132 



fHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALo 



March 3, 



their queen, but if you have her in the trap, fix your hives as 

 before and go about your business ; they will break cluster aud 

 come baclf and hive themselves. 



After they are hived, if you are afraid they will become 

 dissatisded and leave — as they sometimes do — leave the trap 

 on as it is ; if they undertake to go away they cannot get the 

 queen out, neither can she trap herself for the cones are in- 

 verted and closed; when they go to work remove the trap. 



When the swarm issues, if it is desirable to use the queen 

 for any other purpose, when she is seen in the upper story re- 

 move the trap, close the center slide and take the trap where 

 the bees cannot find it (the swarm will return to the old hive), 

 roll an old cloth around the trap to darken it, and open the 

 little door in the end, holding a wire queen-cage over the hole. 

 The queen will be attracted by the light and run in. 



To keep the bees from swarming, put the trap ou the hive 

 bottom up, with the cones and end door closed, and with the 

 back slide drawn out. When the swarm issues thequeen can- 

 not get out nor trap herself, the bees will miss her and return ; 

 this they may do several limes, or until the young queen 

 hatches out, when the old queen will usually kill the young 

 one, and the bees will usually tear down all remaining queen- 

 cells, which breaks up the swarming-fever in that colony. 



In working it as a non-swarmer, the drones that accumu- 

 late in the trap should be let out every evening by opening 

 the little door in the end, and they will fly out, and not being 

 able to get back will be found the next morning ou the alight- 

 ing-board, cold and chilled, when they can be raked up and 

 destroyed — a thing much to be desired when we do not want 

 increase. I find this works more satisfactory to me than try- 

 ing to keep all queen-cells cut out, and requires much less 

 labor. 



To simply destroy undesirable drones, set the trap on the 

 hive as for catching the queen ; when they come out to take 

 their afternoon flight they cannot go through the zinc, but 

 will find their way into the upper story, and late in the even- 

 ing or early next morning they can be destroyed. A good way 

 to do this is to immerse trap and all under water for a few 

 minutes. 



To stop robbing place the trap on the hive being robbed, 

 and if they have not surrendered they will keep out what few 

 robbers that are bold enough to venture into such close quar- 

 ters. Polk Co., IVIo. 



Ontario Conveutiou and Foul Brood Inspector. 



BT EXPRE8. J. K. DARLING. 



As this is the season of conventions, I send a few lines 

 anent the meeting of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 held in Hamilton, Ont., last December. The weather was 

 very mild, and as there was some rain there was a little mud, 

 but we had to get off the pavement if it gave us much annoy- 

 ance. Hotel accommodations were good, and we had a good 

 attendance. There were several other meetings held that 

 week at Brantford and Guelph, and still the unanimous ver- 

 dict was that the Hamilton one was the best convention we 

 have had for years. The papers were good, and the discus- 

 sions brought out by them must prove very profitable. As the 

 stenographer's report will be publisht in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, and perhaps some portions of it in other papers as 

 well, I shall not attempt to give a synopsis at this time. 



I would like, however, to notice one little episode, and 

 perhaps in doing so I may correct any erroneous impressions 

 it might have left on the minds of some of those who were 

 present. 



A discussion having arisen about the manner in which our 

 efficient inspector of apiaries had managed the business en- 

 trusted to him, it was stated by some that he had not " fired " 

 as many colonies as he ought to have done, and the impres- 

 sion was left on the minds of some who were present that the 

 speakers wisht it understood that the inspector had not seen 

 that foul-broody apiaries were properly cleaned up. I do not 

 know as that was the impression the speakers wisht to make, 

 but that was the way it was understood by some of those pres- 

 ent. I wish to say that the facts in the case are just the 

 reverse. 



It is rather unfair to strike a man between the eyes when 

 his hands are tied behind his back. Some of those speakers 

 know, or ought to know, that the inspector is gagged, if not 

 by statute he is by order of the association, and yet these in- 

 sinuations are thrown out when the inspector cannot open his 

 mouth in self-defense, or call on persons who are in a position 

 to testify to his thorough work. At the time this discussion 

 took place, there were nearly a dozen bee-keepers present who 

 could have done so, and one or two did stand up for him, but 

 as a general rule bee-keepers do not want it known that they 



ever had foul brood in their yards, especially if they are sell- 

 ing bees or queens. 



During the past year I have been in a position to know 

 something of what I am writing about, but like the inspector, 

 I must tell no tales. What I want to say is, that his work is 

 well done ; first, by making a success of the curing and build- 

 ing up of apiaries instead of burning, and so put the owners 

 in a position to secure a good crop of honey if it was to be 

 had ; second, by getting cases settled in a friendly manner, 

 that might have developt into ugly lawsuits through parties 

 having disposed of colonies that were diseased ; and third, by 

 doing this in such a quiet and disinterested manner that no 

 harm would result to the business of either party because of 

 their having their bees diseased, and I have yet to learn of 

 the first case that ever went to court after being placed in his 

 hands. 



Mr. McEvoy is in a very difficult position, and if he coald 

 please everybody we would expect to find him something more 

 than human. I will make a few quotations to show that I 

 am not the only person who takes this view of the matter. 

 When the Foul Brood Bill was before Parliament, and before 

 any inspector was appointed, the late Allen Pringle wrote : 

 "If we can get a suitable man for inspector, with the whole 

 Province to choose from, we will do well." And as proof that 

 time and circumstances had not changed his opinion of our 

 first choice, he sated at the meeting of the North American, 

 in Toronto, that it would be a " mistake " for those having 

 foul brood in their apiaries not to get the " foul brood inspec- 

 tor " there at once. 



Mr. R. F. Holtermann, of the Canadian Bee Journal, in 

 summing up the good, if not the bad, qualities of the various 

 officers of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, in a former 

 number of his journal, said : 



"There is no man who has met as many bee-keepers face 

 to face in Ontario as has our foul brood inspector, Mr. McEvoy. 

 There are many men qualified to fill the position of every 

 officer in the Association, but only one man can fill the posi- 

 tion of inspector, and that man is Wm. McEvoy." 



Once more: When that successful and practical apiarist, 

 J. B. Hall, was president of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, he said : 



" I feel that as bee-keepers and as an Association, we are 

 greatly indebted to our representatives in the legislature of 

 Ontario, for their generous aud kindly feeling to the apiarists 

 of Ontario, and especially for giving the Province an efBiiient 

 foul brood inspector, whose services are put at our command. I 

 am also pleased that the bee-keepers throughout the Province, 

 excepting one or two would-be scientists, have cheerfully, 

 willingly, and thoroughly, followed the inspector's instruc- 

 tions, and made a clean job by so doing, now have clean and 

 healthy apiaries, and will be in a position to reap a bountiful 

 harvest, if the Ruler of all causes the nectar to secrete in the 

 flowers." 



Mr. Hall knew what he was talking about, for as presi- 

 dent of the Association the work of the inspector had to pass 

 under his supervision. 



I trust the above Is sufficient to correct any false impres- 

 sions that may have been made by the discussion above re- 

 ferred to. Ontario, Canada. 



S. N. BLACK. 



Mr. S. N. Black, of Adams Co., 111., whose picture we 

 show on the first page this week, is one of the oldest bee-keep- 

 ers we know, hence we are pleased to be permitted to show 

 his honest face, and give a few facts regarding his busy life, 

 in the American Bee Journal. Here is what he has to say : 



I have a shadowy recollection of coming from Tennessee 

 to this place a little over 64 years ago. The country at that 

 time was nearly a wilderness. Our nearest neighbor was a 

 Presbyterian preacher, and lookt enough like Father Lang- 

 stroth to have been his brother, and, like him, was well posted 



