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R. L. Taj-lor — My experience with 

 the Heddon hive has beea similar to 

 that of Prof. Cook's ; but I do not at- 

 tribute it to the same cause as he does. 

 I think that it is caused by the space 

 between the upper and lower cases. 

 As cold weather comes on, the cluster 

 contracts. With large combs small 

 clusters of bees become isolated and 

 chilled ; they may not be killed out- 

 right, but their vitality is impaired. 

 With the Heddon hive the center of 

 the cluster is where the break comes 

 in the frames, and all the bees can 

 readily keep in the cluster. 



Dr. Tinker — Mr. Taylor may be 

 stating facts when talking of single- 

 walled hives, but with properly con- 

 structed chaff hives his views would be 

 untenable. 



R. L. Taylor — In breeding up bees 

 in the spring, I have decidedly the best 

 results with the new Heddon hive, as 

 compared with the Langstroth-Heddon 

 hive. 



The convention then adjourned until 

 7 p.m. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 7 p.m.. with President Mason in the 

 chair. The first question brought up 

 for discussion was, 



Sections Open on all Sides. 



Dr. Tinker led the discussion, and 

 spoke in substance as follows : Open- 

 side sections affoi-ded better ventila- 

 tion. If the surplus apartment is 

 divided into too small apartments, the 

 ventilation is deficient, and more time 

 is required for ripening the honey ; 

 hence not so much honey is secured. 

 The combs are built out square and 

 true to the edges, and the sections 

 filled full. Italian bees, with closed- 

 side sections, often draw in the comb 

 — make it thinner — as they approach 

 the uprights to the sections, connect- 

 ing the comb to the uprights by merely 

 a narrow ledge. With open-side sec- 

 tions this is avoided. 



A. I. Root had noticed this drawing 

 in of the comb as it approached the 

 sides, but did not think that this was 

 alwajs the case. He recounted tlie 

 experiments of Mr. A. Rice in the 

 house apiary. He placed small sec- 

 tions inside of ordinary brood-frames, 

 hung them the usual distance apart, 

 and the bees tilled them most com- 

 pletely. Later he tried the /jrdinary 

 sections, wide frames and separators. 

 After trying them he was led to ex- 

 claim : " 1 wish that the little scamps 

 would fill out the sections as well as 

 they used to in the old brood-frames !" 



R. L. Taylor asked, why not get rid 

 of the It.ilians, keep such bees as 

 would fill out the sections whether 

 open-sided or not ? 



Dr. Tinker admitted that black bees 

 and some hybrids would give no 

 trouble in this direction. 



Frank A. Eaton— There is one objec- 

 tion to open-side sections, and that is 

 in orating, the corners catch and tear 

 the combs. 



Dr. Miller had produced and ship- 

 ped thousands and thousands of pounds 

 of comb houe}', and the sections were 

 well filled, and bore transportation 

 without loss from breakage, and they 

 were close-sided sections. 



Dr. Tinker still clung to the idea 

 that more honey could be secured by 

 using sections with open sides, and 

 that with care in handling there need 

 be but little if any damage done to the 

 combs. 



Next came a discussion upon, 



If OM' Can Safety 'be Secured in 

 tlie Mating of Queens? 



A. I. Root said that the appearance 

 of hives had much to do with it. King 

 birds sometimes probably catch them. 

 Sometimes queens cannot fl}'. They 

 leave the hive and cannot get back. 

 To know whether a queen can fly, toss 

 her up in the air. 



Prof. Cook had scarcely lost any 

 queens until the present season, when 

 the loss was nearly one-half. Previous 

 to this season the hives had stood in 

 the Shade of evergreens. These trees 

 had been of different sizes, character 

 and appearance. This year they were 

 all cut away. 



R. L. Taylor thought that bees and 

 queens were gnided in finding their 

 hives by the larger surrounding ob- 

 jects, trees, etc., rather than by the 

 hives themselves. 



Dr. Miller did not think that increas- 

 ing distance between the hives aided 

 the bees very much. He would place 

 the hives in groups. 



Following this came a livelj' little 

 discussion upon 



The Use of Chaff Hives. 



E. R. Root led in the discussion, very 

 fairly presenting the good and bad 

 features. They afforded protection 

 from cold, also from the direct heat of 

 the sun's rays. The bees are always 

 ready for winter, so far as protection 

 is concerned, and the cool nights of 

 late summer do not drive the bees 

 from the supers. With chaft' hives 

 there is no laborious carrying of bees 

 in and out of the cellar. Mr. Root 

 said that bj' referring to their statis- 

 tics, they found that cellar wintering 

 of bees predominated in Michigan, 

 Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota ; as 

 far south as southern Ohio chaff hives 

 and cellars held about equal sway ; 

 south of this, chaff-hive wintering of 

 bees greatly out-numbered other 

 methods. 



Dr. Tinker thought that the saving 

 in stores in the spring would alone pay 

 for the expense of chaff hives. 



Frank A. Eaton emphasized the 

 point of leaving the bees in the cellar 

 until the danger from cold is over ; 

 then the bees make rapid progress, and 

 chaff hives are not needed. 



Dr. Tinker replied that we often 

 have frosts after warm weather has 

 been " on deck " several weeks. 



R. L. Taylor admitted that there 

 might be a saving of honey by having 

 the bees protected early in the year, 

 but for actual work in the apiary, pro- 

 ducing either comb or extracted honey, 

 he could not endure using a chaff hive, 

 and did not see how any man could. 

 Their capacity is limited — only 50 sec- 

 tions can be used upon one hive, and 

 it is often desirable to put on 100. Only 

 one set of extracting combs can be 

 used, and it is often desirable to use 

 several. The hives are hea\'y and un- 

 wieldly, and if it were desirable to 

 move an apiary to more desirable pas- 

 turage, chaff hives would almost pro- 

 hibit it. 



Dr. Mason called attention to the 

 fact that 80 sections can be placed in 

 a chaff hive. 



R. L. Taylor — Oh, yes, if 3'ou put 

 them in wide frames ; but I can't 

 "play" with my bees in any such way 

 as that. When I said 50 sections, I 

 meant when they are in cases so that 

 you can work, with them. 



John Calvert called attention to the 

 single-story chaff hives. It overcame 

 most of the objections urged against 

 the chaff hive. 



R. L. Taylor — Yes ; but the trouble 

 is, the chaff hives do not do what is 

 claimed for them. They do not win- 

 ter the bees. A single-walled hive is 

 just as good for wintering bees ; with 

 it the sun can warm up the bees ; with 

 a chaff hive it does not. 



Dr. Mason would prefer to winter 

 the bees in the cellar, but valued pro- 

 tection for them in the spring. If he 

 wintered his bees out-of-doors, he 

 would use chaff hives. 



Mr. Chase mentioned that Mr. Shane 

 had two apiaries. In one the bees are 

 protected in the spring by packing ; in 

 the other they are not. The packed 

 apiary always comes out ahead, and 

 gives the best results. 



Frank A. Eaton did not get in a 

 hurry to take the bees from the cellar. 

 They were left in until chaff hives 

 were not needed. 



The following interesting letters were 

 then read : 



Dayton, O., Oct. 2, 1888. 

 My Dear Friends : — I am very sorry 

 to say that I cannot be present at your 

 meeting at Columbus. I have taken 



