THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



G77 



ing more brood unci stronger colonies 

 in smaller hives, and the honey in the 

 sections. If the Sft'tions are reversed 

 durinij; the honey-tlow. it will secure 

 their completion. As tlie season 

 draws to a close, breeding is carried 

 on less extensively, and the bees are 

 inclined to carry the honey into the 

 brood-coiubs ; to reverse now would 

 only hasten the operation of bringinj;' 

 the" honey down from the sections 

 and storing it in the brood-nest. 



Dr. Miller : I am not particularly 

 interested in tlie reversal of brood- 

 combs, but I am interested in the re- 

 versal of sections, as it secures the 

 attachment of the combs to the bot- 

 tom-bars, and the honey can be ship- 

 ped with greater safety ; and if it 

 secures the finishing of unfinished 

 sections, I shall be more than pleased. 



.James lleddon : I have tried revers- 

 ing sections, and if done early enough 

 in the season, it will secure their com- 

 pletioa. I reverse the whole case at 

 once. I do not advocate reversing 

 sections. I am working out another 

 phm, with prospects of success, by 

 which I can get all sections uni- 

 formly and completely filled with 

 ioney. 



Pres. Miller : Please give us the 

 plan. 



.James lleddon : It is not yet fully 

 ■developed, and I protest against cast- 

 ing upon the public, partial ly-worked- 

 out systems. 



The convention adjourned to meet 

 at 2 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 2 o'clock. President Miller being 

 in the chair. The first question dis- 

 cussed was : 



Queen-Excluding Honey-Boards. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : 1 have used, for 

 two years, ten of the perforated zinc 

 honey-boards. They are the old style, 

 or .Jones' perforated zinc. The first 

 .year no queens passed through, this 

 year two queens passed through. I 

 prefer, however, a honey-board of 

 thin wood, having perforations or 

 slots made with a saw of exactly the 

 proper thickness. Bees can pass 

 more readily through the same sized 

 aperture, in a thin zinc sheet, than 

 one in a ij-inch thick, wooden honey- 

 board. 1 have found that the old 

 style, or Jones' perforated-zinc, has 

 exactly the right-sized apertures for a 

 wooden honey-board. I have, the 

 present season, used 60 of these 

 •wooden honey-boards, and not one 

 queen has passed through. 1 have 

 managed some hives with no honey- 

 boards at all, some with perforated 

 zinc, some with the lleddon slat 

 honey-board, and, as I just said, some 

 with honey-boards of tliin wood per- 

 forated with a saw, and I have been 

 unable to discern that there was any 

 preference so far as the amount of 

 honey stored was concerned. I prefer 

 the wooden honey-board, because it 

 is cheaper, and is more rigid, thus 

 keeping the bee-spaces perfect. 



.James lleddon : I have used the 

 queen-excluding honey-boards, both 

 metal and wood, and tor the produc- 

 tion of comb honey, I do not think 



that I care for tliem. With my skele- 

 ton or slat honey-hoard, in whicli the 

 openings come directly over the cen- 

 tres of the top-bars', thus breaking 

 the connection, and preventing the 

 building of brace combs between the 

 brood-frames and tlie bottom-bars of 

 the sections. I have so little trouble 

 with queens invading the sections, 

 tliat I do not cave for a queen-exclud- 

 ing honey-board ; but when it comes 

 to the production of extracted honey, 

 the queen is almost certain to enter 

 the upper story and " spread herself," 

 and it is possible that a queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-board is a good tiling 

 here. Tliere isanotherpoint, thougli, 

 riglit here, and that is, if -the queen 

 is allowed to " roam at her own sweet 

 will " all over a large hive, there is 

 less likelihood of the bees swarming. 

 Pres. Miller: Well, Mr. lleddon, 

 whetlier or not queen-excluding 

 honey-boards shall, in the future, be 

 pronounced a success, I wish to thank 

 you for your skeleton honey-board. 

 It keeps the sections so nice and clean, 

 and enables us to remove the sections 

 from the hive with so little trouble 

 and daubing. 



Size of Sections. 



James Heddon : I have experi- 

 mented considerably with half-pound 

 sections, and 1 think that I shall use 

 more of them in the future. Of one 

 thing I am positive, and that is, that 

 I can get just as much honey in a 

 small as in a large section. It is not 

 a question of the amount of honey to 

 be secured, but of the cost of sec- 

 tions, foundation and manipulation. 

 I can secure 3 cents more per pound 

 for my one-half pound sections, and 

 sell them much more quickly ; but for 

 all that, we do not want all half- 

 pound sections, and I should not ad- 

 vise everybody to go to using them. 



Dr. Spencer : I have received 5 

 cents more per pound for my half- 

 pound sections. The restaurants are 

 the best customers for the half-pound 

 sections. 



Hoio Far Apart to Establish Apiaries. 



E. J. Oatmau: Our apiaries are 

 four miles apart. 



James lleddon : This is what I 

 should like to know : How many col- 

 onies shall I have in one apiary before 

 establishing another ? and when I do 

 establish another, how far out shall I 

 go V This is really a question of over- 

 stocking, and of tiow far bees can fly 

 and store honey profitably. 



Dr. Miller : Let me asli how many 

 there are who would not think it 

 profitable to keep more than 75 colo- 

 nies in one apiary ? 



Two members held up their hands. 

 Five members would not have more 

 than 100 colonies, and three would not 

 have more tlian loO. 



J. O. Shearman : Much might be 

 said in regard to pasturage, seasons, 

 etc. 



James Heddon : We take all this 

 into consideration ; but I would like 

 to know how many think that bees 

 will fly two miles and store honey 

 profitably V 



Ten members thought that two 

 miles is as far as bees could work at a 



profit ; fifteen put the distance at 2}4 

 miles ; seven put it at 3 miles ; while 

 four tliought that tliey miglit place 

 the distance at 5 miles. 



Bee Pasturage. 



Dr. Miller : Does it pay to raise 

 plants for honey alone V 



S. N. Black : It has paid to raise 

 buckwtieat, and to scatter tlie seed of 

 catnip or sweet clover along the road- 

 side and in waste places. 



A. J. Cook : I wish to speak in 

 favor of the Rocky Mountain bee- 

 plant. It blossoms after white clover 

 and basswood, is very hardy, and 

 yields honey abundantly. 



Dr. Miller : While it may pay to 

 raise plants for honey, the question 

 arises, will it not be still more profit- 

 able to establish new apiaries where 

 nature has already done the planting? 

 Mr. Oatman has answered that ques- 

 tion, practically, by moving out. 



James Heddon : Where bees are 

 kept, honey-producing plants are more 

 perfectly fertilized ; lience, where bees 

 are kept, honey^plants will increase ; 

 but I do not tliink that it will pay to 

 raise plants for honey alone, upon 

 land that can be used for raising corn, 

 oats, wheat, potatoes, etc. ; yet I 

 would not discourage the scattering 

 of seeds of honey-plants in waste 

 places. 



A. J. Cook : But we do not know 

 from experience, whether it is really 

 profitable or not to raise plants for 

 honey alone. Perhaps men may yet 

 demonstrate, with a large crop of 

 honey, that it does pay to raise plants 

 for honey alone. 



Dr. Miller : I have tried an acre of 

 figwort. I keptit carefully cultivated 

 one year, the plants thrived finely, 

 and the bees worked upon it almost 

 incessantly, but the use of the land 

 and the cultivation is too expensive. 

 The next year I dropped the cultiva- 

 tion, and the plants dwindled, and, 

 comparatively, amounted to but little. 

 I sowed 20 acres to sweet clover, but 

 it did not come up so well as I could 

 have wished, and various causes have 

 prevented it from attaining the proper 

 growth. If the seed is sowed along 

 the edge of the wagon tracks, just at 

 the line where the grass begins, it 

 will come up well, but it does not 

 germinate and grow when sown upon 

 a pasture. However, sweet clover is 

 the one plant in which I have not en- 

 tirely lost faith. 



T. L. Von Dorn : In our locality. 

 Rocky Mountain bee-plant was once 

 plentiful, but now it is seldom seen. 



A. Fahnestock : I think that it is 

 foolish to raise weeds, when we can 

 just as easily raise crops that will pro- 

 duce hon(*y. I have raised Alsike 

 clover, and' found it one of the best of 

 honey-producers. 



S. X. Black : I have tried Alsike 

 clover, but it produced no honey, and 

 soon died out. 



J. L.Harris: I have tried Alsike 

 clover, and found it so very profitable 

 that I am furnishing the neighboring 

 farmers with seed. 



.James Heddon : As you have raised 

 some Alsike clover, now what per 

 cent, of your honey crop do you think 

 comes from it V 



