THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



725 



North American Bee Convention. 



[Concluded] 



FIFTH SESSION. 

 The Convention was called to order 

 at 7:S0 p. m., with President Root in 

 the chair. A discussion on comb 

 foundation was the first order of the 

 evening. It was opened by a brief 

 essay read by J. Van Deusen, as fol- 

 lows: 



COMB rOUNDATION. 



The importance of comb foundation 

 is evident to the great majority of 

 bee-keepers. Its early stages of ex- 

 periment have passed. The apiarist 

 of to-day can justly boast of the best 

 comb foundation in the world. Time 

 was when the highest ambition of 

 the apiarist was to obtain a starter— a 

 comb guide; but with the improve- 

 ment in foundation, the guide is a 

 thing of the past. The necessities of 

 to-day are full sheets of worker foun- 

 dation to build up colonies by which 

 we are enabled, in a great measure, to 

 control the number of dronos in the 

 hive, which has always been a serious 

 drawback in the production of honey. 



The bee-keeper of to-day can hive 

 his colony on full sheets of comb 

 foundation, and in less than i!4 hours, 

 under favorable circumstances, can 

 see the queen supplied with cells in 

 which to deposit brood as fast as she 

 •can use them, and the workers storing 

 honey. They can also fill their sec- 

 tions with foundation, and under 

 favorable circumstances, have them 

 nicely filled and sealed over in 4, 6, or 

 8 days. With these facilities, it is 

 left with individual bee-keepers to 

 decide whether they will use a clean, 

 light foundation which will make a 

 surplus honey to please the most 

 fastidious taste, and build up a repu- 

 tation for nice honey sucli as no other 

 Nation can produce ; or whether they 

 will use a dirty, heavy foundation and 

 make such a honey as no one ever 

 wants the second time. Choose ye 

 between the two. 



Make a nice surplus honey and es- 

 tablish a reputation which will com- 

 mand a ready sale at a good price. 

 You have the facilities for making 

 either. It is for you to decide 

 whether you will use aii inferior foun- 

 dation and ruin your reputation for 

 nice honey, or use a superior founda- 

 tion and establish a reputation such 

 as no other Nation can compete with. 



A long and rather dull discussion 

 followed the reading of this essay. 

 For the first time during the meeting 

 of the Society, the chariot wheels 

 dragged heavily. Nothing new or in- 

 teresting was developed, and at length 

 in sheer weariness, the subject was 

 dropped, and it was voted to take up 

 something else. 



■ The question of the bill of the Sten- 

 ographic reporter, who took the min- 

 utes of the last convention, was 

 brought np and referred to a commit- 

 tee consisting of Messrs. Pettit, 

 Pierce, J. Van Deusen, W. F. Clarke 

 and W. E. Clark. 



llEVERSIBt,E FRAMES. 



The question, "Is it advisable to 

 use reversible frames?" was intro- 

 duced by tlie President, and the Con- 

 vention agreed to consider it. 



Mr. Peet explained the chief advan- 

 tage of reversing frames to be that 

 the bees would then build comb to the 

 very bottom of the frame, thereby 

 making the sheet of comb stiffer, and 

 providing more room for brood. 



Mr. Pettit said that Mr. Wm. F. 

 Clarke was a strong advocate of 

 sticking as closely to nature as pos- 

 sible, would he think it unnatural to 

 reverse the frames ? 



Mr. Clarke replied : That depends. 

 We used to be told that the bees did 

 not build their cells horizontally, but 

 tilted them sliglitly upwards ; and our 

 bee-masters were in the habit of 

 cautioning us in transferring bees, to 

 keep the comb in the same position 

 that they were in in the old hive. I 

 have never tried reversible frames, 

 but if the bees tilt their cells upward, 

 I should be indisposed to turn them 

 upside down. 



This led to a most animated debate, 

 Mr. Hall, of Ontario, stating that the 

 bees tilted the cells upward a little ; 

 Mr. Betsinger denying it. 



In the thickest of the debate, a 

 sheet of comb on the Quinby frame 

 was produced, and the majority con- 

 sidered that the cells were slightly 

 tilted upward, but Mr. Betsinger in- 

 sisted that they were perfectly hori- 

 zontal. Still there seemed to be no 

 difficulty arising out of reversing the 

 frames on this account. 



Mr. Hall saw no good in reversing. 

 It was not needed to stiffen the frame. 

 He preferred not to have the combs 

 built clear to the bottom of the frame, 

 for it left such a nice place for queen- 

 cells. But if it was desired to have 

 the combs built solid at tlie bottom, 

 all that was necessary was to hoist 

 the frame into a super. He had a 

 large number of these frames which 

 had been so built out. 



President Root thought that there 

 was no great object to be gained by 

 reversing frames. 



Mr. Betsinger differed from him, 

 and predicted that the reversible 

 frame was the coming frame. He 

 had over 1 ,000 of them now in use in 

 his apiary. 



After some further remarks, the 

 subject was dropped. 



The committee on revising the Con- 

 stitution of the Society reported as 

 follows : 



The committee on revision of the 

 Constitution, on consultation with 

 Mr. Betsinger, who was present at the 

 meeting held in Philadelphia in 1S76, 

 find that the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society should be composed 

 of delegates from all the local socie- 

 ties throughout North America. They 

 would, therefore, recommend and 

 urge that the local societies do carry 

 out this feature, and send delegates 

 to the meeting of this Society at De- 

 troit in 1885. The local societies will 

 please correspond with the Executive 

 Committee in reference to this matter. 

 On motion, the report was re- 

 ceived, and a discussion on it sprung 

 up. The fear was expressed that this 



action might discourage personal at- 

 tendance at future meetings. It was 

 also urged that if the Society became 

 representative, a much larger attend- 

 ance might be expected. 



W. F. Clarke moved, seconded by 

 U. E. Dodge, that the report be 

 adopted with the following addition : 

 While it is desirable that the Society 

 should mainly be composed of dele- 

 gates as originally contemplated, it is 

 to be understood that individual mem- 

 bers will, as heretofore, be eligible 

 and welcome. 



The hour of adjournment arrived 

 while this matter was under discus- 

 sion. 



SIXTH SESSION. 



The Convention met at 9:30 a. m.. 

 President Root being in the chair. A 

 communication was read from the 

 Warner Astronomical Observatory, 

 inviting the Convention to visit it. 

 On motion, it was resolved to do so at 

 1:30 p. m. 



The programme committee reported 

 the subject of Bee-Literature for dis- 

 cussion. Several speeches were made 

 on this topic, indicating what is often 

 manifest, viz : That almost everybody 

 thinks that he knows how to run a 

 paper better than the editors and 

 proprietors. The evils of bee-papers 

 being connected with the supply busi- 

 ness were freely ventilated, and the 

 importance of having bee-periodicals 

 without any axe to grind, was in- 

 sisted upon. Many things " wise and 

 otherwise " were said, and finally it 

 was 



Resolved, That, while by no means 

 disparaging the value and usefulness 

 of other bee-papers, we as bee-keepers 

 in convention assembled, recognize 

 in the American Apimlturist a paper 

 worthy of our support, and would 

 recommend it to the bee-keepers as 

 one of the best bee-periodicals pub- 

 lished in the interest of bee-keeping. 



An essay on "Foul Brood," from 

 the pen of D. A. Jones, was read by 

 the Secretary, entitled 



CURE OF FOUL BROOD BY FASTING. 



There has been much said of late 

 on this subject, that it would seem to 

 be pretty well worn out, but there are 

 yet many apiaries suffering from the 

 malady, where a simple and effective 

 treatment would be gladly tried if 

 known. I have experimented con- 

 siderably, and I have found that the 

 disease can be cured without any dif- 

 ficulty, without any medicine, with- 

 out any danger of spreading the dis- 

 ease, when properly managed, and 

 without any possibility of its ever 

 returning. 



Perhaps I may be allowed to de- 

 scribe the disease as I have found it 

 in Canada. In speaking of foul 

 brood, I would first distinguish it 

 from all other bee diseases, such as 

 chilled brood, over-heated or scalded 

 brood, neglected brood, starved brood, 

 dead brood caused by shipping bees, 

 and another kind of dead brood which 

 resembles foul brood in some re- 

 spects, and is doubtless what some 

 call a mild type of foul brood. 



It would make this article too long 

 I to describe minutely the appearance 



