T'H® mimmmic:mm be®, jo^mmsiu. 



105 



IH'eference for comb honey is shared 

 liy me with some of our best and larg- 

 est producers of honey, and this ques- 

 tion is one that must come to the front. 

 I doubt much if the honey market 

 will ever be in a satisfactory condition, 

 so long as large quantities of the in- 

 ferior extracted article are produced. 

 These are tlie great disturbing element, 



f and no one can read the quotations 

 and note the difference of price be- 



[ tween the cheai)er grades of extracted 

 honey, and lirst-class comb lioney, 



t without feeling that the production of 

 • xtracted lioney, .so far as it is carried 

 '111, should be rigidly limited to that of 



. the highest quality. 



* St. Thomas, Ont. 



NEW YORK. 



Bec-Kcepcrs of the State in 

 Convention. 



Compiled from the Bee-Keepers' Magazine. 



The 19th annual convention of the 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association was 

 held at Utica, on Jan. 17-19, 1888, 

 Avith President W. E. Clark in the 

 chair. The minutes of the last meet- 

 ing, and the Secretary's report were 

 lead and ajjproved. 



The first discussion was on, 



Various Honey-Plants fur Bees. 



Mr. A. I. Root said that he had con- 

 siderable experience in cultivating 

 jilauts for honey. He had raised cat- 

 nip, but it required foo many plants to 

 make a satisfactory showing, and the 

 .«anie was true of mignonette. He said: 

 " I once had 40 colonies of bees that 

 Avorked on a field of buckwheat two 

 miles away, and 1 regard that the best 

 showing of artificial pasturage I ever 

 saw. iSuckwheat honey is dark, how- 

 ever, and the yield is irregular. We 

 •_'i't good results from Alsike clover, 

 riie crop pays well for the hay and the 

 si'ed, aside from tlie honey. We call 

 the clover honey " gilt edge," The 

 cultivation of rape is carried on in 

 places for its seed, and we get good 

 results from tlie plant in the way of 

 hone}-. The raspberry is cultivated 

 for its fruit as well as for honey. 



John Aspinwall, in speaking of the 

 tulip tree, said that in passing under a 

 tree one day he pulled down a blos- 

 som, and it was filled with honey. All 

 of the blossoms were covered with 

 honej-, and there were myriads of bees 

 there. There had been no rain for 

 several days. 



Mr. Dickinson — The supply of honej" 

 dcpends largely on climatic conditions 

 at all times. In my opinion, any one 

 who plants anything for honey alone, 

 will " get left." When clover yields 



honey, it is of a fine quality. When 

 you find bees working on white clover, 

 30U find them on tlie red. Buckwheat 

 is simply buckwheat, and nothing 

 more, and as far as the Japanese or 

 otlier varieties are concerned, I cannot 

 see that one is better than another. 

 Raspberries produce a large amount of 

 honey, and if I had to take my choice 

 between tliis plant and the clover, I 

 would take the former. My bees 

 work on red, white or Alsike clover. 



J. H. Taylor — There is a great dif- 

 ference in the locality as regards the 

 quantity of honey produced. This 

 year the bees failed to get honey from 

 buckwheat near Ilion, but later at 

 Jordauville, the same bees, when I 

 took them there, worked on the plant 

 freely. I find that they will gather 

 honey from buckwheat on hills wlien 

 they will not in the Mohawk valley. 



Mr. Aspinwall — It seems to me that 

 it has been proved this year that there 

 is something else than climatic changes 

 that afl'ects the yield of honey. The 

 conditions were apparently favorable 

 for honey, but the yield was light. 



President Clark — Fifteen years ago 

 I got a good yield from buckwheat, 

 but since that time I have not been 

 able to get a good yield from that 

 source. I presume that my bees get a 

 little buckwheat honej', but they con- 

 sume it. 



Mr. Dickinson — I. L. Scofield has an 

 apiary at Chenango Bridge, in a buck- 

 wheat country', and where he once had 

 a large yield of honey, he now gets 

 but little. Bees work very little after 

 midday. If the night has been warm, 

 and a fall of dew follows, the condi- 

 tions are favorable for the bees. 



Mr. Knickerbocker — The bees in our 

 section did not work on the basswood 

 trees in 1886, but last year they did. 



Mr. Root — How many have suc- 

 ceeded in increasing the yield of honey 

 bj' moving their bees from one place 

 to another ? 



Mr. Taylor related an instance 

 where bees had been moved two miles, 

 and they had worked much better. 



Mr. Root spoke of an instance where 

 bees had worked on buckwheat in the 

 afternoon. 



Mr. Dickinson — Can any one report 

 a yield from sumac ? 



Mr. Knickerbocker — Mr. Jackson, 

 of Deposit, sajs that he gets a good 

 yield of honey from sumac every year. 

 We have a little in our place, and it 

 yields very well. 



Mr. Taylor — The bees work 'on the 

 red sumac in our locality very nicely. 



After some miscellaneous talk, the 

 convention adjourned until 7 p.m. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The President called the convention 

 to order at 7:15 p.m. After the en- 



rolling of new mcmb(U'S, tlie time was 

 given to miscellaneous discussions. 



In reply to tliis question, " Does it 

 pay to use full slieets of foundation in 

 the brood-chamber ?" Mr. Foster said 

 that he had always used full sheets, and 

 his bees never go into winter quarters 

 with over 15 or 20 pounds of honey. 



Mr. Betsinger said that for extracted 

 honey full sheets of foundation should 

 be used. 



Mr. Knickerbocker said that taking 

 the average of the season right 

 through, he would not do without the 

 foundation if it cost a dollar a pound. 



Mr. Aspinwall — In Cuba they use 

 full slieets, but of course they work 

 only for extracted honey. 



The prevailing opinion seemed to 

 be that full sheets of foundation should 

 be used in the iirood-chamber. 



Feeding; Sugar to Bees. 



Mr. A. I. Root, in response to a 

 query from the President, said he 

 thought that a pound of sugar is equal 

 to a pound of honey for supporting 

 bees. Granulated sugar is better than 

 honey for this purpose. 



Secretary Knickerbockei- — It seems 

 to me a detriment to bee-keepers that 

 sugar has ever been mentioned in con- 

 nection with bee-keeping. 



Mr. Aspinwall — The question of 

 adulterating hone}' has been drop^Jcd 

 entirely. 



Mr. lloot^ — I have made a standing 

 ofier of $1,000 for a comb of artiflciallj- 

 manufactured honey. 



Mr. Aspinwall — I will give a thou- 

 sand dollars for a square inch of it that 

 cannot be distinguished from that made 

 by the bees. 



Mr. Foster — If it is a losing matter 

 to feed sugar to bees to put into sec- 

 tions, whj' is it not a losing operation 

 to feed it to them through the winter ? 



Mr. Root^ — Simply because it is bet- 

 ter for the bees. 



Mr. Aspinwall — I think that the 

 sense of the Association is, that it is 

 ill-advised to feed sugar to bees if 

 there is any possible chance of the 

 honey getting on the market. 



Mr. Kilbourn — My bees want 500 

 pounds of something to winter on. 1 

 think I can .secure the necessary quan- 

 tity of sugar or syrup for $20, whereas 

 the honey would cost $40. As a matter 

 of business, I think that we have a 

 right to use sugar for wintering the 

 bees. 



Mr. Betsinger — Syrup will cost 5 

 cents a pound. Does any one want to 

 take what honey I have left next sea- 

 son, after 1 liave sold what I want to, 

 and .allow me 5 cents a pound ? I think 

 not. Therefore, taking honey awaj- 

 and feeding sugar instead, is not 

 advisable. 



Mr. Foster — That is what it is com- 

 ing to, unless something is done. 



