1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



755 



This year (under adverse conditions) my average surplus 

 per colony has been a little over 100 pounds, with from 35 to 

 40 pounds of winter stores in the brood-chambers; and my 

 best colony has given me 210 pounds of surplus extracted 

 honey. I had but 3 swarms from 26 colonies, but was com- 

 pelled to increase up to 35 colonies, so as to prevent swarming 

 as much as possible. Wm. Stolley. 



Pres. York — Before 1 leave for my train, I wish to thank 

 you all for the honor conferred on me. I hope to see every 

 one of you at Buffalo next year, when we can have another 

 reunion. 



As Pres. York and E. R. Root had to leave to take the 

 train for home, the convention took a recess of 10 minutes. 



At 8: 10 the newly-elected Vice-President, Mr. E. Whit- 

 comb, took the chair, and announced that the discussion on 

 Mr. Stolley's paper was open to the members. 



Mr. Kretchmer — Sweet clover is a plant that should be 

 propagated wherever it is possible. It will grow on the road- 

 side without any attention, better than alfalfa. It will furnish 

 pasturage for cattle. If cut before it gets too heavy or coarse, 

 it makes excellent hay, but is better mixed with some other 

 feed. 



Mr. Stilson — We have had at the State Pair some very fine 

 displays of sweet clover honey. I am convinced that nothing 

 except irrigated alfalfa will produce as much honey as sweet 

 clover. My bees gather honey from sweet clover from the 

 first of June to the middle of October. If it is mowed off too 

 low down the plant dies. As a forage plant, I consider it 

 equal to alfalfa. If left till it grows too rank, it becomes a 

 stifif stalk, and the leaves drop off. It should be cut for hay 

 by the time the upper blossoms are beginning to ripen. It 

 furnishes a very rich honey, which keeps well. It stands 

 heat under almost any conditions. I kept a specimen in the 

 sun for several weeks, but it stood up like loaf sugar. I am 

 very much in favor of sweet clover. It will crowd out noxious 

 weeds. 



Dr. Mason--Mr. N. E. France, Secretary of the Wisconsin 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, sends a question concerning 

 sweet clover as a noxious plant. 



Miss Raser— Will cattle and horses eat this clover without 

 being used to it ? 



Mrs. Amos — My cattle and horses eat sweet clover, and 

 even reach over the fence after it. 



Mr. Stilson — If stock get a taste of sweet clover in the 

 spring of the year, they prefer it to anything else. If it gets 

 rank, they will not touch it. 



Mr. Aikin — We have considerable sweet clover in Col- 

 orado, but our farmers are fighting it continually. The ques- 

 tion with them is how to get rid of it. They say it obstructs 

 the irrigation ditches. I have seen it growing very luxuriantly 

 on the very edge of the water in the ditches, where it cannot 

 be mowed. The farmers say that no stock will touch it; but 

 I have seen stock pastured on it to some extent. As a honey- 

 plant it is certainly good. As long as it is in bloom, the bees 

 are thick on it. I have one apiary located near sweet clover, 

 and that gives me a better yield than any other. 



Dr. Mason — I have but one colony at home, and that gave 

 me 112 pounds of sweet clover comb honey this year. 



Mr. Herrick — I have had some experience with sweet 

 clover. It grows along a roadside near my place, in northern 

 Illinois. I had a gravel pit on my farm. I scattered the s^ed 

 in this because it was on my place. The other people carried 

 it out along the roadside; I didn't do it. My cattle keep it 

 eaten off so that it never blossoms to amount to anything. I 

 think it makes excellent honey. 



Mr. Laing — What would be the average crop of sweet 

 clover honey to the colony ? 



Mr. Stilson — I have known 200 pounds in 30 days from 

 sweet clover. I think it would yield as much or more than 

 basswood, white clover, or anything else. The bees start on 

 it not later than the first of July, and keep it up till August. 



A Member — I have seen two kinds of sweet clover ; one 

 with a yellow blossom, the other with white. I would like to 

 know the difference. 



Prof. Bessey — Simply yellow sweet clover. 



Vice-Pres. Whitcomb— We have a standing offer of .SlOO 

 to any one who will furnish evidence that sweet clover has 

 encroached on any well cultivated land anywhere. The root 

 serves the purpose of loosening the subsoil. It only lives two 

 years. I regard it as one of the best honey-producing plants. 

 It will produce from July 1 till frost, all the honey your bees 

 can carry in. The bees work in sweet clover in hot days all 

 the day long. I have been sowing it in the by-ways around 

 my apiary. It has grown, although there has been a great 

 drouth. It thrives anywhere, under almost any condition. I 

 regard it as the stepping-stone for the bee-keeper in Nebraska. 



Dr. Mason — Sometimes sweet clover does not yield honey. 

 You cannot always rely on it in my locality in Ohio. One sea- 

 son I had 75 colonies, and they furnished me 70 pounds to 

 the colony, and the nearest sweet clover was two miles away. 

 Sweet clover will kill itself. It is the easiest plant in the 

 world to eradicate. You need only to cut it very low down 

 and it dies. 



Mr. Kretchmer — The seed costs about §6.50 a bushel. 

 VV^e sow about 12 pounds to the acre. 



Vice-Pres. Whitcomb — We will now listen to the report of 

 the Committee on Obituary. 



Report of Cominiltce on Resolutions. 



The unwelcome shadow of death has invaded our Associa- 

 tion since our last meeting, by the removal of three of our 

 beloved and honored members. 



It has pleased the All-wise Father to call to his eternal 

 reward the Rev. L. L. Langstroth — the father of American 

 bee-keeping — author, preacher, orator. Nature's nobleman — 

 a man of pure character and life, a sweet and generous dis- 

 position. Improved bee-keeping in this country owes a great 

 deal to his patient investigations and inventive mind. History 

 will write his name in the roll of honor high among those who 

 have been a blessing to his fellowmen. We offer only a just 

 tribute to his memory when we record our appreciation of 

 his great services to the bee-keeping fraternity, the cause of 

 science, and the great army of consumers who are permitted 

 to use more of Nature's perfect sweet than might have been 

 possible had our honored friend never lived. 



In the death also of Allen Pringle, of Ontario, Canada, 

 and B. Taylor, of Minnesota, this Association has lost two 

 able and valued members. Therefore, be it 



Resolved^ That we deplore the loss of these brothers and 

 fathers in bee-keeping. We shall miss their pleasant faces at 

 out meetings; and we shall miss their valued contributions to 

 our journals. We extend to the bereaved families of these 

 deceased members the warmest sympathy of the members of 

 this Association. Eugene Secok, \ 



E. Whitcomb, \ Com. 

 A. Laing, ) 



Mr. Stilson — I move the adoption of the resolutions read 

 by a rising vote. The motion was carried, and the report of 

 the committee adopted. 



Mr. Herrick — I move that a copy of these resolutions be 

 sent to the families of the deceased. Carried. 



Vice-Pres. Whitcomb — I will appoint Mr. Secor as a com- 

 mittee to draft resolutions of thanks to the city of Lincoln, 

 the Chancellor, Professors Bruner and Bessey, and the Uni- 

 versity for the use of these rooms. 



Dr. Mason — We want these thanks extended to all of 

 them, including Messrs. Stilson, Whitcomb, Heath, etc. 



Vice-Pres. Whitcomb — Mr. Stilson and myself have done 

 nothing but come down here and live on the city of Lincoln. 



The next thing was a paper by Mr. N. E. France, of 

 Platteville, Wis., and read by Dr. Mason, on 



The Production of Extracted Honey. 



Much depends upon location, markets and management, 

 as well as kind of hives, bees, and supplies used. 



First of all, have a system to the business ; everything to 

 have a place, and when not in use will be found cleaned and 

 in its proper place. 



As soon as our harvest season Is over, we begin to make 

 everything possible ready for next season's harvest. It takes 

 less time and money to have all hives, frames, with either full 

 combs, or full sheets of foundation, packages for next crop, 

 tools, etc. — in fact, everything to be ready by spring. 



One of America's greatest business men was invited for a 

 speech to a University graduating class. Subject — " How to 

 be Successful." His speech consisted of these words : " Know 

 }lour business first, then ptifih it ; but never let it push you." 

 Fellow bee-keepers, that will apply to our industry as well. 



Large hives, strong colonies, plenty of good honey in 

 store, especially for winter, abundance of full combs in upper 

 stories, no swarming or laying out in working season, with 

 room for the queen and storage of honey, young laying queens 

 in early fall, and best of improved supplies to work with. 

 Add to these good location for honey and marketing with 

 favorable seasons, and paying harvests will be in return. 



We prefer out-door wintering in large chaff-packod hives, 

 as our colonies are better able to stand the spring weather, 

 and have an abundance of young bees by the first spring 

 bloom. As the most of our bees are in out-apiaries, 4 to 8 



