THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



of the end-boards, 2 inches from each 

 side of the hive, for division-boards 

 for wintering. The entrance is a V- 

 shaped opening cut in the bottom- 

 board, and is opened and closed by 

 sliding tlie liive forward and bacli- 

 ward. 

 Watson, 9 Mich., Feb. 9, 1885. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Northeastern Michigan Convention. 



The Northeastern Michigan I5ee- 

 Keepers' Association held its third 

 annual convention on Feb. 4, 18S5, at 

 Vassar, Mich. 



DIFFERENT VAUIETIES OF BEES. 



C. E. Kulison : The Cyprians and 

 Syrians are good honey-gatherers, but 

 too irritable. The Syrians are inclined 

 to swarm, but this I have controlled 

 by spreading the brood and giving 

 plenty of surplus room. I object to 

 the Syrians, because they fill the cells 

 so full of honey and cap it so thinly 

 as to give the liioney a watery appear- 

 ance. For the production of extracted 

 honey I prefer Italians, but if nice, 

 white, straight comb is wanted in sec- 

 tions, then 'have black bees or a cross 

 between them and the Italians. 



ISI. D. York : For the production of 

 comb honey I prefer a cross between 

 the Italians and blacks ; if compelled 

 to use a pure race for this purpose, I 

 should choose the blacks. For ex- 

 tracted honey, I prefer Italians. 



C. E. Rulison and the Secretary 

 agreed with Mr. York. 



WINTERING BEES. 



C. E. Rulison : I have removed the 

 honey and pollen, late in the season, 

 by taking away the combs of honey, 

 and substituting dry, empty combs, 

 and then furnishing the bees with food 

 by laying soft candy over the combs 

 and covering it up so the bees could 

 cluster upon it. The bees wintered 

 well with no other food. Cut loaf- 

 sugar used in place of the soft candy 

 was a failure. I believe that sugar 

 syrup is the best winter food, but some 

 attention must be paid to ventilation. 



Byron Walker : I had bees die with 

 diarrhea in hives whose ventilation 

 was so good that the chaff covering 

 was perfectly dry ; and I have bought 

 bees in another locality, and the hives 

 were so little ventilated that the chaff 

 covering was wet and decayed. I 

 think that the cause of bee-diarrhea 

 is in the food. My losses are greatest 

 when the bees have late-gathered 

 stores. 



C. E. Rulison : I think that the 

 wintering question turns upon food 

 and ventilation. A colonv never per- 

 ishes unless the inside of the hive, 

 the combs and bees become damp. 



R. L. Taylor : I look upon dampness 

 as a symptom rather than a cause of 

 disease. 



W. Z. Hutchinson: If ventilation 

 is so important, I cannot imderstand 

 how the bees wintered so well when 

 Prof. Cook poured water over the 

 hives and allowed it to freeze; or 

 when buried in the earth, or in a tight- 

 plastered cellar where there was so 



little ventilation that the combs were 

 blue with mold. 



M. D. York : I do not think that 

 snow ever closes the hive suthciently 

 tight to smother bees. The warm air 

 issuing from the entrance often melts 

 the snow around it, thus forming a 

 miniature cave in the snow in front 

 of the hive. 



N. Van Patten : la it not pollen that 

 causes bee-diarrhea ? 



R. L. Taylor : At the Michigan State 

 convention. Dr. A. B. Mason said that 

 he had experimented until he knew 

 that pollen was the cause of bee-diar- 

 rhea. 



Byron Walker : I do not believe in 

 the pollen theory ; my losses are 

 caused by fall honey, and not by pol- 

 len. 



R. L. Taylor : Bee-diarrhea is caused 

 by the consumption of such food as 

 leaves a large amount of residue after 

 digestion, and it matters not whether 

 the pollen is eaten in " solid chunks " 

 or is floating in the honey. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY- BOARDS. 



C. E. Rulison : I have used wooden 

 queen-excluding honey-boards, simi- 

 lar to those used by Mr. Hutchinson, 

 and when placed over an old estab- 

 lished colony, the bees were slow in 

 beginning work above in the sections, 

 and I was obliged to remove the 

 honey-boards. When placed at the 

 sides of the brood-nest, the bees 

 passed through quite readily, as they 

 also did when placed over a brood- 

 nest when working for extracted 

 honey. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : In a colony in 

 which the brood-nest is established, 

 I have no use for a queen-excluding 

 honey-board when producing comb 

 honey ; but when working for ex- 

 tracted honey, or when honey-boxes 

 are placed over a newly hived swarm 

 having no combs in the brood-nest, I 

 want a queen-excluding honey-board. 



Byron Walker exhibited and ex- 

 plained his combined case and ship 

 ping crate ; he thought that the slats 

 in tlie bottom upon which the sections 

 rest, answered the purpose of a honey- 

 board. 



R. L. Taylor : My objection to this 

 arrangement would be that the brace- 

 combs attached to the bottom-bars of 

 the lirst case would come in contact 

 with the tops of the sections in the 

 second case added in "tiering up." 



M. D. York : Another objection to 

 sending honey to market in this case 

 in which it is stored, is that it cannot 

 be graded nor cleaned. 



Byron Walker : I have not been 

 troubled much with brace-combs in 

 my apiary, and, with a scraper I can 

 easily scrape off all pieces of comb 

 and propolis. 



REVERSIBLE FRAMES. 



Byron Walker : I have for 10 years 

 used the hanging frames and the 

 closed end frames. I prefer the latter, 

 and .they can easily be made reversi- 

 ble. My experience with reversible 

 frames has been limited but favora- 

 ble. 



C. E. Rulison : I have used them 

 quite extensively for 2 years, and am 

 decidedly in favor of them. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



In the spring of 1883, Mr. M. D. 

 York sowed VI lbs. of alsike clover 

 seed on .3 acres of land that had been 

 sowed to winter wheat in the pre- 

 ceding autumn ; two-thirds of the 

 ground was a low, sandy loam, but 

 underdrained ; the remainder, a heavy 

 clay. In the fall the uplan i was well 

 fertilized. Knowing that if once the 

 seed-stalks were allowed to form, no 

 more would be formed if those were 

 removed, and wishing to retard the 

 bloom until after basswood, on May 

 1, LS81, he turned o cows and 3 hogs 

 into the clover ; on May 24, 2 horses 

 were turned into the iield ; on June 

 10, 40 sheep were added, and on June 

 lo all of the stock was taken from the 

 field. On July 8 the clover was about 

 4 inches high when it commenced to 

 bloom ; on July 15, at a distance of 40 

 rods, it looked like a field of snow, 

 and the aroma could be easily de- 

 tected tliat distance. Bees began to 

 work on it with the first blossoms, 

 and continued until about Aug. 1, 

 and during 2 weeks of the time the 

 field was roaring with bees, twenty 

 colonies stored 400 lbs. of surplus 

 comb honey, in sections, from the 

 alsike. By the last of Aug. the al- 

 sike was about 1 foot high, and was 

 cut for seed. In curing it was treated 

 similar to hay. It yielded seed at the 

 rate of 3 bushels per acre. When the 

 stock was turned out of the alsike 

 they w^ere turned into a field of red 

 clover, and in 3 days the 5 cows had 

 " shrunk their milk " 9 quarts to the 

 milking. Again in Oct. there was 

 quite a growth of leaves upon the 

 ground, and the cows were turned in, 

 when he was agreeably surprised to 

 see, within a week, a gain of milk at 

 the rate of 10 quarts to the milking. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : I cut 10 acres of 

 alsike just as it was coming into 

 bloom, and it did not start again, but 

 the weather was very dry. 



C. E. Rulison : I once visited a bee- 

 keeper and my horses were given 

 their choice between alsike chaff and 

 good timothy hay, and they chose the 

 former. 



jSl. D. York : My stock prefer the 

 chatf to other fodder. 



G. A. French : I had % acre of al- 

 sike, in which some calves were 

 allowed to run, and I cut some of it 

 each day to feed the horses, and it 

 continued to blossom, even where cut, 

 until about July I. 



M. D. York : All of the seed-stalks 

 are not of the same age, and if the 

 first ones are cut off before the younger 

 ones are up large enough to be cut 

 off, the latter will, of course, make a 

 good growth. 



CLIPPING THE queen's WING. 



C. E. Rulison : I am opposed to 

 the practice. I lose queens by their 

 getting into the grass. With a foun- 

 tain pump there is little danger of 

 losing bees. 



M. D. York : I had rather lose a 

 queen occasionally, than to lose bees 

 and queen too. 



C. E. Rulison : I am not so sure of 

 that. When bees are thwarted in 

 their swarming impulse, they become 

 sulky and store bat little honey, and 



