THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



ror tlie Amerloan Bee Journal 



Northeastern Kentucky Convention. 



Met in Wiilton, Ky., on April 1, 1885. The 

 Secri'tiiry ln'iiig: absent, Mr. .loliii T. Connly 

 was iipiHiiiiteil .Secretary pro tern. The min- 

 utes of the previous meeting: ami also the 

 Treasurer's report were read and appro\'ed. 

 As the election of oiJicers was in order, the 

 President and .Secretary were re-elected un- 

 til the semi-annual meeting- on Sept. ;2.'! and 

 24, 188.J. 



The Rev. L. .loliiisim, T'rcsideiit ot Uic Ken- 

 tucky State Hei'-lvcepcrs' Sneiely. reported 

 that the average his.-i lor llii' nortliern part 

 of the State during the past winter, is not 

 less than 30 per cent. Yet the outlook for 

 bee-keeping is not discouraging, as all are 

 looking forward for a season of at least 

 average prosperity. Many questions of im- 

 portance to bee-keepers were asked and an- 

 swered. 



All who were present were highly pleased 

 with a nice e.xhibit of choice comb and e.v- 

 tracted honey, being the product of Rev. L. 

 Johnson's tine apiary. He also had on e.vhi- 

 bition some colonies in observatory hives, 

 showing his choice Italians and Syrio-Albino 

 strains of bees, which were handsome 

 enough to animate any bee-keeper or any ad- 

 mirer of the beautiful. 



Mr. J. T. Connly read an essay on " How 

 to Prepare and Winter Bees on the Summer 

 Stands," and the Association unanimously 

 requested him to prepare the same for pub- 

 lication. 



Rev. L. Johnson read a very instructive 

 essay on " The Possibilities of Bee-Keeping 

 in Kentucky." 



President'McVean made many good,. prac- 

 tical suggestions, and every member of the 

 Association, as well as the visitors, expressed 

 themselves as having been benefitted by the 

 meeting. 



The Convention donated to the Odd Fel- 

 lows' Lodge $2.00 for the use of their Hall, 

 which they had kindly offered to the bee- 

 keepers. The Convention then unanimouslj' 

 voted to adjourn to meet with the Kentucky 

 State Bee-Keepers' Society in Covington, 

 Ky., on Sept. 2:i and 24, 1883. 



J. T. Connly, Sec. pro tem. 



P. MC'Vkan, Pres. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1885. Timeandptaceof MeeUn^, 



Apr. IS.— Marahalltown, at Marshalltown, Iowa 

 J. W*. Sanders, Sec, Marshalltown, Iowa. 



Apr. 18.— Eastern Indiana, at Richmond. Ind. 



M. G. Reynolds, Sec, Williamsburg, Ind. 



Apr. l.'3.— Union Ky.. at Eminence, Ky. 



G. W. Uemaree, Sec, ChristiansburK, Ky. 



Apr. 23, 24.— Western, at Independence, Mo. 



C. M. Crandall, Sec, Independence, Mo. 



April 24.— Portage County, at Ravenna, O. 



L. a. Reed, Sec, Kent, O. 



Apr. 25.— Union, at Earlham, Iowa. 



M. E. Darby, Sec. Dexter, Iowa. 



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

 Jno. Nau, Sec, Middleton, Iowa. 



May 2.— Central Illinois, at Jacksonville, 111. 



Wm. Camm, Sec, MurrayvUle, III. 



May 5.- W. New York and N. Pa., at Cuba, N. Y. 

 W. A. Showman. Sec, Randolph, N. Y. 



May 4.-Llnwood, Wis., at Rock Elm Centre, Wis. 

 B. Thomson, Sec. "Wttverly. Wis. 



May 7.— Progressive, at Bushnell, Ills. 



J. G. Norton, Sec. Macomb, Ills. 



May, 7, 8.— Texas State, at McKinney, Tex. 



W. R. Howard, Sec, Kingston, Tex. 



May 12.— Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. Y. 



W. H. Beach Sec, Cortland, N. Y. 



May I9.-N. W. Ills., and S. W. Wis., at Davis, Ills. 

 Jonathan Stewart, Sec, Rock City, 111. 



May 28.— Mahoning Valley, at Newton Falls, O. 

 E. W. Turner, Sec, Newton Falls, O. 



May 28.— N. Mich. Picnic, near McBrlde. Mich. 



F. A. Palmer, Sec. McBrlde, Mich. 



May 29.— Haldimand, Ont.. at Nelles' Corners, Ont. 

 B. C. Campbell, Sec. 



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

 E. J, Hadley, Sec. 



Deo. 8— 10.— Michigan State, at Detroit, Mich. 



U. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



Destroying Ants in the Apiary.— M. 



11. Berry, Dover South Mills,OMaine, 

 gives the following remedy ; 



For 28 years I have used gum camphor, 

 aiul it never failed to drive them away. 

 Put it in tlie liive or on the edges of the 

 bottom-hoard, and it can he used in the 

 honey-liouse as well. I would like to 

 have bee-keepers try it and report through 

 the Bee Journal. 



Report, from A. Crosby, Kennedy, ? 

 N. Y., on April 6, 1885 : 



My bees are coming out much better 

 than I expected, as the late pleasant days 

 have given me an opportunity to examine 

 them, and to find out the true state of af- 

 fairs. Heavy losses are reported in this 

 section. 



Storing Empty Combs, etc.— W. S. 

 Pierson, Eureka,© Mich., on April 6, 

 1885, writes thus: 



Last fall I had 64 colonies of hees, some 

 in double- walled hives, and some in boxes 

 packed in chaff on the summer stands, and 

 50 of them have starved with from 10 to 2.5 

 pounds of honey in each hive. 1. Can I 

 extract the honey, boil it, and thus make 

 it fit for table use ? 3. How can I keep 

 my empty combs through the coming sum- 

 mer, as I wish to work ray bees for in- 

 crease only ? 3. What is the best method 

 of getting increase ? 



- [1. The honey was not injured because 

 the bees starved without being able to 

 reach it. It is j ust as good for table or 

 any other use, as it ever was. 



3. Keep the combs in a tight box, and 

 fumigate with sulphur to kill the moths, 

 if they have been exposed. 



3. On page 148 you will learn how to get 

 increase judiciously.— Ed.] 



Report, from E. C. Crane, Elills- 

 boro,o, Iowa, on April 6, 1885 : 



I put into winter quarters 37 colonies in 

 apparently good condition, and took out 33 

 which seem to be all right now, and are 

 carrying in pollen. On April 5, I put saw- 

 dust in the cellar for winter packing. I 

 think that the cellar is the best place to 

 winter bees. The bees in this locality are 

 all dead, a great many of them having 

 frozen. I use the Quinby improved hive^ 



Report, from R. A. Calvin, Hart- 

 ford, 9 Mich., on April 4, 1885 : 



Last fall I packed 88 colonies as de- 

 scribed on page 644 of the Bep; Journal 

 for 1883, and so far I have lost .3.5 colonies. 

 Only 8 or 10 showed any siyns of diar- 

 rhea. A number of them starved, and 

 others dwindled with plenty of honey. 



Report, from Ira Barber, DeKalb 

 Junction, 5 N. Y., on April 2, 1885 : 



I removed all my bees home last fall, 

 and I have them now in the old cellar that 

 I commenced wintering bees in nearly a 

 quarter of a century ago. Although the 

 cellar-is cool, to all appearances the bees 

 are in fine condition. I have tested the 

 cellar at three different times during the 

 past winter, and the temperature has 

 varied but three degrees. The first was 

 on Dec. 20, 1884, when the thermometer 

 indicated 17° above zero outside, and 47" 



in the cellar ; on Jan. 30, 13^ below zero 

 outside, and 4.5° above in the cellar; and 

 on March 30, 45° above zero outside, and 

 48° above in the cellar. I cannot account 

 for the slight difference in the last test, 

 unless it was caused by the extreme cold 

 weather for two weeks previous. I took 

 220 colonies out of winter quarters la.it 

 spring, sold 18, commenced the honey 

 season with 31X), increased them to 212 

 colonies, obtained 8,000 pounds of comb 

 honey, sold 13 colonies last fall, and placed 

 the remaining 300 colonies in the cellar on 

 Nov. 20, 1884, although 5 of them were 

 badly broken in moving. When the bees 

 are out ot the cellar 1 will try to report the 

 difference in wintering with very high and 

 with medium temperature. I have made 

 no examination as to the amount of honey 

 the bees are consuming, but I am quite 

 certain that they have used less tlian if 

 wintered in an extremely high tempera- 

 ture. \V^e have plenty of snow in this 

 section yet. There are drifts 4 feet deep 

 in my bee-yard now. 



Report, from Wm, Morhous, Dear- 

 born, ex Mich., on April 2, 1885 : 



I have secured reports from ten of my 

 neighbors, and 1 find that out of 333 colo- 

 nies, which, last fall, they and myself pre- 

 pared for winter, we have only \'2}4 colo- 

 nies left. I do not know of a live colony 

 of bees within 5 miles of here, excepting 

 one man who, 1 hear, had 15 colonies hur- 

 ried under a snow-drift, and lost only one, 

 and that was by starvation. 



Report, from Wm. Anderson, Sher- 

 man, o Mo., on March 31, 1885 : 



1 have wintered 19 colonies out of 30. 

 Seven colonies froze to death with at least 

 20 pounds of pure buckwheat honey in 

 the hives, and 4 starved ; the remaining 

 colonies are in good condition, except that 

 they are robbing some. 1 have been try- 

 ing to stop it, but with poor success. The 

 weather is pleasant now. 



Report, from S. D. McLean, Colum- 

 bia,© Tenn., on April 2, 1885 : 



Owing to the drouth of last autumn, 

 bees gathered no lioney from fall blooms, 

 and consequently entered winter in poor 

 condition. The result has been, that 

 those, all over the country, who failed to 

 feed liberally, have lost many bees. The 

 severity of the weather doubtless in- 

 creased the mortality, for the winter has 

 been long and cold. There is not a bloom 

 from peach or plum, or any other fruit 

 trees yet— a thing most remarkable for 

 this latitude. But the dreary winter is 

 over, and genial spring has come to open 

 nature's store-house and bid the bees, 

 with all living, to accept the bounty freely 

 offered. This is an encouraging thought 

 to the apiarist. 



Report, from S. Shoup, Coloma, p 

 Mich., on April 1,1885: 



The past winter has been a terrible one 

 on bees, through this section of this State. 

 As near as I can learn, 3-5 of all the bees 

 are dead. 



Honey-Dew for Winter Stores.— H. 

 R. Boardman, East Townsend,5 O., 

 reports as follows : 



I finished putting out my bees on April 

 1, in fine condition. They were put in 

 from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20, there being in all 

 400 colonies in three localities, whicli were 

 placed in two bee-houses and one cellar 

 under a dwelling house. 1 feel quite 

 elated at not having forfeited my reputa- 

 tion for wintering successfully, during 

 tills disastrous winter. The winter losses 

 will be very severe throughout this part 



