1898. 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAt. 



247 



The Secretary next read his report, as follows : 



THE secretary's ANNUAL REPORT. 



At the last annual meeting your Secretary was instructed 

 to request the publishers of Gleanings in Bee-Culture to with- 

 draw the quotations of a certain firm dealing in honey in this 

 city. After considerable correspondence, and even after they 

 were informed of the result of two different analyses, they still 

 preferred to continue their quotations, saying they wanted 

 more analyses made. But as this Association is not in a posi- 

 tion to waste any money for this purpose, it was thought best 

 to let the matter rest. 



During the last session of the legislature a law had been 

 past to have our report printed with the Horticultural Report. 

 Accordingly I prepared a very complete report of our proceed- 

 ings, and had the same turned over to the Secretary of the 

 State Board of Horticulture, Mrs. Martha A. Shute, but I 

 have been informed lately that there are no funds available 

 for the printing of the same. 



During the past season communications were received 

 from Florida and also from the United States Department of 

 Agriculture for copies of our foul brood law, which were 

 furnisht. 



As there was a glut in our honey market during the latter 

 part of the summer, I have tried to be of some assistance to 

 my fellow bee-keepers in linding an outlet for this surplus, 

 and have met with fair success. 



I have also received communications from the ofiScers of 

 the Trans-M.ississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 

 inviting the Association to make an exhibit at that place. 



On account of lack of funds certain lines of work, as the 

 collection of honey statistics, etc., could not be carried out. I 

 hope the past favorable season will revive the interest in Asso- 

 ciation matters among bee-keepers, and result in a largely 

 increast membership. Frank Rauchfuss, Sec. 



COMMITTEE ON PERMANENT EXHIBITS. 



A committee on permanent exhibits, consisting of R. H. 

 Rhodes, J. E. Lyou, H. Rauchfuss, J. B. Adams, and Mrs. M. 

 A. Shute, was appointed, and reported that they had some 

 assurance of haviug cases furnisht to be placed in the Capi- 

 tol Building. 



A letter dated Jan. 11, from Vice-Pres. W. L. Porter, at 

 present in Los Angeles, Calif., was read, which is as follows : 



CONDITION OF THE DENVER HONEY MARKET, ETC. 



I have been requested to write on the condition of our 

 honey market — its present demand and supply. At the pres- 

 ent time the demand for honey in Denver is very slow. Dealers 

 all complain that it is getting very slow. Perhaps this may be 

 on account of Holiday trade, and it may be' better soon. The 

 supply seems to be ample. Houses that are dealing in honey 

 say they have ample stock to last through the year. Dealers 

 have told me that in the past week, in order to move honey at 

 all, they were compelled to sell at $2.00 per case, the same 

 price they paid for the honey. 



It is very evident that the demand is too small, or the 

 supply too great, for bee-keepers to secure a living price for 

 the product of their apiaries. Through the joint effort of a 

 few of the leading bee-keepers several carloads of honey have 

 been shipt East, from the Denver markets; and it Is evident, 

 if we wish to sustain a fair market, this must be done in the 

 future. As no one bee-keeper produces honey extensively 

 enough to ship alone, co-operation is necessary, and It is to be 

 hoped that the State Association may get In shape to do It for 

 its members. You may depend on my hearty co-operation. 



I have been attending the California association. There 

 was a good attendance of wide-awake and energetic bee-keep- 

 ers. The meeting was a very interesting one. Mr. Cowan 

 was present and gave a talk on bee-keeping In England ; the 

 remarks were very Instructive. The Association took action 

 on the uniting of the two Unions. The vote was unanimous 

 that the New Union should absorb the Old, and the Old should 

 wind up its business and cease to be. It would seem to me to 

 be wise for our Association to pass a similar resolution. They 

 also past a memorial to Congress to give us a pure food law, 

 and a committee was appointed to draw up a resolution and 

 present the same to the Secretary of Agriculture. 



W. L. Porter. 

 [Continueci next week.] 



Every Present Subscriber of the Bee Journal 

 should be an agent for it, and get all others possible to sub- 

 scribe for it. See offers on page 255. 



Delayed Laying. — M. Gillet says, in Revue Eclectique' 

 that he had a queen not fecundated till 29 days old, com- 

 menced laying three days later, laid only drone-eggs for nine 

 days, then worker-eggs. 



Making One's Own Supplies. — Gleanings' Strawman 

 says : " Doolittle advises a good workman with the necessary 

 tools to make all his needed wares after starting, except sec- 

 tions. Doolittle! I'm a good workman, and I can borrow 

 what tools I lack, but if I can get a job of sprouting potatoes 

 at 10 cents an hour I believe I can save money to buy my 

 hives and other ' flxins.' " 



Spreading Brood, as usually practiced, by inserting an 

 empty comb in the center, is condemned by H. W. Brice, in 

 the British Bee Journal. His plan is to wait till the bees com- 

 pletely cover the frames on which they are clustered, then 

 put, only on one side, an empty comb next to the last frame of 

 brood. In a few days put an empty comb on the other side, 

 but in no case put an empty comb between two frames of 

 brood. 



Foundation in Sections. — The report of the Ontario ex- 

 perimental apiary says the results of a very thorough and 

 extensive test made with different amounts of foundation in 

 sections, show that it is important that the sections be filled 

 to sides and bottoms, otherwise there will be more pop-holes 

 and the comb will not be fastened firmly to sides and bottom. 

 Foundation running about 12 feet to the pound was most 

 readily accepted by the bees; when thinner, there was greater 

 tendency to pop-holes and gnawing down. 



Plain Sections in Canada. — Editor Holtermann bluntly 

 says, "I think that the plain section is a decided humbug." 

 He says, " We are turning out our new sections this year in 

 one piece, with the top and bottom-bar cut clean away in the 

 corners." At the Ontario Convention J. B. Hall objected to 

 the plain section because of the danger of making the combs 

 bleed in handling. F. A. Gemmill replied that when you take 

 hold of a section with a plain top-bar it's all the same as a 

 plain section, and he thinks a nicer looking section can be pro- 

 duced with a cleated, perforated separator. Editor Holter- 

 mann thought it might be practicable to have a bee-space on 

 one side and not on the other, but when it comes to having it 

 on either side he predicts failure. 



Stimulative Feeding, or "speculative" feeding, as the 

 Germans call it, is discust by W. Fitzky, in Centralblatt. He 

 cites the opinions of various authorities, who are by no means 

 in entire accord. Gravenhorst says with weaklings it does 

 more harm than good, but judiciously managed by the experi- 

 enced bee-keeper, it produces profitable results with strong 

 colonies. Kilchlingsays beginners cannot be warned too earn- 

 estly against it, for if bad weather comes, the bees, excited by 

 the feeding, fly out in numbers, and instead of being strength- 

 ened, the colony Is weakened by means of the bees that are 

 lost. " Biene und ihre Zucht" says, under certain conditions 

 of pasturage, the experienced can use it to advantage. Herr 

 Fitzky adds that stimulative feeding is an art to he learned 

 by practice. 



Killing Old Bees in the Fall.— Mr. Alpaugh moves a 

 hive iu the fall to a new location, sets a top story on the old 

 stand to catch the returning old bees, then destroys them. He 

 thinks the colony winters better for the depletion. The old 

 bees die in the winter, and he thinks some young bees are lost 

 in dragging them out. J. B. Hall is somewhat of the same 

 mind. He doesn't want any more bees In a hive than will 

 take good care of the queen and be ready to make a good start 

 in spring. Beyond that he thinks they only consume honey. 

 If two colonies are to be united in the fall, ho just takes the 

 combs from one and lets the bees die. — Canadian Bee Journal. 

 This seems just a little on the line of the practice of— was it 

 Hosmer ? — a good many years ago, killing off bees so as to 

 have only a pint or a quart to winter. Quite a bit of talk 

 about it at the time, but no one else seemed to succeed at it, 

 and it was given up. Possibly killlug off the old bees Is the 

 secret of success. 



