AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



287 



tions, which were sandwiched in with the 

 brood-frames. 



When any colony had 12 frames of 

 brood, I put an upper story on the hive 

 and removed part of the brood-frames 

 into it, while the empty space was filled 

 with wide frames of sections. The queen 

 was confined upon three of the six brood- 

 combs, by perforated zinc above and on 

 the sides. The bees always went into 

 the sections the first day, in traveling 

 from one brood-comb to another. 



When I contract my colonies to a 4 or 

 6-frame brood-nest, on June 20, I am 

 very certain that they will keep pace, 

 in the number of bees, with the uncon- 

 tracted colonies until July 11. Then it 

 requires 15 days longer for the bees to 

 become honey-gatherers. In my locality 

 I have never known the honey harvest 

 to last until July 15, during any season 

 within the last ten years. 



From this it will be seen that the hive 

 may be contracted 36 days before the 

 end of the honey harvest, without dimin- 

 ishing the working strength of the col- 

 ony, because it requires 21 days for a 

 bee to hatch from an egg, and 15 days 

 after hatching for it to become a honey- 

 gatherer. 



W^here or how the opponents of con- 

 traction have determined that those who 

 practice contraction tolerate small or me- 

 dium colonies, I am at a loss to know, for 

 it should be a matter of record that those 

 who practice contraction have as "big, 

 rousing " colonies, during the honey har- 

 vest, as is possible with any number of 

 brood-combs. 



Clinton, Wis. 



Benefits Of Apicnltnral Associations. 



K. F. HOLTERMANN. 



In dealing with this subject, we must. 

 take it for granted that the association 

 is in a healthy condition. The require- 

 ments for a healthy state I will specify : 



When an association forms, and de- 

 sires to prosper, each member must be 

 prepared to sacrifice self-interest so far 

 as it is necessary for the proper working 

 of the association, but outside of that, 

 every member may, without injury to 

 the association, consult his own interests; 

 and I venture to assert that by so doing 

 every rnember, without seeking it, really 

 does what is best for himself. What 

 dangers have we, then, to guard against 

 as members of an association ? 



There are several. In organizing, we 

 must be anxious to put the best men in 

 the best positions ; that is, when electing 



an officer, it should not be a question of 

 "What man do I like best?" but rather, 

 " What man will make the best officer, 

 and fulfill the duties of that office most 

 faithfully ?" 



An office is no longer an honor when 

 it is to be passed around, like a collec- 

 tion box. The question of honor is sec- 

 ondary, and as soon as it becomes the 

 first question, the office becomes prosti- 

 tuted. 



Again, there are members of associa- 

 tions who go to conventions and (like a 

 dry sponge which absorbs moisture) 

 greedily absorb every new idea, but it 

 requires a tremendous amount of squeez- 

 ing to get any good ideas out of them ; 

 not because they do not have them, but 

 because the shell is made of such hard 

 material that they are afraid some one 

 might be benefited by unearthing them. 

 Of course, allowance should be made for 

 those who are too timid to rise in a gath- 

 ering, and express their thoughts. 



An apicultural association, to be the 

 most beneficial, must avoid politics. It 

 must not undertake either to create bee- 

 keepers, or to suppress bee-keeping. It 

 must make every efl'ort to induce actual 

 bee-keepers, or those who have signified 

 their intention to become such, to join 

 the association. 



The object of this is to give them all 

 possible benefits, and put them upon the 

 footing of intelligent bee-keepers, and it 

 will also tend to prevent their selling 

 honey at a much lower figure than nec- 

 essary ; it will assist them to produce 

 first-class honey, for which they can ob- 

 tain the best prices. They are then in 

 the best position to guard against the 

 spread of foul-brood in their apiaries 

 without their knowledge, for associations 

 should be conducted in such a manner 

 that it would not be possible for any 

 member to have foul-brood in his apiary 

 without his knowledge. It might be 

 well, even when there is no law relating 

 to the disease, to appoint a foul-brood 

 inspector who, at the request of three or 

 more members, would inspect any apiary 

 suspected of having the disease. If ad- 

 mission was refused, much would be 

 gained by simply reporting the facts. 



Apicultural associations could do much 

 by passing resolutions in their interest, 

 either for submission to government, or 

 to strengthen certain causes. This, 

 however, should not be done too fre- 

 quently, or they lose their weight. 

 Again, apicultural associations should 

 take a hand in the formation of prize- 

 lists. They should make every honest 

 effort to have large prizes offered, and to 

 have proper judges appointed to award 



