THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



67 



Another Reform Needed. 



" Hardly ever"— that is to say. very 

 seldom, do we find in the " calls" is- 

 sued for conventions, the name of the 

 hall or place of meeting mentioned. 

 It is but a short time ago that a bee- 

 keeper who went to a certain town to 

 attend a bee convention, became so 

 exasperated at finding no notice of 

 the place of meeting in the local 

 papers, or anywhere else, in fact, that 

 he telegraplied to the editor of the 

 Bee Jouknal at Chicago, thus : 

 " Where is the Bee Convention V" We 

 have had similar experience. We 

 were sent for to attend a convention, 

 and expected to find some one at the 

 depot to inform us where to go, but 

 found none. We then inquired of the 

 station agent, at the nearest hotel, but 

 could get no information of any bee 

 convention. We then tried to find a 

 bee-keeper who received his Bee 

 Journal at that post office, and were 

 directed first this w,iy, and then that 

 way to find him. After spending half 

 a day and paying over a dollar for 

 hack fare, etc., we finally found that 

 the bee man lived some miles out in 

 tiie country. The Secretary had been 

 derelict in duty — had made no ar- 

 rangements for a Irall, but finally one 

 was obtained, and a feiv bee-keepers 

 gathered in, and the result was a fail- 

 ure of realizing the object of the 

 meeting. 



These thoughts were drawn out by 

 receiving a copy of the Journal, pub- 

 lished in Berlin, Wis., dated Jan. 17, 

 where the Northeastern Wisconsin 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention was adver- 

 tised to meet on the 17th and 18th of 

 January. The following is what tlie 

 Berlin Journal had to say about it, and 

 will explain itself : 



A Sweet Meeting that Didn't 

 Occur. — For several days past the fol- 

 lowing item has appeared in the 



Journal : 



The Northeastern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention will meet in Ber- 

 lin, Jan. 17 and 18. A cordial invita- 

 tion is extended to all who are inter- 

 ested in bee-culture. 



The above notice was sent us on a 

 postal card which was postmarked 

 Ripon, but read as follows : 



Berlin, Jan. 10, 1882. 



Chas. Starks— Dear Sir : Please 

 insert the following notice in your 

 paper this week If possible. (Then 

 followed the notice.) Please arrange 

 this as you like, but stir the bee- 

 keepers up. C. H. Gkeen. 



On Monday one or two of the Berlin 

 bee men applied to us for information 

 as to the Convention announced. We 

 gave them all we knew about it as 

 above stated. They were entirely ig- 



norant of the matter, and Mr. Beck- 

 with stated that the Convention at 

 the last meeting was appointed at 

 Packwaukee. 



To-day (Tuesday) was the day an- 

 nounced for the opening of the Con- 

 vention. Several bee-keepers from the 

 surrounding country have been in. 

 They could find no convention and 

 applied iotXw Journal for information. 

 Our reporters could find no conven- 

 tion either, and the matter is a pro- 

 found mystery. 



Since the above was written another 

 bee-keeper, from Aurora, has called 

 to inquire about the Convention, and 

 says it has been advertised in the 

 American Bee Journal, Chicago, 

 for some weeks past. 



It is possible that the non-arrival of 

 the train from the east this afternoon 

 prevented the arrival of the head and 

 front of the affair, although who the 

 said " head and front " is does not 

 appear. 



At all events the Convention that 

 was to " bee " has not bee-n, andtliose 

 who came to the city to attend, had 

 their journey for naught 



Burnett Davenport, of Aurora, has 

 had his trained bees in training for 

 several days for the bee Convention 

 which was to have taken place in Ber- 

 lin to-day. Geo. Smith intended to 

 bring up the question of Spavmed 

 Bees, from which he has suffered so 

 severely, and also intended to exhibit 

 his fine swarm, branded across the 

 backs, " G. H. S.," and which he 

 keeps blanketed. E. W. Daniels, of 

 Auroraville, was going to discuss the 

 proper way to lead bees out to water, 

 while Mr. Beckwith, of this city, pro- 

 posed giving his views of pulling of 

 their shoes and turning them out to 

 pasture, in the summer. Mr. A. 

 Young, of Eureka, was to have exhib- 

 ited some buff cochin bees of his own 

 invention, and an unknown gentle- 

 man, from Waushara county, pro- 

 posed introducing some bees whose 

 business end had been treated with 

 sand-paper to remove the stinging 

 qualities. The treatment of bees while 

 moulting, the profit in keeping farrow 

 bees, and the teaching of American 

 bees Italian, were subjects to be dis- 

 cussed. If the Convention fails to oc- 

 cur to-moiTOW, the bee-keepers of this 

 section sliould administer a stinging 

 rebuke to the instigator of the brand. 



Hereafter, to prevent such exasper- 

 ating experiences, let us have the 

 name of the Hall or place of meeting, 

 mentioned in the notice. 



We know nothing of the circum- 

 stances connected with the " hitch " 

 at Berlin, but it would be very proper 

 for the Secretary to " arise and 

 explain." 



Glucose Tests.*-r%« are frequently 

 in receipt of inq^lillies for some reli i- 

 ble, siini)le method to detect the pres- 

 ence of glucose, and have exi)ei i- 

 mented much with this object in view; 

 but so far, we have been unable t:> 

 find anything satisfactory and fully 

 reliable, that would not require an 

 expert chemist or microscopist lo 

 manipulate it. Green tea, alcohol, 

 tincture of iron, and many other 

 articles have been suggested, but 

 none of these have we found infalli- 

 ble. Of course, unless the inquirer 

 be a scientist, there will be no reason 

 to suggest an analysis, and such iiii 

 one is already familiar enough with 

 chemistry to require no suggestions 

 from us. 



A Sample (lopy of the Weekly Bee 

 Journal will be sent free to any per- 

 son. Any one intending to get up a 

 club can have sample copies sent to 

 the persons they desire to interview, 

 by sending the names to this office. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



1^ We understand that California 

 is to have a Dollar bee paper. It is to 

 be edited by Mr. N. Levering, pub- 

 lished at Oakland, called The Califor- 

 nia Apiculturist, and the first number 

 is promised next week. When re- 

 ceived we will notice it further. 



A Warning Voice.— The Cincinnati 

 Grange Bulletin gives its opinion of 

 breeding the best queens, etc., and 

 concludes with its warning t* bee- 

 keepers in the following language: 



It is strange to see so many bee- 

 keepers' conventions and societies, for 

 the good and mutual benefit to be 

 derived from such meetings, in the 

 interchange of thought and practical 

 management of bees; and after all to 

 find that i)rices for bees, queens, and 

 even comb foundation are so low, tluit 

 nearly all the special breeders now 

 complain that they handle too much 

 stock and goods for the little or no 

 profit tliere is in the trade. Why this 

 state of affairs? Surely the laborer 

 is worthy of his hire, and should be 

 paid for all time and trouble in 

 furnishing a good and acceptable 

 article for the market, let it be bees, 

 queens, honey, or anything in the line 

 of apiarian supplies. It is a well 

 known fact to at least one-half of our 

 best queen-breeders that every queen 

 taken from a full colony of bees will 

 retard it more in its progross and 

 prosperity, than it would to take 25 

 pounds of honey from them; and yet, 

 we say, how strange it is that bee- 

 keepers do not establish a uniform 

 price for all our supplies and live up 

 to it. No wonder we hear so many 

 complaints of poor queens and irreg- 

 ularly marked bees, from the queens 



