542 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ticular make, Imt the general impres- 

 sion was : that made on the Dunham 

 machine by Dadant. was as good as 

 any made. No one favored the use of 

 old foundation carried over from the 

 previous year, but would advise it 

 being melted and made over. Some 

 (experiments made by Mrs. A. M. 

 Sanders, during the past season, 

 showed great advantage in favor of 

 foundation made by Dadant & Son. 

 Many thought much of the difference 

 was owing to the material used as a 

 lubricator in its manufacture ; others 

 in the manufact>u-e of the wax ; 

 wlietlier it lie rendered with a wax 

 extractor bv the process of steam, or 

 the old way of the wash boiler and 

 rag process. Mr. AV. O. Burk being 

 present, who is engaged in the manu- 

 facture of foundation, says he has 

 seen no wax that was burned that was 

 gotten out with the wax extractor. 



The subject of " Robber Bees " was 

 discussed, as to tlie process of pre- 

 venting and bi-eaking up robbery. 

 Many devices were given. 



" The care of eijipty combs " was 

 then taken up. No device was given 

 that had been successful except by 

 making a large box or cupboard, 

 closely" made, and by placing the 

 combs therein and fumigating with 

 sulphiu'. 



"The process of rearing queens" 

 was then taken up. Mrs. A. M. San- 

 ders practices Doolittle's plan. Much 

 favor was shown for the plan as given 

 by Mr. J. H. Roliertson, and the read- 

 ing of this plan was called for. and 

 the Secretary read the same, as given 

 last >ear, from the minutes of the last 

 convention. 



S. J. Youngman gave us his plan of 

 removing the (pieen and all unsealed 

 brood, aiid after twelve hours he took 

 a card of drone comb and cut it on a 

 circle, then selecting the larvse from a 

 colonv from which he wished to rear 

 queeils, taking a strip of the same 

 and cutting off the cells one-half or 

 two-thirds their length, and with wax 

 or glue fasten it on the under edge of 

 the comb, cut on a circle, and with a 

 match or quill remove every other 

 one of the young larvoe, leaving suffi- 

 cient room "to cut the queen-cells from 

 the combs when ready to hatch, and 

 placiiig them in a nuclei. In this way 

 lie has increased from 12 colonies to 

 do, tlie present season, and extracted 

 8(X) pounds of honey ; 8 colonies went 

 to the woods, and he lias sold 12 

 queens. 



bi" Drone brood, how disposed of,'' 

 was then discussed, and it was unani- 

 mously approved that it should be 

 well pruned out with a knife, leaving 

 a reasonable amount in each hive, anil 

 in black or hybrid colonies their own 

 brood should Ite all removed and 

 other substituted from more desirable 

 colonies. 



"The different methods of feed- 

 ing '' was then discussed. No new 

 way being devised, many of the old 

 ways being satisfactory ; but all agreed 

 that fall feeding should be done early 

 to prevent too late brood-rearing. If 

 feeding must be done, let it be done 

 as earlv as possible. 



W. W. Trussell says he has had a 

 colony that had no drone eggs or 



drones, and the queen was destroyed, 

 and the bees reared drones and queens 

 from worker eggs. 



Mr. Youngman says he has had 

 queens, drones and worker cells all 

 from the same larvse ; they were all 

 capped, but he does not know what 

 hatched from them. 



During the above session upwards 

 of (JO persons were present. Adjourned 

 to 7 p. m. 



The evening session was called at 7 

 p. m.. with all the officers present. 

 The first subject taken up was the 

 " Best method of increase." There 

 was a diversity of opihion, but much 

 favor was shown toward the plan 

 given by Mr. Youngman, of starting 

 early a nucleus with one or two 

 frames of brood, and adding otliers as 

 fast as the bees can care for them, by 

 taking one or two frames from strong 

 colonies when they could spare them, 

 shaking the bees off at the old hive. 

 Messrs. Wood. Benham and others 

 favored artificial swarming. 



A. L. Entricon had wintered drones 

 and had queens fertilized very early, 

 at a time when he thinks no other 

 drones were in the yard ; the queen 

 was reared in the colony in which the 

 drones were. 



■' The use of old combs ; how long 

 to be used." All admit that very old 

 combs Avill produce smaller bees, but 

 no one was able to tell whether those 

 bees would ever attain full size after 

 hatching. ^Nlr. Youngman would not 

 discard old combs, if perfect, for 10 or 

 15 years use. 



Mr. Goodno approves of their use as 

 long as perfect, as they are much bet- 

 ter "to ship bees in. No time could be 

 agreed upon as to when to discard 

 them. 



The subject of " Bee pasturage " 

 was then discussed. Much was said 

 in favor of Alsike clover, the seed of 

 which was furnished free by some of 

 the members to their neighbors, who 

 would sow it ; also buckwheat in the 

 same way, botli of which could not be 

 too highly spoken of. Other valuable 

 bee plants were spoken of, which were 

 of value besides for bees. Among 

 them the English mustard and teasel. 

 The Secretarv had placed upon ex- 

 hibition seeds of the Kocky Mciuutain 

 bee plant, borage, English mustard, 

 sweet clover and flgwort, which he 

 f reel v distributed among the members, 

 lie was favorably impressed with the 

 cultivation of all of them, placing 

 them in waste places where now rag- 

 weed and dog-fennel occupy the 

 ground. The cultivation of honey 

 plants seems more necessary in older 

 countries. The choice for a bee loca- 

 tion is surely where it is just being 

 cleared up, where raspberries, boneset, 

 flreweed. asters, goldenrod, Spanish 

 needle and the many wild flowers have 

 not been subdued. 

 Adjourned luitil 9 a. m. 

 A\'ednesdav, Oct. 10, at 9 a. m., the 

 convention was called to order by 

 President Geo. W. Stanton. 



" The use of the telephone in the 

 bee-yard" was discussed, and much 

 valuable information was given by F. 

 A. Palmer, of McBride's, who made 

 the discovery as to its use two years 

 ago. and communicated the facts to 



A. I. Root, who now sells the instru- 

 ments. 



Marketing honey was a topic of 

 much interest, and showed that much 

 more honey had been sold in our home 

 markets than in previous years ; 

 nearly every one had found ready sale 

 for all they" had produced. 



The ladies present gave details of 

 the use they had made of honey in 

 preserving fruits, especially black- 

 berries, and much preferred it to 

 sugar. Some of their neighbors hav- 

 ing bought honey in preference to 

 sugar, considering it cheaper. The 

 greater part of the honey produced 

 by those present being extracted, and 

 the price varying from 10 cents to 14 

 cents at their doors, and when placed 

 in the stores for sale, had been put in 

 jellv cups, one pint, one quart, and 

 'two (piart fruit jars ; and where it was 

 to be retailed, Mr. L. S. Benham, of 

 Alma, had had calls for it put up in 

 large sizied jugs, letting it candy in 

 the jugs, and when it reached its 

 place of destination, it could be placed 

 in a pan of hot water on the stove to 

 liquefy, and make it convenient to 

 retail. 



Mr. Palmer preferred Japan pails 

 holding -50 pounds. 



Mr. " Yoiuigman was favorable to 

 canvassing the eountv, and if neces- 

 sary sell ill small quantities, and after- 

 wards make larger sales in conse- 

 quence, and when they would not at 

 first buy, leave a sam'ple, and in that 

 way make new customers. 



The Secretary thinks, no doubt, that 

 we would receive ample reward for 

 the expense of buying the pamplilet 

 on " Honey as Food and Medicine," 

 in lots of "500 or 1,000, and distribute 

 them fully, while canvassing, as Mr. 

 Youngman suggests. 



Mr. Benham said his experience 

 was very unsatisfactory, in shipping 

 honey in tin cans without coopering 

 or crating. 



The comb honey reported by mem- 

 bers present had all been sold at from 

 15 to 25 cents per pound. A short dis- 

 tance showing a wide variation in 

 prices in lioth extracted and comb 

 honey, which is hoped will be regu- 

 lated" in a few years to that of a uni- 

 form price. 



The subject of "Wintering" was 

 the all-absorbing topic, and there was 

 no one present but had something to 

 say. All of the old plans and theories 

 were revived, and verbal reports made 

 of past experiences : many of which 

 were sad, but still hopeful to secure 

 the patent for wintering bees. Many 

 favoralile reports were given on ex- 

 periments tried last year in burying 

 them in trenches under ground. 

 Others were inclined to try Mr. Den- 

 nison's plan, who places them in cel- 

 lars, removing the bottom-board and 

 setting the hives on scantlings so that 

 dead bees can di-op away from the 

 bottom of the hives and frames. ISIr. 

 Dennison has been very successful in 

 wintering in that way. The subject 

 was thoroughly discussed, and no one 

 could go awav" without gaining some 

 new ideas, aii"d all will be left to figure 

 out its solution. ' 



The officers for the ensuing year 

 were elected as follows : President, 



