January, 1910. 



American l^ee Journal 



season, I am sorry to say my time was limited, 

 and the route had to be drawn as straight as 

 possible. 



Now, I want to extend my sincerest thanks 

 to all the bee-keepers I visited, for all their 

 hospitality and kindness in answering ques- 

 tions pertaining to bee-keeping, etc., also to all 

 those ladies of the house who had extra work 

 for my sake. 



I am at home. The cold, Northern winter 

 is fast approaching, and our bees ceased long 

 ago to fly about the fields. Next summer 1 

 will start a little apiary of my own, and, be- 

 lieve me. I am anxious to put into practise 

 some of the valuable information secured in 

 your country. Paul Mickwitz. 



Helsingfors, Finland, October, 1909. 

 _ [We are glad to give a place to the forego- 

 ing appreciative letter from Mr. Mickwitz. As 

 mentioned in these columns before, we had the 

 pleasure of meeting him several times when 

 in this country, and he is certainly a promis- 

 ing young bee-keeper. We shall hope to re- 

 ceive something from him from time to time 

 about bee-keeping in Finland, after he has had 

 opportunity to try out some of the American 

 methods of bee-keeping that he learned while 

 here. In the meantime we wish Mr. Mick- 

 witz all the success he anticipates. — Editor.] 



Poor Season — Feeding Bees. 



The past was a poor season for bees in this 

 part of the country. In early spring it was su 

 cold that there was no bloom to speak of. 

 Fruit-bloom was nearly all killed, so the bees 

 got nothing until the middle of June, then 

 the weather turned warm, and " basswood, 

 sweet clover, and alfalfa came into bloom, and 

 we had the best flow of honev that I ever 

 saw for 3 weeks: then it ended as suddenly 

 as it ^ begun. When the honey-flow started 

 the hives were empty, as far as honey was 

 concerned, and when it ceased the brood- 

 chambers were full, and nearly all of the 

 colonies had filled one super, and some were 

 starting to store in the second super, but there 

 was very little of the honev sealed. Then 

 we had a drouth that lasted till Sept. 1st. 

 By that time the hives were about empty of 

 honey. The bees had taken all of the honev 

 out of the supers and the swarms were starv- 

 ing. By the last of September almost all of 

 the swarms had starved. 



After that we had rains, and the asters 

 bloomed for one month, so all of the colonies 

 that did not swarm will have enough to last 

 them till spring. As I enquire of the farmer 

 bee-keepers how their bees are, they say that 

 2 out of 3 colonies are dead, and the one thai 

 is alive will not live till fruit-bloom next 

 spring. I don't believe there will be 20 per- 

 cent of the bees alive next spring around here. 

 The owner thinks there is no use to try to 

 feed them. In October I fed all of my bees 

 that were short of stores. Some that did 

 not have more than 5 pounds of honey I 

 fed sugar syrup. I gave them 10 pounds ol 

 sugar in 5 pounds of water, and now I give 

 each of them a cake of candy weighing 6 or 

 8 pounds, made from sugar and water. I 

 put one quart of water in a dishpan on the 

 kitchen stove and, when the water begins to 

 boil, I pour in the sugar and keep stirring all 

 the time. When it gets so that it will form 

 a lump when dropped into cold water, then 

 I remove the pan from the stove and keep 

 stirring until it begins to grain. Then I pour 

 it into a bread-pan, and after it is cool I place 

 it on top of the brood-frames, first laying 3 or 

 4 one-inch sticks across the frames to give a 

 passage for the bees from one comb to an- 

 other. Over the candy I put burlap cloth, 

 then some newspapers, then put an empty su- 

 per on filled with dry leaves. Then I put on 

 a weatherproof cover; then I feel satisfied 

 that they will winter all right. I don't put 

 anything in the candy, and have never had 

 any loss of bees so treated, or any trouble 

 with the candy getting so hard that the bees 

 could not make use of it during the winter. 

 After warm weather comes in the spring, if 

 there is any candy left, I melt it into syrup 

 and feed it in a divison-board feeder to stimu- 

 late weak colonies. J. L. Young. 



^fanhattan, Kans., Dec. 4. 



A Rare Tree Swarm of Bees. 



I am sending a photograph of myself and 

 a large, fine swarm of bees that I found 

 September C, 1909, hanging on a limb IH 

 inches through, 43 feet from the ground, in 

 the open, without any protection whatever. 

 with combs 2 feet long on the limb, and 13 

 inches deep. At the time I found it, it was 

 completely covered with bees, and at fiist 

 sight it resembled a young bear hanging with 



his back down. Two weeks. later I went with 

 a spring wagon, extension ladder, a box, and 

 ropes, to get it. 



I_ went up the tree, roped the limb properly 

 so it would hang when cut off just as it was 

 before, sawed it off, and from where I was 

 I lowered it slowly near to the ground, fas- 

 tened the rope securely, and went down. 

 .Then I took a sheet of cheesecloth, slipped 

 it under the bees, wrapped it up snugly to 

 the cluster, and tied at both ends of the 

 combs so no bees could get out; then the limb 

 was cut otf a little beyond the combs at each 

 end, set in a box large enough not to mar 



Mr. Guernsey and Swakm on Limh. 



the combs, and taken home 13 miles, in safety, 

 with the loss of but very few bees. 



After a rest of three days I took them 

 in the box to Ionia (2J/^ miles), into a photo- 

 praph gallery and lifted them out and held 

 them as you see them, 5 minutes or more, 

 and had several views taken. Only 3 bees 

 left the cluster and went to the skylight. It 

 was a fine, warm day. 



Then I gave an exhibition, as you see them 

 here, on the streets for several hours; brought 

 them home, and packed them in their little 

 box where I expect to winter them success- 

 fully outdoors, as I winter my bees outdoors 

 exclusively. Next season I will confine them 

 to a certain space and make them build the 

 combs as I want them, to my fancy, then 

 hang it out on a tree in the open. A swarm 

 like this I have never bct-n able to find, or 

 ever heard of one in Michigan, although it is 

 a common thing in a warm climate. 



Ionia, Mich. A. H. Gufrnsev. 



Ontario County, N. Y., Convention 



The Ontario County (N. Y.) Bee- 

 Keepers' Society will hold a meeting in 

 the Town House at Canandaigua, N. 

 Y., on Jan. 17 and 18, 1910, to which we 

 would cordially invite you. 



Naples, N. Y. F.' Greiner, Sir. 



Wisconsin State Convention 



The 31st annual convention of the 

 Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held at the Court House, 

 in the city of Madison, Wednesday and 

 Thursday, Feb. 2 and 8, li'lO, beginning 

 at 10:30, Wednesday morning. 



We have the promise of papers from 

 Mathilde Candler, F. Wilcox, Harry 

 Lathrop, George W. York, A, C. .\llen, 

 and N. K. France. These are all well- 

 known names, and their papers will be 

 such as to create interesting discussion 

 and bring out plenty of questions. We 



also have other prominent and well- 

 known bee-keepers who are consider- 

 ing the writing of papers for this con- 

 vention, or in some other way giving 

 the benefit of their experience and 

 years of observation. The Question- 

 Box will be an important feature. 



We advise all who will attend to stop 

 at the Sinions Hotel, which is always 

 headquarters for the bee-keepers. The 

 rate is $1.35 per day, but in order to 

 secure a room, you must engage it sev- 

 eral days ahead, and enclose $1.00 in 

 your letter. This is a clean house. No 

 bar in connection. 



We invite every member to renew 

 his membership, and every bee-keeper 

 to become a member. The annual dues 

 for the Wisconsin State and National 

 are $1.00 for both, or you may become 

 a member of the Wiscorisin State alone 

 by sending .50 cents to the Secretary. 



Let us hear from you with your dues, 

 together with your questions, and, if 

 possible, attend the convention. 



Augusta, Wis. Gus. Dittmer, .SVr. 



Michigan State Convention 



The annual convention of the Michi- 

 gan State Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 be held in the parlor of Hotel Went- 

 worth, corner E. Michigan and Grand 

 Avenues, Lansing, Mich., Feb. 23 and 

 24, 1910. A fine program is in course 

 of preparation, and will appear in the 

 February number of the American Bee 

 Journal. All are invited. 



L. A. ASPINWALL, fres. 



E. B. Tyrrell, Sec, 

 230 Woodland Ave., Detroit, Mich. 



Eastern Illinois Convention 



The second annual meeting of the 

 Eastern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held in a hall adjoining the 

 Junction House at St. Anne, III, Jan. 

 31 and Feb. 1, 1910. A good program 

 has been arranged, and we expect a 

 large attendance. All bee-keepers are 

 invited to come. The question-box 

 method will prevail. Special rates at 

 the hotel. Those desiring to attend 

 can correspond with either the presi- 

 dent or the secretary. 

 Rev. Howard, rrc-s. H. S. Duby, Sei: 

 Gardner, 111. St. Anne, 111. 



To Illinois Bee-Keepers 



At the December meeting of the Chi- 

 cago-Northwestern Bee-Keepers' .Asso- 

 ciation it was voted to join the Na- 

 tional and the Illinois State Associa- 

 tions in a body. The annual member- 

 ship fee to the Chicago-Northwestern 

 is $1.00. This dollar will not only make 

 you a member of the three associations, 

 but will entitle you to the reports of 

 the three associations, published in one 

 volume, bound in cloth. The book 

 alone is worth the price of member- 

 ship. Send dues to Louis C. Dadant, 

 Secretary Chicago-Northwestern Bee- 

 Keepers' .Association, Hamilton, 111. 



Notice to Oklahoma Bee-Keepers 



Bee-keepers from over the State met 

 at Guthrie, Dec. 30, 1909, and a State 

 .Association was perfected with the fol- 

 lowing officers : 



President, N. Fred Gardner; Vice- 

 President, Geo. H. Coulson; Secretary, 



