AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



285 



wax will run slowly, and fasten the sheet 

 to the top-bar and one end-bar with M 

 rosin and % wax. 



H. R. Wright— In shipping, what 

 makes some comb-honey fall out so 

 badly, and other lots come in good shape? 

 Is it the method of fasituiing ? 



G. H. Ashby — It all depends upon the 

 honey flow. If honey is coming in rap- 

 idly, they will fill the section all around 

 — top, bottom, and sides — and there will 

 be no danger of its being broken out, if 

 properly handled ; but in poor seasons 

 they are sometimes only fastened to the 

 top. 



W. E. Clark — I once used three-cor- 

 nered pieces of foundation in the clamps, 

 alternately with full sheets, and the 

 boxes with full sheets were full of honey 

 while the most of those with starters 

 were only partially full. This was in a 

 poor season, but if it pays in a poor sea- 

 son, will it not pay every time ? 



I. L. Scofield — In cutting foundation 

 for sections, I have a board with saw- 

 kerfs just the right distance apart to cut 

 a sheet the full size of the section. I 

 prefer to use full sheets, especially dur- 

 ing the last 3 or 4: poor seasons. 



W. F. Marks then offered the following 

 resolution : 



Wherpjas, The New York State Agri- 

 cultural Society has secured a perma- 

 nent location, and erected substantial 

 buildings for nearly every industry and 

 pursuit ; and 



Whereas, The bee-keepers of the 

 State of New York deem it necessary 

 and proper that that society should pro- 

 vide convenient and suitable quarters 

 for the exhibition of bees and honey, as 

 has been done by other States. We also 

 believe that we are entitled to a special 

 superintendent for our department ; 

 therefore. 



Resolved, That the President of this 

 Association appoint a committee of three 

 to wait upon the Executive Board of the 

 New York State Agricultural Society at 

 their next or subsequent meeting, and 

 press our claims. Carried. 



The Convention then adjourned until 

 to-morrow morning. 



Nectar Secretion-Some 014 Honey. 



R. C. AIKIN. 



Have just re-read Prof. Cook's re- 

 marks on page 777, and J. Bull's on 

 page 810, 1890, also, what Rambler 

 says on page 115, in regard to the secre- 

 tion of nectar, and I will add some ex- 

 perience and observations. 



My experience was in Southwestern 

 Iowa. First, I will speak of a certain 

 wet season ; one of those seasons when 

 every little cloud that came along seemed 

 to give us a thunder shower. 



That is the country where corn grows, 

 but that season more heart's-ease than 

 corn grew ; the ground being too wet all 

 the time for cultivation. The heart's- 

 ease being an annual, sprang from the 

 seed, and grew unchecked, a healthy 

 vigorous growth until seed time. When 

 at its prime, it yielded almost contin- 

 ually, and seemed just as good after as 

 before a shower. We had bright, warm 

 sunshine between showers, and the re- 

 sult was a good crop of honey exclusively 

 from that plant. 



Seasons following I . practiced keeping 

 a colony on scales, making a record, only 

 weighing each evening at dusk, and I 

 frequently found some of the highest 

 gains on the first and second days pre- 

 ceding a thunder storm. If the storm 

 was local, usually but little interruption 

 of the flow occurred. If, however, the 

 storm was general, and especially if fol- 

 lowed by a stiff, cool breeze from the 

 northwest — such as often occurs in that 

 country after a general storm — very lit- 

 tle honey would be gathered for the next 

 two to four days. 



I think Prof. Cook is on the right 

 track. Warmth and moisture will not 

 cause a secretion of nectar, unless we 

 have good, healthy plants to secrete it. 

 The heart's-ease and Spanish-needle are 

 plants that thrive well in rich, moist soil, 

 and will usually secrete well in quite wet 

 weather ; the heart's-ease requiring, 

 perhaps, the most heat of the two. I 

 have had good yields from Spanish- 

 needle when the weather was so cool 

 that the bees could only work about one- 

 half or two-thirds of the time. 



Unhealthy plants, and plants growing 

 out of their season, or under conditions 

 not peculiar to their nature, cannot be 

 depended on for honey. As Prof. Cook 

 says, " You cannot make the best animal 

 out of a calf or colt partially starved ;" 

 neither can we get a good secretion of 

 nectar, or a good yield of seed, from 

 plants that have not been favored with 

 those conditions best suited to their 

 growth and development. 



SOME OLD HONEY. 



The season of 1884 was a failure in 

 Southwestern Iowa, and I reported the 

 fact at the time in the Bee Journal. 

 Shortly after my letter appeared, Mr. H. 

 M. Noble, of Swedesburgh, Iowa, sent me 

 a pint bottle of white clover honey. I 



