THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



133 



proper for B to say the hive is worth- 

 less, giving reasons for such belief. 

 For my part I shall be glad to see 

 plainly shown every advantage that 

 the hive may possess, and every ob- 

 jection that may be brought against 

 it. Aside from any interest in the 

 hive itself, this may incidentally bring 

 •out points of interest to those who 

 have never seen, and who never care 

 to see the hive. 



There are some principles of the 

 ■hive that I should liKe exceedingly to 

 use. The ability to have a contracted 

 brood-chamber, and at the same time 

 bave brood under each and every part 

 ■of the surplus chamber, is something 

 I have dreamed over not a little. This 

 accomplishes it to perfection. On the 

 other hand, without having tried it, 

 it hardlv seems that I could reconcile 

 myself to fastening and unfastening 

 with thumb-screws. Like many 

 another thing, however, familiarity 

 with it might take away all objection, 

 but at present it seems " fussy." Will 

 not the space between the upper and 

 lower half of the brood-chamber be 

 filled with comb and honey i* Perhaps, 

 however, I ought to stand this, as 

 Mr. Heddon has helped me to get rid 

 of this difficulty under the sections, 

 where it is still more objectionable. 

 The greatest objection, perhaps I 

 ought rather to say the most serious 

 question I have, is as to wintering. Is 

 that open space between the two sets 

 of shallow frames a thing the bees 

 will like in winter ? One tier of the 

 shallow frames will give capacity 

 enough for wintering, and if they will 

 winter well on such shallow frames, 

 this will be a very nice arrangement. 

 Indeed, I should like it very much, 

 for it would make nice, light hand- 

 ling, and occupy much less space in 

 the cellar. We shall probably have 

 some reports on this point in the 

 spring, from those who are making 

 the trial. 



To those who adopt his hive, Hed- 

 don's book is indispensable, and in- 

 teresting to all. The valuable, prac- 

 tical hints which it contains make it 

 a real accession to the somewhat 

 limited number of books on apiarian 

 subjects. 



Speaking of books, I notice that 

 Frank Cheshire's book is advertised 

 in parts, at $3. As that is a pretty 

 good price to pay for a book unless we 

 know something about it, can we not 

 have some information on the subject? 

 In what shape is it V In two or three 

 volumes, bound in cloth, or does -it 

 •come in monthly numbers, and are 

 all the parts on hand now, or part 

 unpublished V Please let us know 

 something about it.f 



BEES SWARMING OUT IN SPRING. 



I want to say a word anent Prof. 

 Cook's reply to Query, Xo. 2(J0. I had, 

 perhaps for the tirst time, last spring, 

 considerable experience with bees 

 swarming out, leaving plenty of honey 

 and brood in the hive. I do not be- 

 lieve. Professor, that it could have 

 been from anything" obnoxious about 

 the hive." In nearly every case, if 

 not every case, the colonies had been 

 previously put into fresh, clean hives. 

 The only thing that I could discover 



unusual was the very large quantity 

 of brood in proportion to the number 

 of bees. Whether this may be the 

 true reason I cannot say. Several of 

 the replies seem to favor it. It could 

 hardly be, as Messrs. Dadant & Son 

 suggested— " lack of pollen or of 

 water," in the case of my bees. If 

 the lack of bees enough to cover the 

 brood should be the cause of the diffi- 

 culty. Dr. Tinker's suggestion to carry 

 the bees into a warm place for a time, 

 might work. A more radical plan 

 would be to take away one or more 

 frames of brood containing the least 

 amount of sealed brood, and giving 

 them to a strong colony. Even if the 

 brood taken away should be destroy- 

 ed, it would be better than the 

 destruction of the colony. 



Marengo, 5 His. 



[*Bro. Miller is right; but there 

 will be no war among the correspond- 

 ents of the AmericanIBee Journal. 

 Some writers use very vigorous lan- 

 guage, but they are harmless as doves. 

 ■Should the discussion show indica- 

 tions of anger, we shall promptly 

 shut down on the whole subject until 

 all parties are willing to discuss it in 

 a friendly way— as broJ/iers. Criticisms 

 made in any other spirit will be use- 

 less. Tliere will he no tear. Brother 

 Miller ; rest assured of this. 



tMr. Cheshire's book is now being 

 published in parts. When complete, 

 it will be offered in a bound volume. 

 About 6 parts are now issued. There 

 will be 19 in all.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



TlelwYorUtate Convention. 



The New York State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association commenced its annual 

 meeting in the Court House, at Roch- 

 ester, N. Y., on Feb. 16, and in the 

 absence of President Root, the chair 

 was taken by Vice-President C. G. 

 Dickinson, of Oxford, N. Y. 



The minutes of the last meeting 

 were read and confirmed. 



The Treasurer reported $15 paid to 

 Mr. Potter, and the balance of $8.93 

 paid to the janitor. 



EVENING session. 



Pres. Root called the meeting to 

 order at 7:1.5, regretting that he was 

 not present at the opening session, 

 and expressing the hope that the same 

 spirit might prevail as at Detroit. 

 The meeting then proceeded to dis- 

 cuss the prevention of after-swarms. 



F. L. Smith said it could be done 

 by removing all cells after six days, 

 except one. 



R. B. Rians practiced the moving 

 the old hive, cutting out the cells, and 

 had b'lt little trouble. 



L. C. Root thought it a good plan to 

 have a good laying queen to introduce 

 immediately, so that the colony may 

 not be queenless a day. 



A. Strauss cuts out the cells on the 

 first and second day, also on the 7th. 



F. L. Smith — The queen introduced 

 must be a young queen ; an old queen 

 will get up a swarm in ^bout two 

 weeks. 



Mr. Whiteneck— The great trouble 

 about introducing a young queen is 

 that the bees are liable to swarm out 

 and leave the hive when she takes 

 her bridal tour. 



The question, " Does it pay to raise 

 Alsike clover for honey," was then 

 discussed. 



Mr. Davis found it hard work to 

 persuade his neighbors to sow it, but 

 it was an excellent honey plant. The 

 red clover is failing, and Alsike is 

 coming in to take its place. 



Mr. Aspinwall said that Alsike 

 would grow in rough places, and was 

 excellent for honey. 



Mr. White said that it would pay to 

 sow it for honey alone. 



Mr. Rians said that for two years 

 the bees had gathered largely from the 

 basswood, but this year the flow was 

 thin. 



W. E. Clark thought the yield of 

 Alsike varied considerably in differ- 

 ent localities. On valuable land it 

 would not pay to grow it for honey 

 alone, but on clay land it yields 

 bountifully. For the last two years 

 he obtained more from Alsike than 

 from basswood. 



Mr. Knickerbocker said it makes 

 the best of hay, and yields honey 

 when it is so dry that white clover 

 does not secrete any. 



L. C. Root mentioned the case of a 

 bee-keeper who got 100 pounds of 

 honey per colony from Alsike clover. 



Mr. Dickinson was prepared to 

 affirm that bees do gather from red 

 clover. 



Mr. Vandervort said that the key 

 to the whole thing was in the fact 

 that we do not all live at the same 

 altitude. The altitude makes a great 

 difference in the secretion of honey. 

 He had noticed that the honey in red 

 clover is secreted on the side of the 

 tube at times, so that it does not need 

 long-tongued bees to gather it. When 

 the Italians first came to this country 

 with the reputation of being red clover 

 bees, he proved this ; fifty colonies 

 gathered .50 pounds per colony from 

 red clover, and the blacks none. 



The sale of honey was next dis- 

 cussed. Mr. Davis had labored for 20 

 years to establish a market. 



Mr. Vandervort was of the opinion 

 that if we could produce honey a little 

 cheaper, it would sell more readily. 



Mr. Aspinwall urged the education 

 of the masses in the consumption of 

 honey. 



Mr. Davis said that for 20 years the 

 the tendency of the price of honey had 

 been downward, and he thought it 

 had now touched bottom. 



Mr. Vandervort said that in lessen- 

 ing the cost of honey production he 

 had secured as much profit as when 

 the price was better. 



The question of the desirability of 

 instructing our neighbor in the art of 

 bee-keeping was then discussed. Mr. 

 Ashley said : If in the supply busi- 

 ness, yes ; if not, no. 



Mr. Murdock— The supply business 

 is the tender spot. 



