i'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



805 



Explanatory.— The flgures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has Icept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or tali and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named; 

 6 north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; -o northwest: 

 o, southeast; and ? southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Tie licMEan State Coiiyention. 



SECOND DAY— MORNING session. 



The flrst thing on the programme of 

 the 2d day was the election of officers, 

 which resulted as follows : President, 

 Geo. E. Hilton, of Fremont; 1st Vice- 

 President, R. L. Taylor, of Lapeer ; 

 2Dd Vice-President, O. J. Hethermg- 

 ton, East Saginaw; 3rd Vice-Presi- 

 dent, John Key, East Saginaw ; Sec, 

 H. D. Cutting ; Treas., M. H. Hunt. 



It was decided that the next annual 

 meeting be held in East Saginaw, and 

 Prof. Cook, W. Z. Hutchinson, and 

 H. D. Cutting were appointed a com- 

 mittee to confer with the State Horti- 

 cultural Society to determine it it 

 •will be advisable for both societies to 

 meet at the same place, and during 

 the same week, but upon different 

 days. Many persons wish to attend 

 both meetings, and this arrangement 

 ■would be a great saving to them m 

 railroad fares. 



BASSWOOD vs. LINDEN. 



Dr. A. 15. Mason read from the 

 Canadian Bee Journal the article on 

 page 167, of the current volume, 

 headed " Linden Honey," in which 

 Mr. S. T. Pettit, President of the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, re- 

 ported that the committee took the 

 grounds that Canadian " basswo9d 

 honey was superior to the United 

 States article, and recommended that 

 the Canadians adopt the name " lin- 

 den " for their honey, and thus dis- 

 tinguish it from the inferior " bass- 

 wood " honey produced across the 

 line. The Doctor thought it perfectly 

 right to make Canadian articles dis- 

 tinctivelv Canadian, but it should 

 not be done by casting unwarranted 

 stigmas upon our productions. We 

 should not try to elevate ourselves by 

 pulling down others. 



Mr. Macpherson. of Canada, evi- 

 dently felt that the laugh was at his 

 expense, but he bore it good humor- 

 edly, and said he did not think there 

 was any intention to cast a slur upon 

 American honey, and he doubted not 

 that an apology would be forthcoming. 

 Dr. Mason then read an essay on 



FEEDING BEES FOU WINTER. 



He works to secure the greatest 

 possible amount of white honey as 



surplus, depending upon tjie fall 

 honey-flow to furnish stores for win- 

 ter. The fall flow of honey is some- 

 times a failure, and he then resorts to 

 the feeding of sugar syrup. He teeds 

 by raising the front end of the hive 

 and pouring the syrup in upon the 

 bottom-board. He found it necessary 

 to do this work at night, to avoid 

 trouble from robber bees. In feeding 

 6 pounds of syrup, he found there was 

 a loss of \^ pounds. 



Mr. Macpherson— Mr. D. A. Jones 

 once fed in this manner, and the work 

 was done at night to avoid the robber 

 bees. He has discarded this plan for 

 f6Gd6rs 



Dr. Mason— I got a sample of the 

 Heddon feeder, and it is a fine thing, 

 but it is rather expensive. 



R. L. Tavlor— I object to feeding 

 by pouring the feed upon the bottom- 

 board, as it necessitates fast bottom- 

 boards, and even then a hive may 



Dr. Mason— What is your objection 

 to a fast bottom-board ¥ 



R L Taylor— I wish it loose so that 

 I can clean off the dead bees in the 

 spring ; I can regulate the size of the 

 entrance by moving the hive forward 

 or back, and I do not wish any bot- 

 tom-board upon the hives when they 

 are in the cellar. 



W. Z. Hutchinson— How do you get 

 the bees off the bottom-board when 

 you carry them into the cellar ? 



R L. Taylor— There are seldom 

 many upon it ; and I raise the cover 

 and brush them off into the hive. 



A. I. Root— When robber bees are 

 troublesome, we do a good share of 

 our work with bees at night by the 

 light of a lantern. 



R. L. Taylor— 1 have tried working 

 as late in the day as possible, and the 

 darker it became the more trouble- 

 some were the bees, until it was well 

 nigh impossible to handle them. 



W.Z. Hutchinson— Have you ever 

 tried handling them by an artificial 

 light y 

 K. L. Taylor— I never have. 

 A. M. Gander— If any one expects 

 to be obliged to feed, why would it 

 not be best to save frames of honey 

 for the purpose V 



Prof. Cook— This brings up the 

 question of the advisability of secur- 

 ing all the white honey we can in 

 sections, and then feeding sugar for 

 winter stores. 



Geo. E. Hilton— I should not dara 

 to use sugar even for wintering, as I 

 care too much for my reputation. 



Prof. Cook— I do not think any one 

 need have any fear in regard to his 

 reputation. There should be no at- 

 tempt at concealment. The neigh- 

 bors sliould be allowed, yes, invited, 

 to come and see what was done with 

 the sugar, and the whole matter ex- 

 plained to them. Further than this, 

 it it is decided that sugar is a safer 

 food for winter (and I think it is), and 

 that it can be used for this purpose at 

 a profit, bee-keepers will use it. and 

 we may talk about " reputation " as 

 much as we please. The question is, 

 will it pay ¥ If we can get all our 

 white honey in nice shape for market 

 in sections, and the brood-nest com- 



parativelv empty, and all we will have 

 to do is to put on feeders and feed, it 

 will probably pay. 



R L. Taylor— It will probably pay 

 one to do so, if everybody else does 

 not go at it; if they do, I do not 

 know whether it will or not. \\ e can- 

 not make it pay to feed bees wlien 

 they must build their own combs; 

 but when the comlw are built, then it 

 will pay. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that sugar stored in the brood-nest for 

 winter stores will be carried into the 

 supers in the next honey harvest. 

 We frequently have a flow of dark 

 honey in the fall. Is any one ever 

 troubled by this dark honey being 

 carried into the sections the next 

 season? ^ , , * k 



Geo. E. Hilton— I have been troub- 

 led in exactly this manner. 



W Z. Hutchinson— How large are 

 the brood-nests of your hives V 



Geo. E. Hilton— Eight Langstroth 



Dr Mason— I have no fears of los- 

 ing "reputation" by feeding bees 

 sugar for winter. The first year I fed 

 sugar to my bees I bought it of neigh- 

 boring grocers, and took pains to in- 

 form them and my neighbors just 

 what I wanted it for, and why I used 

 it There was some " talk " that year, 

 but it has all died away, and I hear 

 nothing of it now. 



W Z. Hutchinson— I have fed sugar 



to bees now for years, and made no 

 secret of it. Sometimes one neighbor 

 and sometimes another hauls the 

 sugar from the depot. The whole 

 neighborhood knows that I feed sugar 

 to the bees, and when and lohy I do 

 so, and no one buys any less honey. 



A I. Root- In view of the preva- 

 lence of foul brood, it is hardly the 

 thing to advise the buying of honey 

 to feed bees when they need feeding. 

 It is better to buy sugar 



F. H. Macpherson— AVhen we feed 

 sugar syrup we lose just about the 

 weight of the water added. U e do 

 not think it profitable to extract the 

 honey and feed sugar, but in produc- 

 ing comb honey it probably pays. 



W Z. Hutchinson— In preparing 

 the syrup I use Florence lamp stoves. 



R. L. Taylor— I use a gasoline stove. 



Tlie next topic discussed was that of 



BEES AND GRAPES. 



Prof. Cook— We can safely say that 

 bees do not injure sound grapes. In 

 the fall, when they are over -ripe, and 

 the weather is just right, the grapes 

 crack and then the bees make trouble. 

 AVhich is practical, to shut up the 

 bees or to protect the grapes V or is 

 neither V In some places grapes can 

 be raised only by bagging them, be- 

 cause of the rot. This bagging great- 

 ly improves the grapes and furnishes 

 a protection against bees as well as 



rot 



P M Puhl— It is not practical to 

 shut up the bees, as the grape harvest 

 lasts too long ; and grapes are too 

 cheap one cent per pound) to allow 

 the expense of bagging. I have tried 

 confining bees during the time ot 

 gathering grapes, and it cannot be 

 done. The bees are breeding, and it 

 is hot weather, and they must have 

 water and flights in the open air. I 



