THE BEE-KEBPERS' REVIEW 



85 



temperature, bees flew well. With 

 our camera we made a trip to the 

 Welch yard, where we found the bees 

 in rather better shape than at the 

 Wolf. If the picture turns out to be 

 good, we may give you a glimpse of 

 this yard in winter in the April num- 

 ber of the Review. This yard, like the 

 Wolf, is packed in tarred paper, ex- 

 cepting that they are packed mostly 

 in groups of two. They are packed 

 in clover chaff, and so far as the 

 packing is concerned, there is ap- 

 parently no difference between this 

 yard and the Wolf, where forest 

 leaves are used. Here, too, the bees 

 flew like summer, with apparently no 

 exertion. The fact is they have 

 wintered so perfectly that practically 

 all their vitality is i-etained for spring- 

 work, so we will expect no so-called 

 "spring dwindling" at this yard next 

 spring. 



In handling some colonies at the 

 Welch, we had occasion to remove the 

 chaff from above. In doing so we 

 would run our hands down around the 

 edges of the chaff above the hives, 

 one on the south, the other on the 

 north side of the packing. The black 

 color of the tar paper seemed to draw 

 so much sun rays, that the south hand 

 felt the chaff very warm and com- 

 fortable, while that at the north side 

 of the case felt cold. One can imag- 

 ine that during sunny days in winter, 

 even when it is too cold for bees to 

 fly, that this sun's rays will warm up 

 the colony to that extent that they can 

 feed comfortably, which might not be 

 the case with a less favorable colored 

 packing case. 



When bees have been confined two 

 and a half months without a fly, as 

 had our bees here this winter, no 

 matter how good the winter stores, 

 they will srsot the snow some at their 

 first flight. Usually, with our white 

 clover and basswood honey as winter 

 stores in this location, bees do not 

 spot this up to any very great extent 

 during winter flights. At the Welch 

 yard one colony seemed to "smear" 

 everything up near their hive. My 

 son Dell, who stood by my side when 

 this was discovered, remarked that 

 it looked like some colonies win- 

 tered on the honey from the north, 

 where some aster honey is stored. 

 Sure enough, this yard was moved 

 from our Charlevoix County location, 

 where they secure considerable of this 

 poor quality of honey, and it was 

 decided that this particular colony had 

 wintered, a part at least on some old 



honey carried over from the previous 

 season, consequently, dysentery was 

 the result. Remember that good 

 stores is the backbone of good win- 

 tering. Pay less attention to the 

 repository and give more attention to 

 the winter stores, would be my advice. 



On page 53 of the February Re- 

 view, referring to the National grad- 

 ing rules by picture, we are made to 

 say that grade number two is grade 

 number one and grade number one is 

 grade number two, the half tones be- 

 ing transposed. Read number two at 

 top and number one at bottom, of 

 page referred to. 



A Few Words from Denver 



(Ex-secretary Williams came by way 

 of Northstar on his trip to Denver to 

 attend the National convention last 

 month, and we requested him to mail 

 us some few items from Denver in time 

 for the March Review, and the follow- 

 ing is his response:) 



The annual meeting of the National 

 Beekeeper's Association is a thing of 

 the past. The new association that 

 has sprung from the ashes of the old 

 and thrown off its weaknesses and 

 taken on the strong, etc., of a harmo- 

 nious and united Brotherhood. 



The attendance of delegates was es- 

 pecially large and the social attend- 

 ance of Colorado and other Western 

 states were very satisfactory. The 

 papers and discussions were of a high 

 order and were enthusiastically re- 

 ceived. 



The business department of the 

 Association was satisfactorily ar- 

 ranged and will be conducted by an 

 Affiliated association, leaving the 

 National free and untrammeled by 

 business entanglements, to devote its 

 energies to the educational and scien- 

 tific labors so much to be desired. 



The attendance was of strong men. 

 Representatives of this class was 

 especially large. Some of the nota- 

 bles being present were Dr. Phillips 

 of Washington, D. C. Prof. Jager, of 

 Minnesota, Prof. Millen, of Michigan, 

 Frank Pellett of Iowa, E. R. Root, 

 Editor of Gleanings in Bee Culture, C. 

 P. Dadant, Editor of the American 

 Bee Journal, and dozens of other 

 strong men were in attendance and 

 assisted in shaping the policies adop- 

 ted. 



