172 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



April 1, and tlie combs were so moldy 

 that they looked like old soap-grease. 

 All but two had inc-reased their num- 

 bers some oU per cent., many com- 

 menced to rear brood in February, 

 and there was not an apiary for miles 

 around that produced either as much 

 comb honey or as many swarms dur- 

 ing the past season. 



Deliglited Bees.— 7— Z. A. Clark. (41 

 —8.3), Arkadelphia. ? Ark., on Feb 

 28, 1S8.5, says : 



We have had all kinds of weather 

 during this month ; on Monday (Feb. 

 i:!) we had a sleet that froze on the 

 trees, thus causing great destruction 

 of tmiber. But Thursday (Feb. 26 

 opened up warm, and my bees began 

 to bring in pollen from maple and elm 

 and they seemed to be almost wild" 

 I have one colony of Syrio-Italians 

 that are very amiable, and fine honey 

 gatherers. They can be handled with- 

 out smoke, and appear as quiet as if 

 tlie hive had not been opened. I am 

 feeding a little now to stimulate my 

 bees. I v.ill soon start queen-rearing. 



Losing: all their Bees.— Mrs. S. C. 

 lyler, Utica,5 Mo., on March 7, 188.5, 

 writes thus ; 



Bees have wintered poorly in this 

 section, some bee-keepers losing all 

 1 lost 1 colony out of 4, and another 

 has dwindled badly. Tliey were all 

 left on the summer stands protected 

 with chaff ; 2 seem to be very strong 

 and have had several flights, but they 

 had the diarrhea badly, I think for 

 the alighting-boards, snow, etc., were 

 badly spotted. 



Bees Wintering Poorly.— A sub- 

 scriber from Bowerston,cH Ohio, on 

 March 9, 1885, writes thus : 



Bees in this section are wintering 

 poorly, especially the blacks; the 

 Italians faring far the best, notice- 

 ably those in chaff hives or otherwise 

 well protected. The causes seem to 

 be the lack of stores and the poor 

 quality of the same, coupled with long 

 conHnement and insufficient protec- 

 tion. 



Shipping-Cases for Honey.— F. Wil- 

 cox. (11.5— l(j.-,), .Mauston,0 Wis., says: 



That combined section-rack and 

 shipping- case spoken of by Dr. W. G 

 Fhelps, on page 120, has all the ad- 

 vantages which its enthusiastic 

 friends claim, but there are also no 

 less than 3 valid objections to it, viz • 

 1. Ihe honey cannot be graded. 2 

 1 he sections cannot be scraped clean 

 ;i. One cannot know just what kind 

 of honey he is selling. Imagine your- 

 self sending a sample case to some 

 groceryman whose trade you desire 

 to supjily. You select a good looking 

 combined rack and shipping-crate, the 

 groc.Tymaii opens it and hnds in the 

 middle a section in which brood has 

 been hatched, and some sections con- 

 taining bee-bread, which you did not 

 even suspect. He will think that 

 "this is a sample crate ;" and proba- 

 bly he will not want much more. I 

 have used these racks for 6 years on 

 from 1.5 to 40 hives, and I know some- 

 thing about them. I wish to .suggest 

 a slight modification <if the Ileddon 

 case which makes it better for me 

 and I think that it will improve it for 

 otheis. Put a strip of glass 2}i inches 

 wide in one side, and cover the glass 

 with a thin sliding board lyiii"- dose 

 against the glass. The edges of the 

 strips which hold the glass, and the 

 slide being slightly beveled to hold 

 the s ide in place. This slide darkens 

 the glass, and a cap may be dispensed 

 with dining Ihe honey harvest 



Diarrhea with no Pollen or Brood.— 



Mrs. W. II. Smith, Mount Salem, Out., 

 on March 9, 188-5, writes as follows : 



OnKov. 1, 18,S4, 1 obtained 2 colo- 

 nies of bees from a neighbor who in- 

 tended killing them for their honey. 

 I placed them in hives with frames 

 already tilled with comb, and fed them 

 with syrup made of granulated sugar. 

 In a short time they had the combs 

 hlled, and the greater portion capped, 

 and in the last week of the same 

 month I placed them in the bee-house 

 whose walls are made of concrete 

 from the bottom (which is under- 

 ground about 3 feet) to the height of 

 4 feet, and from this upward is a 

 frame boarded inside and out, the 

 hollow space being filled with con- 

 crete. This morning I examined 

 them and found that they had all 

 died from diarrhea with neither pol- 

 len nor brood. The balance of my 

 bees appear to be all right. 



edge of a hive cover being very good 

 tor this purpose. 



Bees Appear All Right.— W. B. 



Stephens, Stephens' Mills, ? N. Y., on 

 Feb. 21, 188-5, writes: 



I have 126 colonies of bees in the 

 cellar which appear to be all right at 

 present. I shall try reversible frames, 

 next season, and see whether it pavs 

 to use them. " 



Feeding Bees in Winter, etc.— J. C. 



Bale, Hamilton, Out., on March 9 

 1885, writes : 



My plan of feeding hungry bees in 

 midwinter is as follows: Make a 

 candy on A. I. Root's plan, viz : Melt 

 sugar in suflicient water, boil till 

 clear, remove from the stove and stir 

 till it becomes cloudy and begins to 

 stiffen. Then pour this into a shal- 

 low tray made of a common frame 

 boarded up tight on one side. When 

 the candy is hard enough, turn the 

 frame upside down over the cluster 

 (lirst warming the candy a little, if 

 cold), tuck the blanket snugly over 

 all, and they will need nothing more 

 for some time. This economizes 

 space, causes little disturbance, and 

 could not be handier for the bees. In 

 1883-84 I made my candy of very light 

 brown sugar, and no harm resulted. 

 If I knew liow to make the " Good 

 candy," I might prefer that. As to 

 fastening foundation in broodTframes: 

 I find that a rapid, clean, and neat 

 method is to take a smooth-faced, iron 

 tool, like a shoemaker's heel-polisher 

 —without a flange— dip it into tepid 

 water and press the foundation 

 tightly to the frame in half a dozen 

 places, and it will stick well. The 

 top-bars or comb-guides should rest 

 .solidly on a proi)er sized board. Ihe 



W Dr. C. C. Miller, president of 

 the Northwestern Bee- Keepers' So- 

 ciety, writes as follows : 



The question has been asked 

 whether it will be legal for the North- 

 western Bee-Keepers' Society to omit 

 Its next meeting, or to meet with the 

 National at Detroit next fall ? If at 

 the meeting last fall, a sufficient num- 

 ber had voted in favor of such change, 

 1 think that it would have been right 

 to have made the change, and it 

 seems to me that if the same number 

 should now vote in that direction the 

 effect should be the same. If I am 

 wrong in the matter, I shall be glad to 

 be set right. For myself I only wish 

 to know what is the mind of the mem- 

 bers. If such motion had been made 

 at the last meeting, there would prob- 

 ably have been reasons given pro or 

 con, and it would be entirely proper 

 for any one to give his reasons for his 

 preference, in print, now. 



Convention Notices. 



^^The next meeting of the Union 

 JJee-Keepers' Association of Western 

 Iowa, will be held on April 2-5, 1885 

 at Earlham, Iowa. 



M. E. Darby, Sec. 



i^" The semi-annual meeting of 

 the Northeastern Kentucky Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will meet at 

 Odd Fellows' Hall in Walton, Ky., on 

 April 1, 1885, at 10 ti. m. A free dinner 

 will be given by the bee-keepers of 

 the neighborhood. G. W. Cree Sec 



^° The Frogressive Bee-Keepers' 

 Association of Western Illinois will 

 meet in Bushnell, Ills., on Thursday, 

 May 7, 1885. Let every bee-keeper 

 who can, be present and enjoy the 

 meeting. J. G. Norton, Sec. 



1^ The Tuscarawas County Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will meet at 

 New Philadelphia, O., on Thursday, 

 March 26, 1885. A cordial invitation 

 is extended to all. 



(iEO. F. Williams, Sec. 



m- The Willamette Valley Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 second meeting at La Fayette, Ore- 

 gon, on the third Tuesday in June 

 188.5. All who are interested are in- 

 vited to attend. 



E. J. Hadley, Sec. 



W The Sixth semi-annual meeting 

 of the Western Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held in Unity Chapel, at 

 St. Joseph, Mo., on Felix St., between 

 7th and 8th streets, on Thursday and 

 Friday, April 9 and 10, 1885, com- 

 mencing at 10 a. m. on April 9. All 

 interested in bee-culture are invited ' 

 to attend and make tlie meeting as 

 interesting as possible. A full pro- 

 gramme will be prepared and a gen- 

 eral good time may be expected. 



C. M. ('RANDALL. Sec. 



