72 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



Hiester, on bees and horticulture. They 

 stated they would gladly put their paper in 

 "writing, and defer reading it at this time in 

 order to hear the further remarks of Mr. 

 France. Between his address and the ques- 

 tions asked him, he was kept for nearly 

 three hours on the floor. Dr. Hayes, a not- 

 ed surgeon of Harrisburg, brought out a 

 great many points in his questions to Mr. 

 France, and great emphasis was laid on the 

 fact of carrying foul brood from one apiary 

 to another. Mr. Benton mentioned the fact 

 that he had known of some inspectors of 

 foul brood carrying the disease. Dr. Hayes 

 impressed on the Association the importance 

 of sterilizing clothing, smokers, tools, hands, 

 and even finger-nails, of the operator over a 

 foul-brood colony. The bacilli can be carried 

 in many ways heretofore not thought of by 

 the bee-keeper. 



This meeting held over almost to the time 

 of the opening of the afternoon service, and 

 this session adjourned but a few moments to 

 get a hasty dinner. 



swarthmore's queen-rearing. 



At 1 :30 the meeting was called to order by 

 the President. After the opening prayer, 



some discussion was brought out regarding 

 the reports of committees. Then followed 

 the paper by E. L. Pratt, of Swarthmore. 

 His paper was also another one of the hits 

 of the Association. Mr. Pratt went into de- 

 tails of the line of his work, and was asked 

 many questions. The following is a synop- 

 sis of his report: 



When he first began queen-rearing, the la- 

 borious methods employed quite discouraged 

 him. He realized that, to continue in the 

 business, he must hire more help or devise 

 means to reduce labor; the latter was what 

 he decided on. He reviewed both the old 

 and the modern methods of queen-rearing, 

 trying methods for himself personally in 

 their various lines, and saw the necessity of 

 having a separable and easily removable 

 queen-cell in order to avoid the delicate sur- 

 gical operations in transferring larvae. He 

 decided that the wooden cell-cups used by 

 many breeders was a step in advance. The 

 application from the top of the Swarthmore 

 pressed queen-cups was explained, and many 

 labor-saving points of the large cup were 

 set forth by demonstrating. The process of 

 waxing the cups, pressing the cells, and 



A COUPLE OF BEE-KEEPERS ON THEIR "HONEYMOON. 



SEE EDITORIAL. 



MY HONEY AND I. 



