Tmm m^mmmi^mM mw^m jccuRKJEHr. 



137 



the North Americau Association, b}- 

 simply saying. "We form ourselves 

 into an International Association." It 

 shonUl begin with county organiza- 

 tions. 



Mr. Asisinwall also described briefly 

 the methods of the British Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, which has a member- 

 ship of 3,000 ; referred to the nse of a 

 •■ brand " by the dairymen, and advo- 

 cated the adoption of a copyright label 

 and a bottle with the mark of the 

 association blown in it, to be used by 

 all members of the association, thus 

 giving a guarantee of the purity of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



A. I. Root said that something ought 

 to be done to obtain a more thorough 

 organization, and that it should be a 

 united and concerted bod)'. Ho heartily 

 favored the movement, and thought 

 that more enthusiasm should be 

 aroused among the bee-keepers, and 

 that such an association should also 

 look after the freights charged ship- 

 pers, as in some places they charge 

 more to carry honey than the}- do to 

 carry molasses. 



N. N. Betsinger was in favor of a 

 •• union," but believed that the associa- 

 tion should be for the benefit of its 

 members, and not for all the rest of 

 the world. 



W. L. Coggshall said that he was 

 ■willing to make monthly reports, and 

 give ijl to sustain an organization for 

 the dissemination of such reports to all 

 members. Several others spoke briefly 

 on the subject, after which the follow- 

 ing resolution was oftered by Mr. 

 Aspinwall and adopted : 



Resolved, That a committee of three 

 be appointed to draft a scheme for the 

 formation of an International Associa- 

 tion, which shall be of benefit to its 

 members ; the report to be returned 

 this evening. 



The chairman named John Aspin- 

 wall, C. G. Dickinson and A. I. Root 

 as the committee. 



]ni8celIaueou8 Toples. 



The giving away of secrets was dis- 

 cussed jjro and con. Some were in 

 favor of publishing everything, while 

 others believed that for the best inter- 

 ests of those already- engaged in the 

 pursuit, all knowledge and secrets 

 should not be scattered broadcast. 



The origin and different treatments 

 of foul brood was also full}- discussed. 

 Mr. Betsinger said that the simplest, 

 easiest and surest method was by the 

 use of salt. Some had laughed at and 

 ridiculed the statements that he had 

 made at Syracuse a few j'ears ago, but 

 he said that he now has Mr. N. W. 

 McLain to back him up, and he con- 

 sidered him good authority. 



The inaccuracy of the newspaper 

 quotations in regard to honey was also 



discussed. Thos. W. Mulfordsaid that 

 the market reports were hard to ob- 

 tain, and must be taken from dealers 

 near at hand ; but if bee-keepers would 

 send them correct reports, they would 

 be glad to publish them. 



A recess was then taken until 

 1:30 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 1:30 p.m. by President Clark. The 

 Secretary then read a letter from I. L. 

 Scofield, the Treasurer, stating that he 

 was sick. Mr. Betsinger suggested 

 that the Secretar}- obtain the report of 

 the Treasurer, by mail, and incorpor- 

 ate it in the minutes of the session. 



The election of officers resulted as 

 follows : President, W. E. Clark, of 

 Oriskany ; Vice-President, P. H. El- 

 wood, of Starkville ; Secretary, G. H. 

 Kinckerbocker, of Pine Plains ; and 

 Treasurer, C. M. Goodspeed, of Thorn 

 Hill. 



President Clark then called Vice- 

 Fresident Ehvood to the chair and 

 delivered his annual address. 



The Production of Comb Honey. 



"The best management of the 

 apiaiy to produce comb honey," was 

 then discussed. 



Mr. P. H. Elwood — The principal 

 thing in producing comb honey is to 

 get strong colonies early in the season, 

 as almost everything hinges on this 

 one feature. 1 cannot i-ecall a single 

 instance when our bees were in good 

 condition, that we did not get a fair 

 crop ; but I remember that we failed 

 several times because we could not 

 get them strong in time for the hat- 

 vest. I have used wide frames at the 

 sides of the brood-nest, but we aban- 

 doned that because we got no more 

 honey than by top-storing. We have 

 practiced making colonies queenless 

 for several j-ears, and have had good 

 results ; no system that we have ever 

 tried will produce as much comb honey 

 as b)- this way. The principal draw- 

 back is in re-queening. We first 

 adopted this method when we had 

 chiefly black bees, and then did not 

 have as much trouble in re-queening. 

 We leave the colonies queenless 16 to 

 18 daj-s. 



Mr. Root — Will the colony not rear 

 a queen if there was brood left in the 

 hive ? 



Mr. Elwood — We prevent that by 

 breaking out all the queen-cells on the 

 ninth daj'. 



N. N. Betsinger — I would advise a 

 method very similar to Mr. Elwood's, 

 except that I would not destroy the 

 queen. 



Tlie Reversible Feature In Hives. 



R. L. Crocker — I used the past sea- 

 son 46 reversible hives, and 41 Quinby 

 hives. I followed the directions of 



Mr. Heddon as nearly as I could, and 

 was very successful. I worked the 

 hives exclusively for comb honey, used 

 only one shallow brood-chamber, and 

 I did not reverse it. The past season 

 was a very poor one. New swarms, 

 that were put into the Heddon hives 

 stored rather more honey in the boxes 

 than those put in Quinby hives, and in 

 the fall were as strong in bees as 

 other new colonies, but had scarcely 

 any honey in the brood-chamber, and 

 some of them had nothing at all. The 

 most of those in Quinby hives had 

 enough to winter on. I have always 

 had the best results the first season 

 with the Heddon hives ; after that the 

 Quinby gives the best results. The 

 bees in the Quinby hives also build up 

 ve7-y much faster in the spring, than 

 those in Heddon hives. 



In answer to some further queries, 

 Mr. Crocker said : "I am not as yet 

 fully satisfied with the Heddon hive, 

 and I do not think that it is the hive 

 that I want," 



Artificial Fertilization of Queens. 



The subject of "Artificial Fertiliza- 

 tion of Queens " was discussed as fol- 

 lows : 



C. "M. Goodspeed — Years ago this 

 wonderful feat was said to have been 

 accomplished. We have had 10 or 15 

 years of success alternating between 

 the green-house, the tent, the barrel, 

 the hive, the operator's thumb and 

 finger, and last the royal-cell itself. 

 Each of these has had its advocates, its 

 experiments, its proclaimed success, 

 and in its turn has sunk into the ob- 

 livion of practical nothingness. We 

 will take a passing view of two only of 

 the above methods of securing artificial 

 fertilization. First, let us consider the 

 manipulation as it is practiced on the 

 royal-cell. After the embryo germ has 

 attained some size, or about two days 

 before the cell is capped, select two or 

 three drone larvaj of about the same 

 age, reduce them to complete jelly,and 

 place in the royal-cell about two drops 

 (or that bulk) of this'mass. If more 

 is used, the bees will eject the whole. 

 I have also used the organs of mature 

 drt)nes for this same purpose. I can 

 and have repeatedly produced queens 

 by this process as large when first 

 hatched as laying queens, and from all 

 appearance one would judge them to 

 be such. But in every instance during 

 a whole summer's trial, I failed of get- 

 ting the desired result ; a short time 

 after hatching they assumed the size 

 and motion of a virgin queen. After 

 the queen-cell is entirely completed, 

 the same operation maj- be ])erformed 

 through the side of the cell, but the 

 closing up must be carefullj' secured 

 by melted wax, or the bees will de- 

 stroy the whole. The above I call 

 unsuccessful. 



