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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May I 



REPORT OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN BEE=KEEPERS' 

 CONVENTION. 



Held at Bellaire, Mich., March 25 and 26. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



I returned from Cuba just as our issue for 

 March 15 was getting- ready for press; and 

 just as the form was being made ready, my 

 eye caught sight of the convention notice on 

 page 265. Well, Mrs. Root and I hurried up 

 our arrangements for our Michigan trip so 

 as to take iji this convention; and I am glad 

 to tell you it was not only one of my happy 

 surprises, but one of our happy surprises, 

 for I think Mrs. Root enjoyed it as much as 

 I did. Bellaire is situated on the Pere 

 Marquette railway, and the surroundings 

 are very much like ours at Bingham. It is 

 also located on a string of little lakes that 

 are connected together so that an excursion 

 steamer runs regularly back and forth down 

 them during all the summer months. I do 

 not know how many miles this excursion 

 steamer embraces; but I think it must be 

 toward 100; and all the way along there 

 are little lakes connected by narrow chan- 

 nels. In consequence, there is any amount 

 of water power from the "babbling 

 brooks" that come tumbling down the 

 great hills. Bellaire is not only well 

 lighted by* electricity generated by water 

 power, but there are several large man- 

 ufactories where they make clothes-pins, 

 wooden bowls, and a great variety of wood- 

 enware. The price at which these house- 

 hold commodities are sold is simply aston- 

 ishing. Why, they told us of a woman who 

 was buying clothes-pins by the gross for 

 kindling-wood. She said it was not only 

 the best but the cheapest kindling that she 

 could get hold of as she was situated. 



The attendance at the convention was not 

 large; but what was lacking in numbers 

 was made up in quality. My good friend 

 Hilton was president as usual; and with 

 W. Z. H., of the Review, right at his elbow, 

 taking down notes, they not only made a 

 good-looking span, but a very efficient team 

 in running a convention successfully. W. 

 Z. H. will probably give a complete report 

 through the Revieiv, and so I will simply 

 go over briefly the subjects discussed. 



Friend Berg, the plum-man I wrote up 

 last fall, was on hand, and he was just as 

 good-natured and full of fun as ever— per- 

 haps a little more so. I rather think his 

 big crop of fruit and honey, especially the 

 plums, helped to make him good-natured. 

 He said there was a woman in his locality 

 who was getting double the amount of hon- 

 ey he secured, by throwing it out before 

 the bees had time to cap it over. In fact, 

 he said some of her honey was but little 

 more than sweetened water. But she got 

 double the number of gallons because the 

 water had not yet evaporated out of it. 

 She was selling water by the pound at the 

 price of honey. When I arose and asked 



how it was that it did not sour on her 

 hands or on the hands of her customers, he 

 replied, " Oh! this woman is sharp. She 

 is sharper and brighter than we men-folks, 

 in a great many ways. She sells all her 

 honey to a confectioner in Traverse City, 

 and he boils it all up into candy before it 

 has had time to sour. He does a thriving 

 business in making honey candy, and she 

 does a thriving business in giving him fresh 

 honey right from the hives every morn- 

 ing." 



Of course, there was a big laugh at this. 

 But, dear friends, here is a very valuable 

 point. W. S. Hart, of Hawks Park, Fla., 

 and some bee-keepers in California, have 

 made machines to evaporate this raw thin 

 honey; but I believe they have been mostly 

 dropped. Now, the confectioners and can- 

 dy-makers, men of our large cities, have 

 all the "rigging" to take this raw honey 

 and make it into honey-cakes or honey-can- 

 dy. I did not learn the lady's name who 

 started this new industry; but is it not pos- 

 sible that we bee-keepers may in time de- 

 cide we owe her a vote of thanks ? 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING. 



This whole subject was discussed as usu- 

 al; but I got a new idea, or one that is 

 new to me. We all agree that, by the use 

 of the extractor, swarming can be discour- 

 aged much better than where we work for 

 comb honey. If you give the bees plenty of 

 room to store as near the brood-nest as pos- 

 sible, or, better still, right in the heart of 

 the brood-nest, you will discourage swarm- 

 ing. Well, now, instead of using the ex- 

 tractor in throwing the honey out of the 

 combs in the brood-nest, suppose we have 

 half-depth stories and half-depth frames. 

 In this way we can get a case of sections, 

 either empty (or, where the bees have part- 

 ly drawn out and filled the combs), not 

 only close to the brood -nest, but we can get 

 it right in the brood -nest. Our friend 

 Bingham, and others who advocate these 

 very shallow frames, perhaps can tell us 

 more about this. Mr. Fred Somerford, of 

 Cuba, produced a very fine crop of comb 

 honey which was secured on half-depth 

 frames, if I am correct. In fact, he had so 

 large a crop he himself went with it to 

 New York to make a sale. 



The locality of Northern Michigan was 

 discussed a good deal. The wild raspber- 

 ry, that springs up all over wild land 

 where the timber has just been cut ofl^, is 

 one of the best sources, not only in quanti- 

 ty but also in quality. A bee-keeper pres- 

 ent said a neighbor of his, Mr. James 

 Martin, of Alden, Mich., had, during the 

 past season, increased from 7 to 50, and se- 

 cured 1500 lbs. of honey; and the stunning 

 part of it is, he is a beginner, but, of 

 course, an enthusiast. I am not quite sure 

 they said he got hold of the ABC book, 

 but I think it must have been that way, 

 and then he gave his whole time and atten- 

 tion tc it, figuratively speaking, and made 

 a success the "first pop" that outstrips all 



