All the honey in the locality 

 had been sold. J. L. Byer, the first speaker, 

 in his remarks on beekeeping as a busi- 

 ness, alluded to beekeeping as " the only 

 honest way to steal a living," but he added 

 that it is no get-rich-quick scheme. 



S. D. House, one of the best-known comb- 

 honey specialists in the world, said that the 

 day "has gone by when the specialist comb- 

 honey producer can produce comb honey 

 only." To produce a fancy article he must 

 produce both comb and extracted, letting 

 the flow beg-in and taper off on extracting 

 combs, the bees working in the sections 

 only during the height of the flow. By the 

 way, Mr. House does not fancy the word 

 " fancy." He does not like to produce 

 honey 'with the outer row of cells next to the 

 section sealed all around — too. nuich drip 

 when the comb is cut out on the plate; 

 and if the honey is left on the hives long 

 enough to be sealed next to the wood, the 

 surface of the cappings is much more like- 

 ly to be travel-stained. There was con- 

 siderable discussion in regard to the sizes- 

 of sections. Mr. House himself made an 

 appeal for a standard, and said that if the 

 standard adopted Avere not like the sections 

 he used, he would willingly change his 

 equipment over. The trend of the discus- 

 sion seemed to be in favor of a 4 x 5 plain 

 section, altho several dissented strongly. 



JUST NEWS 



Editors 



3 



lU 



A carton sub- 

 mitted by the 

 New York State 

 As s o c i a tion, 

 showing a full- 

 sized view of a 

 section of honey 

 in halftone on 

 each side, was 

 adopted by the Western Association, this 

 carton to be used by members of New York 

 association only. 



Wm. Couse, of Ontario, while not on the 

 progTam, was asked to tell something of the 

 disappearing^ disease. He said that while 

 no one seems to know what the disease shall 

 be called, nor what causes it, nevertheless 

 it is a serious trouble. At least three bee- 

 keepers have had heaA^y losses, one exten- 

 sive beekeeper near Niagara Falls having 

 his apiary reduced from over 200 to but 

 little more than 20 colonies. Inspector 

 Charles Stewart also spoke on this subject, 

 and all agreed that it is a disease that will 

 need to be watched very closely, whether it 

 be Isle of Wight, paralysis, or something 

 that goes and comes of its own free will. 

 Dampness and pollen were named among 

 possible contributing causes. The general 

 verdict was that darker Italians were less 

 affected than goldens. 



J. II. Sprout, of Lockport, was elected 

 president for the ensuing year, with Wm. 

 F. Vollmer again chosen secretai-y and 

 treasurer. 



ILLINOIS STATE BEEKEEPERS' CONVEIITION. 



The Illinois State Beekeepers' convention 

 was held in the sun parlor of the Leland 

 Hotel, Springfield, November 14 and 15. 

 This organi.'cation has back of it some of 

 the best beemen in the country, such as C. 

 P. Dadant, editor of the American Bee 

 Journal; his brother-in-law, Emil J. Baxter, 

 of Nauvoo; A. L. Kildow, foul-brood in- 

 spector; Dr. A. S. Baxter, of Springfield; 

 James A. Stone, secretary, of the same city, 

 and a dozen others almost equally promi- 

 nent. This organization is the only one in 

 this country (except New York) that has 

 state aid in the sum of $1000 which it uses 

 in furthering the industry in the state and 

 is in addition to the inspection fund. That 

 beekeeping in Illinois is now in such a floui-- 

 ishing condition can doubtless be ascribed 

 to th.e State association and the work of 

 the few men whose names have been men- 

 tioned. 



Inspector Kildow reported that, notwith- 

 standing mo'.'e apiaries were examined than 

 evei" before last year, less disease was found 

 than during the year before, proving that 

 foul brood is not only being held in check. 



