Nov. 30, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



755 



poses. With 70 colonies of bees and a 6-acre orchard, sup- 

 ply and demand are about equal. Of course, the propolis 

 has to be rendered plastic by warming- over the tire before 

 using:, when, by keeping- the lump against your breast, it 

 will remain soft any length of time. 



There is no better grafting- material than propolis, and 

 if orchardists were aware of that fact there should be a 

 good demand for it at a price that would make it pay to 

 collect. 



Some time ago a contributor to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal suggested that I might tell something about the inter- 

 esting habits of the Indicator miliar, or South African 

 honey-bird. I complied, and mentioned that the curious 

 little critter is as likely to lead one into danger as to a bee- 

 nest, and told how that one had once led me, and that when 

 unarmed, into a narrow, rocky defile, and right on to the 

 fresh tracks of a large tiger. He would have" brought me, 

 probably, on to the beast hinself had my practiced eye not 

 caught sight of the " spoor," and had Inot, with anything 

 but gracious words, refused to follow him farther. Some- 

 times they will lead one to a cobra, or to a sleeping puflf- 

 adder. 



I refer to the subject again because the other day one 

 of these birds led me a long dance after him in the boiling 

 sun, and just when by his excited antics I concluded I was 

 near mj' reward, and my mouth was beginning to water for 

 honey, the little rascal showed me, lying prone in the shade 

 of a bush, the malodorous form of a drunken hottentot I 

 Upon mentioning this to a neighbor he told me that one of 

 these birds once led him to a buck, taking a siesta on the 

 shady side of a bush ; and that upon another occasion he 

 followed one a long distance, to be shown a little bundle of 

 recently bought store-goods tied up in a white handker- 

 chief, and which some one had dropt. They attract one's 

 attention by fluttering on the ground just in front of one, 

 then going ahead and repeating it. 



A Boer neighbor of mine always shoots them when he 

 gets the chance. He is a great' honey-hunter, and com- 

 plains that while he can track bees to' their rocky nests 

 without these birds' aid, the little beggars are always show- 

 ing other people nests of whose existence and with whose 

 locality he alone would otherwise be acquainted. 



South Africa. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 30th Annual 

 Convention of the United States Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, Held at Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Sept. 5, 6 and 7, 1899. 



BY DR. A. B. M.\SON, SEC. 



[Continued from pafje 742.] 



THIRD DAY— Forenoon Session. 



The forenoon session of the third day was called to 

 order by Pres. "Whitcomb, and Dr. Mason offered prayer. 



The following paper on "Bees or Honey — Which, in 

 Spring Management?" by Mr. D. W. Heise,' of Ontario, 

 Canada, was first on the morning's program : 



Bees or Honey Which, in Spring Management ? 



If I were allowed to construe the above title according 

 to m)' own ideas, I would have it read as follows : Should 

 the bee-keeper's spring management be along the line of 

 securing a large force of bees at the " expense of honey," 

 ot vice versa? If this, then, is a proper interpretation of 

 the title, I would unhesitatingly answer, BEES, BEES, 

 FIRST, LAST, and all the TIME. It would be just as consis- 

 tent for the dairyman to expect the production of a large 

 quantity of butter without first securing the cows, and the 

 poultryman eggs without first having the fowls, as that the 

 bee-keeper could expect a large crop of surplus honey with- 

 out first securing a large force of workers to gather the 

 nectar from the flowers. 



Knowing, as we do, that the inventive genius of man 

 has not yet devised any means by which the nectar can be 

 extracted from tne blossoms, stored in our hives, and trans- 



muted into honey without the intervention of the busy bee, 

 it follows as a natural consequence that we are still depend- 

 ent upon the bees to carry out this important work. This, 

 then, being the case, it follows that our prime object in 

 spring management should be the securing of a large work- 

 ing force of the proper age before the main honey harvest 

 opens. If, then, we agree on this point (and I feel confi- 

 dent there can be but one opinion in regard to it), it al.so 

 follows that this important object in spring management 

 can only be secured at the "expense of honey." 



My paper is before an intelligent body of practical bee- 

 keepers, who are cognizant of the fact tliat tho a hive may 

 be well filled with bees that have come thru the winter 

 safely, and tho there may be a lO-doUar queen in that hive 

 — yes, and tho every other requirement has been success- 

 fully met— yet, if there is not a continual supply of honey 

 and larval food, slow progress in brood-rearing must be 

 made in that hive. Not only is it enough to know\\\dLt there 

 is a sufficiency of food, but we should also know that it is in 

 a proper condition, and in a convenient position. 



There are invariably days in early spring-time, and 

 sometimes several in succession, when the bees are unable 

 to gather from the outside ; and if at such timts there 



Mr. D. IV. Heise. 



should be considerable brood in the hive (in different stages 

 of development), I would consider even a liberal quantity of 

 sealed honey in the hive as being in a very improper condi- 

 tion for the most profitable advancement in brood-rearing. 



Experienced bee-keepers know well the difference in a 

 colon)' where the supply of liquid honey surrounding the 

 brood has been continuous, and one where famine has at 

 times existed even with sealed honey in the hive. In the 

 former the larv;e will be found a pearly white, and fairly 

 swimming in the food that has been supplied them ; while 

 in the latter the brood will be found destitute of food, of a 

 deathly yellow color, and destined to develop into a sickly 

 and short-lived generation, if indeed they ever mature, and 

 will be found of very little value as honej'-gatherers. 



Manj' experiments have been conducted b_v men of ex- 

 tensive apicultural knowledge, with the object in view of 

 stimulating the queen to greater activity in egg-production 

 early in the season ; and various have been the methods 

 that have been outlined for the accomplishment of this 

 object. But, so far as my limited observations have 

 directed me, I am forced to the conclusion that any manip- 

 ulation of the brood-chamber that will cause the bees to 

 move their honey from place to place, will liring greater re- 

 sults in that direction than anything that has come to my 

 notice. And the uncapping of honey, when such exists in 

 the hive, is, to my mind, one of the very best methods 

 that can be adopted for the enforcement of that object. 



It is of course clear to the mind of every bee-keeper 



