THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



107 



Local Convention Directory. 



Time and place of Afeetinp. 



Feb. 17.— Ohio State, at Columbus. Ohio. 



C. M. KtnKsbury, Bee, Mt. Vernon, O. 



Feb, IH.— B. Iowa and W. Ills., at Davenport, Iowa. 

 Wm. Goos, Sec, Davenport, Iowa. 



Feb. 18, 19.— Eastern New York, at Albany, N. V, 

 Solomon Vrooman, Pres., Seward. N. Y. 



Feb. 21.— Marshall County, at Marshalltown. Iowa. 

 J. W. Sanders. Sec-., LeGrand, Iowa. 



Feb. 24-i;6.— Internatlocal. at New Orleans, La. 



Feb. 24, 25.— Cedar Valley, at Cedar Falls, Iowa. 

 A, D. Bennett, Sec, Waterloo, Iowa. 



Mar. 11.— New Jersey and Eastern, atN. Y. City. 

 W. B. Treadwell. Sec, 16 Thomas St., New York. 



April 3.— N. E. Kansas, at Hiawatha, Kans. 



Li. C. Clark, Sec, Granada, Kans. 



Apr. 28.— DesMoines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau, Sec, Middleton, Iowa. 



May4.— Llnwood. Wis., at Rock Elm Centre, Wis. 

 B. Thomson, Sec, Waverly, Wis. 



May 7.— Progreasive, at Bushnell. Ills. 



J. tJ. Norton, Sec, Macomb, Ills. 



May 28.— N. Mich. Picnic, nenr McRride. Mich. 



F. A. Palmer, Sec. McBride. Mich. 



June 19.— Willamette Valley, at La Fayette. Oreg. 

 E. J, Hadley, Sec. 



Dec. S— 10.— Michigan State, at Detroit, Mich. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, <;iinton,Mich. 



tW Id order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Eu. 



size, and has no brood. My bees are 

 wintered in a cellar whose tempera- 

 ture 1 keep at 42 ' Fahr., never allow- 

 ing it to vary 2P from that point. The 

 cellar is well ventilated, and I also 

 ventilate tlie hives considerably, em- 

 ploying both upper and lower venti- 

 lation. 





Bees at Work on Maples. — M. T. 



Hewes, New Roads,+o La., writes 

 thus : 



My bees have come through the 

 winter in splendid condition, and are 

 now worliing on the gum and maple 

 trees. 



Bees are (Juiet.— Wm. Boiling, Dun- 

 kirk, P N. Y., on Feb. 6, 1885, says : 



From 5 p. m. yesterday until 6 

 a. m. this morning, the mercury fell 

 from 24° above zero to 4° below. My 

 bees are quiet and wintering splen- 

 didly so far. On Dec. 29, 1884, they 

 had a good fly, and since then they 

 have been housed up. They are 

 packed in chaff on the summer stands. 



The Number of Colonies.— D. L. 



Whitnev, (21—27), Eockton,5 IHs-, on 

 Feb. 6, 1885, says : 



I notice that nearly all who write for 

 the Bee Journal give, after their 

 names, their number of colonies in 

 the spring, and also the increase. I 

 would like to have another figure add- 

 ed after the bees have come out of 

 winter quarters in the spring ; for in- 

 stance, 72—9.5—87, thus indicating the 

 loss, if any, during winter. 



[Two numbers are enough. AVhen 

 the spring comes— the first will signify 

 the number last fall ; the second, the 

 number with which to begin spring 

 operations, thus omitting the former 

 spring count. — Ed.] 



But Little Honey Eateu.— 3— Chas. 



Sitts, (18—36), Brasie Corners, 5 N. 

 Y., on Feb. 7, 1885, writes thus : 



I weighed each hive in my apiary 

 on Sept. 19, 1884, and fed all colonies 

 up to the required weight. On plac- 

 ing them in the cellar on Nov. 14, 1 

 found that one hive weighed only 

 39M pounds, and as there could only 

 be 10 pounds of syrup in that hive, I 

 felt a little afraid that the food of that 

 colony would become exhausted be- 

 fore spring ; therefore, I weighed the 

 same hive again to-day, and find that 

 it weighs 38J4 pounds, the colony 

 having consumed only one pound of 

 sugar syrup during 2 months and 22 

 days of confinement. There were 

 about 200 dead bees on the bottom- 

 board. The colony is of medium 



The Bees Bringing in Polleu.7— Z. A 



Clark (41—85), Arkadelphia, p Ark., 

 on Feb. 6, 1885, says : 



My Italian bees are bringing in 

 pollen from alder, which grows along 

 the creeks. In 1884 I began with all 

 black bees excepting one colony of 

 Italians which was wintered during 

 the winter of 1883-84 in a small box 

 13x8x9 inches. It came through 

 strong in bees, and now nearly all my 

 bees are Italians and hybrids. They 

 had some symptoms of bee-diarrhea, 

 but none proved fatal. Here, our 

 honey crop is gathered from linden, 

 white aster, holly, rattan, cotton, 

 corn, persimmon, maple, elm, cotton- 

 wood, and a great many other varie- 

 ties of plants. 



The Weather.— John Morris, Maus- 

 ton,0 Wis., on Feb. 9, 1885, says : 



At this writing the snow is hurry- 

 ing down upon us from the north- 

 east, and how this weather will finally 

 end interests all of us. The weather 

 has been rather moderate for a week 

 past, yet we are looking for the next 

 cold blast. 



ing (two thicknesses) for the wick. 

 To operate with this candle, " hold 

 it in a horizontal position, so the 

 flame will melt off the wax, then let 

 this drip to wherever you want a 

 union between foundation or queen- 

 cell and the wood." I have tried 

 these candles and find that they work 

 quite well, although for rapid work— 

 for business— I shall stick to the old 

 method. 



Report, from Wm. Shier, Marlette, 



Mich., on Feb. 5, 1885 : 



My report for the season of 1884 is 

 anything but flattering. In the au- 

 tumn of 1883 I put into winter quar- 

 ters 100 colonies in apparently good 

 condition ; but when Jack Frost re- 

 linquished his grasp, and the spring 

 of 1884 finally opened, there were only 

 5 colonies remaining, and those were 

 in a very indifferent condition. How- 

 ever, during the summer they in- 

 creased to 20 colonies, including one 

 Italian nuclei which I purchased, and 



1 obtained .500 pounds of surplus comb 

 honey. My bees are now in appar- 

 ently good condition, 14 of the colo- 

 nies being in the Fisher chaff hive on 

 the summer stands, and 6 in the Hed- 

 don hive in the cellar. The winter, 

 so far, has been very cold. 



Fastening Foundation in Frames. — 



Friedemann Greiner, Naples,*o N. Y., 

 on Feb. 9, 1885, says: 



While there are several good ways 

 of fastening sheets of foundation in 

 frames, still it has occasionally oc- 

 curred to me that none of these would 

 "fill the bill." Quite frequently I 

 have wanted to fasten a single sheet 

 or part of a sheet, or a queen-cell, in a 

 frame without going to the trouble of 

 melting up wax, or even going to the 

 shop, and I have hit on different 

 plans ; but this process with the wax 

 candle, which we find recorded in 

 Gravenhorst's lllustrierte Bienen Zei- 

 tunrj for December, 1884, seems to just 

 fill the vacancy. Perhaps it will not 

 be necessary to tell how to make a 

 wax candle. Have it ly inches 

 thick, and use common candle wick- 



Report, from E. W. Powell, Man- 

 kato,9 Minn., on Jan. 22, 1885: 



My father and I have 130 colonies 

 in good condition in the cellar. We 

 use a hive about the size of the Lang- 

 stroth with the frames running cross- 

 wise. Our bees are Italian hybrids. 

 We commenced the season of 1884 

 with 76 colonies, increased by division 

 to our present number, and obtained 

 about 2,000 pounds of extracted and 

 1,000 pounds of comb honey in one- 

 pound sections, which is a good yield 

 for the past season in this locality. I 

 think that I have learned something 

 during the past season, and one thing 

 is, how to make bees build combs, as 

 I have nearly 2,000 one-pound sections 

 filled with nice, white comb for next 

 season's use. Next season I shall try 

 to learn how to get the bees to fill 

 them. 



Bees Bringing in Pollen.— B.F. Car- 

 roll, Dresden,,:^ Tex., on Feb. 7, 1885, 

 writes thus : 



I have been very busy sowing oats. 

 My bees are busy bringing in pollen, 

 and appear to be in a fair condition. 

 The weather is pleasant, with the 

 mercury at 65° Fahr. at noon to-day. 



Bees have Wintered Well.— W. A. 



Pryal, North Temescal,K5 Calif., on 

 Feb. 3, 1885, says : 



I do not know when bees did better 

 during winter than they have this 

 winter. All danger is past, and every- 

 thing is justa-booming. The year for 

 farmers and horticulturists bids to be 

 a good one, and it may also be said 

 with certainty that it will be So for 

 apiarists. I could name 100 flowers 

 which are now in bloom here, but the 

 eucalyptus is the favorite with the 

 bees. 



