300 



September, 1914. 



American Vee Jonrnal 



keepers' meeting at Burlington, Iowa, 

 May 7, 1878, or 36 years ago. 



In the absence of the secretary, Mr. 

 L. W. Elmore was made secretary fro 

 t,-m. 



Frank Coveruale 



The discussions included considera- 

 tion of the Quinby -,'s. the Langstroth 

 hive, by J. A. Thomas. The Quinby 

 hive had more supporters, at this meet- 

 ing, than usual, and a strong appeal 

 was made in its favor. Then Mr. Pel- 

 lett gave some views on the question of 

 marketing and advertising the honey 

 crop, saying that with a little money, 

 judiciously spent, beekeepers could 



Mrs. Coverdai.k 



very much increase the demand for 

 honey, making the price much more 

 satisfactory. 



The qualities of the different races 

 were thoroughly discussed, especially 

 as regards their possible immunity 

 from disease. The verdict was strongly 

 in favor of the Italian race. 



Organization among beekeepers was 



recommended in a paper by Mr. Baxter, 

 with the greatest stress on State organi- 

 zations, for both the purchase of sup- 

 plies and the sale of the apiary pro- 

 ducts. 



The clou of this meeting was the dis- 

 cussion of the growing of sweet clover, 

 led by the king of sweet clover grow- 

 ers, Frank Coverdale, whose name 

 ought to be "Cloverdale." Nothing 

 new was brought forward, however, 

 outside of the emphasis of the useful- 

 ness of sweet clover as a feeding crop, 

 as a soil enricher and as a honey pro- 

 ducer. This is beingacknowledged on 

 all sides, and sweet clover is coming 

 into its own. Wherever it is grown 

 largely there is very little chance of 



honey crop failures. 



Leaving the place of meeting again 

 at 5 p.m., we were home in time for 

 supper. We use Ford automobiles. 

 They are the cheapest and best for the 

 money. Light cars are desirable for 

 the farmer. I once owned an Over- 

 land. They are considered as good 

 cars. Mine was a cripple, for I never 

 went anywhere with it without having 

 trouble. When I became tired of pay- 

 ing for repairs in every neighboring 

 city garage, I wrote the company to 

 complain. They promised to send a 

 machinist to e.xamine the car, but 

 never did, so we finally traded it off 

 for a little Ford, and we now have 

 three of these in use. 



Bee-I^eping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson, Mareneo. 111. 



A Letter from New York 



" In your ' Fifty Years Among the 

 Bees' you wrote of a colony which did 

 not swarm (the one in the four hive 

 bodies with openings all the way up 

 and at the top). Didn't the rain going 

 in all those openings hurt them, or the 

 brood and uncapped honey ? 



"The attached picture shows my one 

 colony, kept for the joy of watching 

 their ways. A year ago I bought four 

 frames of Italian bees with an e.xtra 

 select tested queen which I found and 

 clipped the next week, and they have 

 not been cross in spite of my fussing 

 with the shade boards and ' swatting ' 

 the hornets and bumble-bees that 

 bother them. The bumble-bees bother 

 them a great deal. 



" This spring I saw a humming bird 

 poke his bill in at the entrance. Evi- 

 dently he did not reach any honey, for 

 he has not been there again. 



"The bottom-board was too tight to 

 pry loose without disturbing them, but 

 they have a full entrance (lO-frame 

 hive) with the other entrances front 

 and back, but not at the top, two full 

 bodies for the brood, three extracting 

 supers (one with foundation, and the 

 10 drawn combs from last year divided 

 between the other two), and at the top 

 a comb-honey super which is partly 

 drawn out. Surely, they have room 

 enough and air enough ; yet on a 

 humid day there will be anywhere 

 from 50 to 200 out on the platform. Do 

 they always do that ? 



"My loose hanging frames hang on 

 spaced metal rabbets, but I have cut 

 down those spacing shoulders and put 

 nails in the frames, '« In Miller,' and 

 have spacing nails in my extracting 

 frames the same way, using eight of 

 these to a super; so much easier to 

 handle. 



" There has been a great growth of 

 white clover here this year. I never 

 saw so much before. We have had so 

 much cool wet weather lately, but there 

 seems to be a flow right along from 

 something; they even work in the 

 rain. 



"This morning they were coming 

 back to the hive at 4 :30, and the last 

 few returned at night around 7:4.5. Do 

 all bees have as long a working day or 

 are mine an exception ? 



"In August they are very busy on a 

 plant called ' Joe Pye's weed ;' then they 

 have golden-rod, asters, and other fall 

 flowers up on South Mountain, just 

 west of us; so that they worked until 

 the middle of October last year. This 

 year they started the latter part of 

 March, and early in April were work- 

 ing hard. 



" I am sending you a picture of my 

 winter case, which worked like a charm. 



View Of Mus. Savers' Hive. Shade Board 

 AND Ohservation Seat 



The back was fastened with hasps, so 

 that it could be taken off after the 

 cover was removed, and scoop out all 

 the sawdust without disturbing the 

 bees. The cover was painted canvas 

 over wood, and had deep cleats inside 

 which fitted down in the body so the 

 wind could not lift it. 



" Tar paper covered the wooden case, 

 and the portico was made to shelter 



