92 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



of it ill many conventions since, and still, in passing- through the 

 country in the winter time I notice but a few piles of hive covers in 

 the bee-yards. 



The heavy double-walled hives: We simply rip off the gummed 

 cloths, replace with old rat-chewed gunny-sacks and fill in with chaft' 

 or dry rotten sawdust, lay up a rail-fence around to stop the driven 

 snow, which we remove in the spring. I am asked : "Don't you 

 suppose bees know their business when they are sealing- up?" Yes, 

 in their native (warm) country and in their wild state among rocks, 

 caves and trees, but not on the Straits of Mackinaw. There were no 

 bees here when I came here in 1885, and the bees that get away to 

 the woods soon learn to their sorrow that they are not in their native 

 state. 



For fifteen years wintering bees was our great stumbling block. 

 Now it is the least of our troubles. 



Two great problems confront us now. We have our two-room 

 honey-house — one warm room where the shallow extracting supers 

 are piled — and we can extract when we get ready, and no bees to 

 bother. But — 



Problem 1. We want a jacketed settling tank that will hold 

 1,000 lbs. of honey and a barrel or two of water, so no matter what wc 

 put up our honey in we can do so at a temperature of 125°. How 

 should we heat it? Shall we need a strainer? Where placed, top, 

 or at the bottom? 



Problem 2 : How can we extracted honey producers get together 

 on grades and prices? I don't want to run up against the Sherman 

 anti-trust law, but it does not seem to me that we are getting all the 

 benefits that an association should have along the selling line. I 

 have asked that this subject be discussed at our Northern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held in Petoskey, March 10th and 11th. We are 

 going to have a rousing meeting, and it will pay bee-keepers to at- 

 tend. 



EDITORIAL CORNER 



The Northern Michigan Convention at Petoskey the 10th and 

 11th of this month, and at Lake City, Michigan, the day following, 

 the 12th, promise to be well worth attending. Those who have the 

 management write us that a good program is in course of prepara- 

 tion, that premiums will be given at the Petoskey meeting for the 

 best honey and wax, and that a good time in general is expected. 

 Headquarters at the Cushman House. Write Ira D. Bartlett, East 

 Jordan, Mich., for program and further information. 



