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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



J. Read. F. T. Branch and \Y. B. 

 Bradley, of Florida and Georgia. 



The Kansas Meetings. — A member 

 of the staff of the American Bee 

 Journal enjoyed the opportunity to 

 attend the meetings of the Arkansas 

 Valley Beekeepers' Association, which 

 met at Wichita Nov. 23-24, and the 

 Northwest Kansas at Manhattan on 

 Nov. 26. The beekeepers of Kansas 

 are wide awake and propose to keep 

 their State in the front rank. Three 

 sectional meetings are held which 

 make it possible for many to attend 

 who would not attend the State meet- 

 ing, as well as stimulating interest in 

 the State convention. 



Dr. A. D. Raffingon was elected 

 President of the Arkansas Valley As- 

 sociation, J. A. Nininger Vice Presi- 

 dent, and Prof. A. W. Jones Secre- 

 tary-Treasurer. O. J. Jones and E. 

 W. Jewell were elected Directors. 



The Northwest Kansas Association 

 elected Prof. G. H. Failyer President, 

 W. E. Axtell Vice President and 

 Harry A. Huff Secretary. 



A feature of the Wichita meeting 

 was a honey luncheon served by the 

 class in cookery at the Friend Uni- 

 versity. Everything served was 

 cooked with honey or seasoned with 

 it in some way. It was a most de- 

 lightful occasion. 



Animated discussions followed the 

 various papers, which indicated a 

 lively interest in the subjects dis- 

 cussed. In some sections of the 

 State the beekeepers have secured 

 a good honey crop, which is selling 

 readily at good prices. Both meet- 

 ings were well attended. 



Make Bees Comfortable. — Failure 

 to insulate the bottom of the hive 

 largely offsets the value of insula- 

 tion around the hive in the outdoor 

 wintering of bees, according to the 

 Chief of the Bureau of Entomology 

 of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. Experiments conducted 

 with a number of insulated hives 



THE WRIGHT APIARY, where the Eastern New York meeting was held. Large honey 

 house in the middle, house for combs on the left, with a background of basswoods. 



showed that much heat was lost from 

 the unprotected hive bottom. 



Beekeepers have repeatedly claimed 

 that excessive insulation is even more 

 detrimental in winter than insuf- 

 ficient insulation, because of the fail- 

 ure of the colony to warm up on 

 bright days. To test this theory,_ a 

 colony was packed in the fall with 

 16 inches of sawdust on all sides, top 

 and bottom. Temperature records 

 were made at frequent intervals ev- 

 ery day throughout the winter and 

 spring. The colony remained in ex- 

 cellent condition in every respect 

 throughout the winter, being little 

 affected by high winds, and after 

 brood rearing began it built up with 

 great rapidity. Then, to continue ob- 

 servations on the effect of insulation 

 on the building up of the colony, the 

 packing was allowed to remain all 

 summer. Except for the impossi- 

 bility of manipulating the colony, it 

 remained in excellent condition. It 



seems clear, therefore, that beekeep- 

 ers need not fear detrimental results 

 from abundant insulation at any sea- 

 son of the year. 



Kansas State Meeting. — The Kan- 

 sas State Beekeepers' Association 

 will hold their annual meeting in To- 

 peka, January 8 and 9. 



O. A. KEENE, Sec'y. 



W. JJ. WRIGHT ADDRESSING THE EASTERN NEW YORK MEETING 



Price Committee of Chicago-North- 

 western Association. — At the conven- 

 tion of the Chicago-Northwestern 

 Beekeepers' Association held in Chi- 

 cago Nov. 30-Dec. 1, the following im- 

 portant resolution was unanimously 

 adopted: 



Whereas, The committee appointed 

 at the 1916 meeting of this association 

 for the purpose of investigating con- 

 ditions for marketing honey and for 

 recommending to producers a sched- 

 ule of minimum prices for the season 

 1917, has performed its work to the 

 satisfaction of the association, re- 

 sulting in more fair and more uni- 

 form prices to the producer; there- 

 fore, be it 



Resolved, That the work of the 

 committee be continued throughout 

 the season of 1918 and extended as 

 far as the funds of the association 

 will permit, and that the President be 

 empowered to appoint the members 

 of such committee. 



The following were appointed as 

 Committee on Prices for 1918: 



John C. Bull, Secretary-Treasurer 

 ( Ihicago-Northwestern Beekeepers' 

 Association, Valparaiso, Ind ; E. D. 

 nd, Northstar, Mich.; L. C. 

 Dadant, Hamilton, 111.; Edward Has- 

 singer, Jr., Greenville. Wis. 



In discussion of the resolution it 

 was shown that the purpose of the 

 committee is not to boost prices to 

 an unreasonable or exhorbitant fig- 

 ure, but to keep producers informed 

 in regard to reasonable retail prices 

 for their product and in this way to 

 or to overcome the practice 

 among uninformed beekeepers of re- 

 tailing honey at or below wholesale 



