THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



743 



sections. Pile up the supers of partly- 

 filled combs over other colonies. The 

 honey so piled up will become thor- 

 oughly ripened, and be a much finer 

 article than that usually produced. 

 Whether for economy or excellence of 

 quality, there is no way of producing 

 extracted honey equal to that of 

 (fiving the bees plenty of room in 

 which to store honey, and then plenty 

 of time to ripen it. 



Along toward the close of the 

 honey-flow, instead of putting on 

 more sections which are not likely to 

 be finished, take all the sections from 

 a part of the colonies, giving them 

 empty combs instead. Use the partly- 

 finished sections instead of new ones 

 on other colonies. 



Let us now recount the advantages 

 of this system : First, getting the 

 bees started in the surplus depart- 

 ment without delay. Second, your 

 comb honey is nearly all No. 1, and 

 the extracted honey is the finest that 

 can be produced. Last, but by no 

 means least, you are rid of nearly all 

 the bother and expense of unfinished 

 sections in the fall. Having few un- 

 finished sections in the fall, you have 

 few old sections in the spring, and it 

 is for this reason that your comb 

 honey will be finer. Honey stored in 

 comb built the year before is never 

 equal in quality or appearance to 

 honey in newly-built combs. 



To carry out this system, of course, 

 all parts of the hives must be easily 

 and quickly removable, and inter- 

 changeable, and capable of being 

 handled by cases instead of by frames 

 or sections. 



Section cases should be only one- 

 tier deep,and extracting supers should 

 be shallow — not over 6 inches deep — 

 and both should be capable of being 

 tiered to any desired height. Queen- 

 excluding honey-boards are a great 

 convenience, and, in fact, almost in- 

 dispensable. J. A. Gkeen. 



After the reading of the above 

 essay, the subject was discussed as 

 follows : 



Franklin Wilcox— How much more 

 extracted than comb honey can you 

 secure ? 



.J. A.Green— If first-class honey is 

 produced, about twice as much ; such 

 extracted honey as is usually pro- 

 duced, I would say three times as 

 much. 



H, R. Boardman— 1 prefer wide 

 frames to cases. 



President Miller— One or two tiers 

 high y 



H. R. Boardman— Either. 



J. A. Green— I prefer wide frames 

 only one tier high. 



N. N. Betsinger— The case system 

 will hold its own, and wide frames 

 must go. 



President Miller— Mr. Green, do 

 you secure a poorer class of honey by 

 using drawn combs in the sections V 



J. A, Green— I think I do. 



C. F. Hopkins— If the honey stored 

 in old combs is of an inferior charac- 

 ter, why is not extracted honey stored 

 in old combs of a poorer quality V 



J. A. Green— If the sections were 

 left upon the hives as long as are 

 combs of extracted honey, it probably 



would be, but the sections are re- 

 moved as soon as finished, and the 

 honey is more inclined to sweat when 

 stored in old combs. 



H. W. Funk— The reason probably 

 is, that honey stored in deep cells is 

 not so quickly and thoroughly ripened. 



Franklin Wilcox— At the begining 

 of the season the honey is often re- 

 moved from the brood-nest to make 

 room for brood, and is stored in the 

 sections. This honey is often of 

 poorer quality, and if any of the sec- 

 tions are filled with comb, it would be 

 stored in them. 



N. N. Betsinger— The reason why 

 honey stored in old combs is more 

 inclined to granulation, is because 

 any comb or vessel that has once con- 

 tained granulated honey will cause 

 the granulation of any honey placed 

 therein. 



H. R. Boardman— I have produced 

 tons of honey, and have used old 

 combs ; not old, black, soiled or dis- 

 colored combs, but new, white combs, 

 built the preceding season, all neat 

 and clean. 



N. N. Betsinger— The trouble is, 

 that bee-keepers do not properly 

 clean out the combs the previous 

 autumn. 



H. W. Funk— If comb honey is 

 properly kept, will it ever granulate V 



N. N. Betsinger— No, never. 



Joshua Bull— I have some honey 

 that was stored last year, in old 

 combs, and it has not yet granulated : 

 while some that was stored this year 

 in newiy-buUt combs is candied solid. 

 ^\.ll this is caused by the character of 

 the honey. 



The convention then adjourned till 

 1:30 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 1:30 p.m., with President Miller in 

 the chair. 



Ijeglslatlon] for Bee-Keepers. 



The discussion upon this topic was 

 opened by the President as follows : 



I have not corresponded with the 

 other members of the committee ap- 

 pointed upon this subject at the last 

 meeting, but I suppose the report 

 would be an adverse one. I feel that 

 this topic has been entirely misunder- 

 stood. I put it upon this basis : A 

 man cannot farm without land, 

 neither can he keep bees without 

 pasture. I may be wrong, but, from 

 the bottom of my heart, I believe 

 that legislation is desirable, although 

 it may not be feasible. 



A. B. Mason— I agree with the 

 President in his views. 



Franklin Wilcox— I see no way in 

 which legislation is feasible, unless it 

 would be to exempt bees from taxa- 

 tion, then grant licenses to bee-keep- 

 ers, each license giving the right to a 

 certain territory. 



H. R. Boardman— Before this dis- 

 cussion had been going on very long, 

 I came to the conclusion that the 

 small bee-keepers need protection 

 more than do the large ones. 



Joshua Bull— Suppose the Govern- 

 ment grants licenses, and some mill- 

 ionaire buys the license to a whole 

 State, he is then able to dictate terms 

 to all the bee-keepers in that State. 



President Miller— How about farm- 

 ing ? Cannot a man buy as much land 

 as he has money with which to buy, 

 and is then able to dictate terms ? 



Joshua Bull— I suppose bee-keepers 

 must be subject to the same laws as 

 other business men. If a man starts 

 a store, might he not ask for protec- 

 tion from other store-keepers starting 

 in near him ? 



President Miller — Bee-keeping is 

 not like trafiBc, so much as it is like 

 farming, stock-growing, etc. If a 

 man buys 40 acres of land, and starts 

 in raising grain, ought he not to be se- 

 cure in his possessions V 



Prof. Cook— Now if we had a large 

 number of specialists all over the 

 country, and that was the manner in 

 which honey was produced, rather 

 than by a large number of small bee- 

 keepers, or amateurs, such legislation 

 might be advisable ; but it seems to 

 me that specialists are few and scat- 

 tering. Now I have a farm in Michi- 

 gan, and if I should go there and 

 start an apiary, and President Miller 

 should wish to come and settle down 

 by my side and start an apiary, I 

 should feel a little better satisfied if 

 he would go a little further up the 

 street ; and I should reason with him, 

 and tell him his coming so near meant 

 disaster to both of us, and I believe 

 he would go. 



President Miller— But suppose I 

 wouldn't go V 



Prof. Cook— Oh ! but you would go, 

 Brother Miller. 



President Miller— You admit then 

 that I ought not to go there ? 



Prof. Cook— Yes. 



President Miller— You would use 

 moral suasion. But suppose it had 

 no power over me. If I am wrong, 

 then law should step in and compel 

 right. The question is this : Is it 

 better that the honey be secured by 

 specialists, or by small bee-keepers ? 

 If the former, then legislation is 

 needed. 



Prof. Cook— When land is sold, the 

 right to the nectar is not sold with it ; 

 and it is well that bee-keepers and 

 the public should know this. 



It was voted that, in the present 

 stage of bee-culture, legislation is 

 neither desirable nor feasible. 



President Miller then resumed the 

 chair, and called for the next topic, 

 which was to be presented by Mr. 

 Thomas G. Newman, who had just 

 come into the Hall. As he had been 

 indisposed for several weeks, his 

 physician would not allow him to 

 attend more than a part of one session 

 each day. The topic was. 



Objects and Ifletbodii of a ThorongU 



Organization of ttoe Bee-Keeper» 



of Nortb America. 



A philosopher once said, " My ob- 

 ject is not to make people read, but 

 to make them think." 3ty desire is 

 to cause them to act- for action gives 

 results ! 1 would endeavor to inspire 

 you to undertake a " progressive 

 step " in the direction of organization! 

 I intend to merely outlive the benefits 

 to accrue from united effort, and to 

 state very briefly the probable effects 

 of the plan proposed. Said one of 

 old, " I believe, and therefore have I 



