THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



29 



end of tlie board. If the board is a little 

 too loiitr, trim it otT a little with a plane, 

 then take two nihher strips (I use the tops 

 of old rubber hoots) about an inch wide 

 and as long as the cleats, iiail one of these 

 with Ji-inch wire Tiails to each cleat, hav- 

 ing one edae of the rubber come against 

 the end of the hoard where the cleats were 

 set back. Now, to have the division- 

 board work the best the rubber must not 

 be bent over the end of the hoard, but cut 

 off just 3-16 of an inch beyond the cleats. 

 I do this by turning the board over and 

 placing a strip of wood 3-l(') of an inch 

 thick against the cleat, and then cut close 

 against that. The most of the division- 

 boards have spurs in the bottom, made by 

 driving two large brads nearly iu, and 

 then filing them to a point. Sly hives 

 carry a staiiding frame, and do not ueed 

 the rabbet in them, but I do not see why 

 they would not work just as well in 

 hanging-frame hives by adding the top- 

 bar of a frame. When this board is 

 placed in the hive, it has a square corner, 

 and not the crevice for propolis that some 

 division-boards have. By the edges of 

 the rubber giving as tliey do, it can be 

 moved either way without any trouble, 

 and all the time be perfectly tight. 



^" John Motl, Watertown,cx Wis., 

 on Jan. 9, 1885, gives his report as 

 follows : 



1 began the season of 1884 with 340 col- 

 onies, and increased them to 3.TO colonies 

 which are now in the cellar, and are win- 

 tering all right. They are piled up four 

 hives high. I geiuiraily put my bees into 

 the cellar during the latter part of Novem- 

 ber or early in December, whenever 1 

 think that the winter is fairly set in. I 

 pay no attention to the condition of the 

 cellar, whether it is wet or dry ; but I al- 

 ways keep it dark. 1 find ont at what de- 

 gree of temperature the bees are the most 

 quiet, and then endeavor to keep the 

 cellar at that temperature. Last winter I 

 lost none of those that I had in the cellar, 

 but I did lose a few weak colonies of those 

 which were wintered out-doors. My 

 honey crop for the season was between 

 7,000 and 8,000 pounds of comb honey in 

 sections, all of it having been gathered 

 from white clover and basswood. 1 have 

 sold 6,000 pounds. 



^" W.J. Davis, YoungsvilIe,x) Pa., 

 writes : 



The season of 1S84 has been the best for 

 honey and bees, in this locality, that we 

 have had in six years. As reported last 

 spring, I wintered 122 colonies without 

 loss, and afterward I sold 4.5 colonies, 

 which left me 77, one of which had a bar- 

 ren queen, and was wintered for the pur- 

 pose of testing a certain vexed question 

 (to be reported in the near future). Two 

 others were worthless by reason of age, 

 but counting the whole number, they 

 produced an average of 3.5 pounds of 

 comb honey per colony, and 1 increased 

 them to 301 colonies, which are now in 

 comfortable winter quarters in the very 

 best condition, heavy in natural stores of 

 the best quality, and I have 2.50 heavy 

 brood-combs as a reserve for spriug feed- 

 ing. When it is remembered that we 

 have no basswood to speak of, and but 

 little grazing is done in this locality, and 

 having sold a number of queens, 1 con- 

 sider the above a fair snowing. This 

 county (Warren) produces rivers of oil, 

 but not rivers of honey. In speaking of 

 oil, it may not be uninteresting to the 

 readers to say that in some parts of this 

 county immense iron tanks, each holding 

 20,000 or 30,000 barrels of criule oil, are 

 located as near each other as safety will 

 permit, and are filled through pipes direct 

 from the wells several miles distant. Such 

 tanks are occasionally struck by light- 



ning, thus affording a grand illumination 

 at night, and may be seen many miles 

 away. 



ler O. O. Poppleton (114—236), Wil- 

 liamstown,c$ Iowa, on Jan. .'>, 188.5, 

 writes : 



Much sickness in my family during the 

 past three months has cause<l me to neg- 

 lect many things that I ought to have 

 done, among others is the making of my 

 annual report. On Dec. 1, 1883, 1 bad 1.5'5 

 colonies in chaff' hives ; on April 1, 1884, 

 114 of them were alive, and 41 were dead. 

 Not one of the 41 dead colonies died of 

 bee-diarrhea, but from starvation, being 

 the first experience of that kind that 1 

 have ever liad. lean give no reason why 

 the first loss 1 have ever had from that 

 cause, should have been such a heavy 

 one, a- all my bees went into winter 

 (luarters in full average condition. Bees, 

 combs, and the interior of the hives were 

 all dry, bright and clean in appearance, 

 thus proving the theory to be erroneous, 

 that dead bees in a hive cause the damp- 

 ness so often found. The colonies that 

 were yet alive were nnusually dry, clean 

 and strong, and were all saved. The 114 

 colonies have produced 12,.500 pounds of 

 extracted hoiu-y, being an average of 

 atmut 110 pounds per colony, nearly all of 

 it being nice, white honey, and of excel- 

 lent quality. This is my smallest average 

 yield for five years : but 1 am well satis- 

 fled with it, considering the season, which 

 was not good. 1 have now 236 colonies in 

 winter quarters, 173 of them in chaff 

 hives as usual, and 64 of tlie weakest in 

 a special repository. On account of so 

 much sickness occurring just at the time 

 of arranging bees for their winter quar- 

 ters, they were not jirepared as well as 

 usual, and I expect to suffer more or less 

 loss, should the winter remain as severe 

 as it has been so far. 



Convention Notices. 



i^~ The Marshall County, Towa, Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will meet at the Court 

 House in Marshalltowu, Iowa, on Saturday, 

 Jan. 17, at 10::!0 a. ni. Subjects for discus- 

 sion: Spring- manaffement of an apiary aud 

 apiarian supplies. Essays: M. .4. .Jackson, 

 " Over Production," and F. H. Hunt, "Queen- 

 Reariug and How to Italianize an Apiary." 

 A general invitation is extended to bee- 

 keepers outside of our own county. All 

 who have anything- tliat will be of interest 

 to bee-keepers, will please bring it along. 

 J. W. Sanders, Sec. 



i^~ The Cortland Union Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold its next meeting at Cort- 

 land, N. Y., on Jan. 27, 1885. 



M. G. Darby, Sec. 



The Northeastern Michigan Bee- 



Keepers Association will hold its third 

 annual convention on Feb. 4, 1885, at Vas- 

 sar, Mich. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



^g" The regular annual meeting of 

 the Indiana State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will be held on Thursday 

 and Friday, Jan. 22 and 23, 1885. The 

 meetings will be conducted in the 

 rooms of the State Board of Agricul- 

 ture, on the corner of Tennessee and 

 Market Streets, in Indianapolis, Ind. 

 It is proposed to mal^e this the most 

 important and interesting meeting of 

 bee-keepers ever held in the State. 

 Frank L. Dougherty, Sec. 



■ ®" The Willamette Valley Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 second meeting at La Fayette, Ore- 

 gon, on the third Tuesday in June, 

 1885. All who are interested are in- 

 vited to attend. E.J. Hadley, «ec. 



®° The sixteenth annual conven- 

 tion of the Northeastern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will be held in tlie 

 City Ilall at Syracuse, N. V., on tlie 

 21,22 and 2,'5 of January, 1885. Tlie 

 executive committee are determined 

 to maintain the liigli standing and 

 enviable reputation wliich the Asso- 

 ciation has justly gained in the past, 

 and at the coming convention they 

 propose to outdo all former efforts. 

 The meeting will surely be the hirgest 

 and most interesting ever heltf in 

 America. No bee-keeper can afford 

 to stay at home. All are invited. All 

 implements of the apiary sent to the 

 Secretary, will be properly arrayed to 

 compare favorably with others on ex- 

 hibition, and will be disposed of or 

 returned, as the owner directs. Re- 

 duced rates for board at hotels. 



Geo. W. House, Sec. 



L. C. Root, Pres. 



^' It is proposed to hold an Inter- 

 national Bee-Keepers' Congress on 

 the World's Exposition Grounds at 

 New Orleans, La., Feb. 24, 25 and 26, 

 1885. An interesting programme of 

 subjects of great importance to every 

 bee-keeper m America will be pre- 

 sented and discussed. The disposi- 

 tion of our honey product, with a view 

 to secure better prices will be fully 

 considered. At tlie same time there 

 will be an Exhibit of Bees and Apia- 

 rian Supplies. At the time now 

 selected, the Exposition will be at its 

 best, and excursion rates low. The 

 bee-keepers of onr country should lay 

 aside business for a week or two, and 

 make every exertion to attend this 

 Convention. Come prepared with 

 facts, statistics and ideas arranged, to 

 take part in its deliberations. 



Dr. J. p. H. Brown, Augusta, Ga. 

 Dr. N. P. Allen, Smith's Grove, Ky. 

 W. Williamson, Lexington. Ky. 

 Dr. O. M. Blanton. Greenville, Miss. 

 P. L. Viallon, Bayou Goula, La. 

 Judge W. H. Andrews, McKinney, Tex. 

 W. S. Hart, New Smyrna, Florida. 

 S. C. Boylston, Charleston, S. C. 

 H. C. Austin, Austin's Springs, Tenn. 

 R. C. Taylor, Wilmington, N. C. 

 J. W. PBrter, Charlottesville, Va. 

 S. Valentine, Hagerstown, Md. 



1^ The eighth annual meeting of 

 the Northwestern Illinois and South- 

 western Wisconsin Bee- Keepers' As- 

 sociation will be held in Temperance 

 Hall, at Freeport, III., on Jan. 20 and 

 21, 1885. Jonathan Stewart, 6'cc. 



i^" The Mahoning Valley Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 next meeting in the Town Hall at 

 Newton Falls, O., on the third Thurs- 

 day in January, 1885. The meeting 

 will be instructive as well as interest- 

 ing. E. W. Turner, Sec. 



L. Caeson, Pns. 



I®" The Central Illinois Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will hold its next 

 annual meeting in Bloomington, 111., 

 on the second Wednesday in January, 

 1885, at 9 a. m. 



W. B. Lawrence, Sec. 



i®° The Blue Grass Convention will 

 be held at the Court House, Cynthiana, 

 Ky., on Monday, Jan. 19, 1885. All 

 are invited to attend. 



A. M. Cox, Sec. 



