THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 6, 



Report of the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Con- 



veutioa, Held iu Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



EEPORTED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOURNAL BEPOETEB. 



The assembled bee-keepers were called to order at 10:45 

 a.m., In the New Briggs House, Chicago, by George W. York, 

 who had Issued the call for the meeting. Dr. C. C. Miller 

 was then chosen President, after which Mr. York was selected 

 as Secretary. 



On motion of Jas. A. Stone, a committee was appointed 

 to draft a constitution and by-laws for the consideration of 

 the meeting. Motion carried, and Messrs. Jas. A. Stone, 

 Herman F. Moore and George Thompson were appointed. 



During the meeting the following had their names en- 

 rolled as members, not all present, however, uniting : 



M. M. Baldridge, Dr. C. C. Miller. 



E. J. Baxter, M. S. Miller, 



Dr. fl. Besse, Herman F. Moore, 



Miss Mathilda Candler, John Nau, 



Stoughton Cooley, W. H. Norris, 



P. W. Dunne, H. A. Rittenhouse, 



J. D. Everett, Rev. H. Rohrs, 



Jas. Forncrook, E. F. Schaper, 



Jas. A. Green, C. Schrier, 



D. S. HefFron, W. N. Smith, 



Chas. Karch, W. H. H. Stewart, 



A. H Kennan, Jas. A. Stone, 



L. Kreutzinger, George Thompson, 



W. C. Lyman, J. C. Wheeler, 



0. E. Mead, E. Whitcomb, 

 George W. York. 



As had been the usual custom of conventions held in Chi- 

 cago, the hat was past by the Secretary for the collection of 

 questions for discussion. The first one read by Pres. Miller 

 was this : 



THE DIVISION OF LABOE IN THE HIVE. 



"What is the division of labor In the hive, that is, the 

 proportion of field-bees, nurses, sentinels, etc.?" 



Pres. Miller— I don't think that is a question we should 

 spend much time on. 



Mrs. Taylor— I am responsible for that question. lama 

 novice in bee-keeping. It Is a question that has interested 

 me very much, and I have not found any books that have 

 given me any light on the subject, and I thought possibly 

 some people here might answer it in a few words. 



Pres. Miller— It Is a proper question, but one we should 

 not spend much time on. We have our text-books and bee- 

 papers that cover certain ground, and when we come here we 

 take the ground they don't cover. Suppose I mako a state- 

 ment about this. In the first place, I don't know much about 

 it. In the economy of the hive there are those different 

 divisions — the field-bees, the nurses, etc. I very much doubt 

 If there is a separate class as sentinels. There are those who 

 do the home work, and the sentinels are amongst them. I 

 think the nurse bees and the sentinels are the same ; they do 

 the work of the hive up to l(i days, usually, but under stress 

 these nurse-bees will go to work as field-bees much earlier. I 

 have seen them at five days old doing field-work, and I know 

 the old bees will do nurse-work if there are no young bees in 

 the hive, but as to the proportion, the proportion of nurse-bees 

 will be, in the earlier part of the season, very different from 

 what they will bo later ; as they go on the nurse-bees will in- 

 crease very rapidly up to about the time of the harvest, then 

 they get maximum, and after that the field-bees will increase ; 

 that Is a very rough statement, and there is not much informa- 

 tion in it, and may be it is not true ; correct me If it is not. 



Mr. Stone — It seeTns to me that that is altogether accord- 

 ing to the amount of brood there is in the hive to be kept 

 warm, to use it plainly; and sometimes, when there is a hive 

 full of honey, and only a little brood, it does not take as many 

 bees to keep the brood warm as it does at other times. Of 

 course, as you say, It is a good deal owing to the weather. I 

 have noticed where the weather is very hot, if the bees are 



not doing much work, they go out of the hive because It Is too- 

 warm, and then they certainly don't need many nurses; but 

 in the cold weather, at the beginning of the season when their 

 heat is needed in the hives, I think there is always enough 

 stay In there to keep the heat, and the others go out and da 

 the field work. 



Mr. Baxter — I have kept about 250 colonies for the last 

 20 years, and my experience is that you cannot tell definitely 

 at any time how many or In what proportion — it depends 

 upon the weather and flow of honey. When the weather is 

 warm they often go out of the hives because It is too hot. Dif- 

 ferent conditions have got to be taken Into consideration. I 

 don't believe any one answer will answer the question for all. 



Pres. Miller — One point I am waiting for somebody to 

 bring out Is this: As It is now, the nurse-bees depend entirely 

 upon the amount of heat that is needed to be kept up In the 

 hive; you are leaving out altogether the number of brood to 

 be fed ; that I think controls It very largely. If it is warm, 

 they will go outside, It is true, and no matter how hot It is 

 there must be nurse-bees enough to do all the work that Is in 

 there, so you must take that along with the heat of the hive. 



LEGISLATION TO PROTECT AGAINST ADULTERATION. 



"What legislation is needed to protect consumers against 

 adulterated honey?" 



Pres. Miller — How many of you think that legislation is 

 needed at all with regard to it? Hands up. (7.) How many 

 think there Is no need of legislation? (3.) As I understand 

 the question. It Is, What legislation is needed ? It depends 

 something on what the kind Is. 



Mr. Dunne — It seems to me we ought to have legislation 

 from Congress, exclusive of the State, because Congress could 

 naturally control the correction of all abuses, and legislation 

 from Congress would naturally send it back from the States, 

 and we would have still further legislation. I think that is a 

 very Important factor with regard to any man who produces 

 honey. 



Mr. Baxter — I believe with Mr. Dunne, that we need 

 National legislation. I hope that this association is not going 

 to put itself on record as did the National Association. If you 

 remember, during the Columbian convention there was a meas- 

 ure before Congress known as the " Paddock Pure Food Bill." 

 I moved to endorse the passing of that Bill, and I believe it 

 was referred to a committee to report back, and strange to 

 say they fought my resolution, and failed to report back. It 

 went by default. The proceedings of the association still 

 show that much of it, and I think the society made a big mis- 

 take. We should take strenuous measures of all kinds against 

 adulteration ; we ought to have National laws ; one State will 

 prohibit, and another State, to make money out of it, will 

 allow It ; all those laws should be National. 



Mr. Stone — I was going to ask Mr. York to report what 

 he thought of our law that we had past last year in our legis- 

 lature, with regard to pure food. It covers all food. As Mr. 

 Baxter spoke of their shipping it from one State into another, 

 our law does not allow it even to be sold if there is any ingre- 

 dient that enters into any food that makes it impure. It con- 

 tains a severe penalty. 



Mr. Dunne — The beef exported, pork exported, all goes 

 under the microscope, and is thoroughly examined by the Gov- 

 ernment ; if there is an inspector at all, in the principal mar- 

 kets in honey, this thiug could be stopt, because it would have 

 to be analyzed. You take It in the English ports — everything 

 that goes in there is examined, analyzed ; every class of goods 

 goes before the chemists, and is thoroughly examined at the 

 expense of the Government, and the Government has the right 

 to protect the farmer if he protects any one. 



Mr. Moore — I feel very deeply interested in this question, 

 because I have been in this market six years, selling toney to 

 consumers. Illinois is all right ; it doesn't need anything. I 

 think the extreme penalty for violation of the law is up to five 

 years in the penitentiary, and it requires the ingredient, if not 

 pure, to be printed upou the label in every case. The law is 

 very stringent in Illinois, but as any one knows, who knows 

 anything about politics, it enters in all these markets, and it 

 becomes finally a question whether it will be enforced. The 

 law is strict enough, if it could be enforced. The General 

 Government should take hold of it ; itseems to enforce its laws 

 more Impartially than the local laws. I believe that that is 

 the only remedy for adulteration. Adulteration is a great 

 damage to every bee-keeper, and I can tell you so from ray 

 own experience. I askt one of the prominent citizens of Chi- 

 cago, who has paid me considerable money for honey, " How 

 much more honey do you buy than if you went to the store 

 and bought it ?" He replied, " I^our or five times as much." 

 My honey is pure honey ; I tell them so, and get an order in- 

 stantly. It means four or five times as much honey sold, if 



