268 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



wintered splendidly ; last year our lioney- 

 dew was gathered in June and July, and 

 our bees have all died. The trouble was 

 neglect to prepare them as we should. 

 The fall boney-liovv was just enough to 

 keep the queens laying until late in the 

 fall, and the bees were in splendid con- 

 dition for winter, as far as young bees was 

 concerned, and the most of the colonies 

 had honey enough to winter them if it 

 bad been wiHiiii reach of the cluster. If 

 the winter had been ai\ open one, so the 

 bees could have moved from one part of 

 the hive to the oilier, after the honey, they 

 would have wintered all right ; or if the 

 honey that was in 10 frames had been in .5, 

 our bees would have beeu alive today. I 

 would like to have those who liave lost 

 bees tell if in any of the hives tliere was 

 honey where the dead bees were. It ap- 

 pears to me that the bees run out of 

 honey when it was too cold for them to 

 bring honey to the brood-nest, and 1 am 

 salislied that starvation has been the 

 cause of the loss of 100 colonies where 1 

 died from diarrhea. The following is a 

 description of my rever.sible-fiame device 

 which I intend to use during the comiug 

 season : Make an oblong wire ring 1}^ 

 inches one way and % of an inch the 

 other ; solder a wire in the centre on each 

 side of the ring. The wires must be half 

 the length of the end-bars, with a J^'-inch 

 square turn at the lower end to enter a 

 hole made in the end-bar edgewise, .so 

 that when the device is in place, the end- 

 bars will be between the wires. One-half 

 of the wire ring will answer for the bear- 

 ing, and the otiier half for a rest on the 

 top-bar, which, when reversed, will serve 

 as the bearing. 



Good Success iii Wintering.— A. L. 



Refsnider, Greene, 5 Iowa, on April 

 20, I88o, writes as follows : 



The loss of bees in this section is quite 

 heavy, but mine have wintered splendidly. 

 I had them on the sunnner stands in 

 double-walled hive,s, packed with chaflf 

 and covered with snow. I had 14 colonies 

 in the fall, and I now have 13 in good con- 

 dition. The one 1 lost starved. My neigh- 

 bor, Mr. Shirer, has not Inst any of his 

 bees. He had 9 colonies in the fall, and 

 they are in good condition now. He also 

 wintered them on the summer stands in 

 the Quinby hive packed with chaff. 

 Judging from reports from the southern 

 part of this State, and other States, I 

 think that we had remarkable success in 

 wintering our bees. 



Report, from E. France & Son, 

 riatteville. p Wis., on April 20, 188.5 : 



I.,ast fall we put into winter quarters 4.55 

 •colonies of bees in C apiaries. On Nov. 

 15. 1884, they had a good Hight, an<l on 

 March 9, 18.S.5, they had another (light, 

 with the mercury at 48' above zero. They 

 had no flight of any conseijuence between 

 those dates. Forty-six days of that time 

 the mercury was down to zero and below, 

 the coldest being 34' below zero. We be- 

 gan to examine them on March 9, finishing 

 on March 31, and we found 3.S8 colonies 

 alive. The second examination was fin- 

 ished on April 15, and we found 374 colo- 

 nies alive. The first pollen was brought 

 in to-day. We think that during the past 

 winter we learne<l something about win- 

 termg bees. We winter all of our bees out- 



AOOTS. 



Spriiif; Dwindling Feared.— L. Iligh- 

 barger, Adeline, 5 Ills., on April 17, 

 188.5, writes : 



Bees are faring very poorly on account 

 of the past hard winter, an<l they are hav- 

 ing a bad spring. If such weather con- 

 tiruies nnich longer, I apprehend that 

 there will be much "spring dwindling," 

 as bad wintering always causes it. 



All "Eden" for Bee-Keepers.— A. 



W. Osburn, of Cuba, on April 16, 

 1885, sends the following condolement 

 to Nortliern bee-keepers : 



When I read in the Bee Joiuxal of 

 the great losses of bees among my fellow 

 bee-keepers in the North, during'the past 

 winter, I feel like offering my heartfelt 

 sympathy, and wishing that some of them 

 would conclude to start anew in tliis 

 country, where there is no winter, and 

 plenty of honey during 8 months out of 

 the 13 ; and for those 4 remaining months, 

 all that is needed is a few pounds of 

 sealed honey in tUe hive, and the whole 

 year goes by with no hibernation or bee- 

 diarrhea. 



Using Uepnpulated Hives.— Mrs. M. 

 R. Brown, Morse,o+ Iowa, enquires as 

 follows as to the advisability of using 

 hives in which bees have winter- 

 killed : 



I wish to ask if it would be advisable to 

 hive bees in hives where bees have win- 

 ter-killed. The combs are nice and 

 bright, and some of the hives have a good 

 supply of honey in them. My husband 

 kept l)ees for six years, and always had 

 good success ; but he died last October, 

 and no attention was paid to the bees, so 

 they were left out-doors all winter. Out 

 of 16 good colonies there are but 5 left. 



[Hives in which bees have simply "win- 

 ter-killed" will be harmless. The bees 

 will soon clean them all up, and do it bet- 

 ter than you can. — Ed.] 



Evervthiug Promises Well.— W. S. 



Hart, (117—142), New Smyrna.o. Fla., 

 on April 13, 1885, writes as follows : 



I expect to be able to make a good re 

 port for this part of Florida, this season, 

 as we now have a large number of bees in 

 this immediate vicinity, and everything 

 promises well for a large crop of honey. 

 The bees commenced to swarm much 

 later than usual this spring, but they are 

 now coming out freely, and all are large 

 swarms. The orange bloom is now in its 

 prime, and is full a month later than two 

 years ago. The trees are blossoming very 

 full, and the bees are having a " high old 

 time " among them. 



Good Clover Prospect.— Dr. N. P. 



Allen, Smith's Grove, 9 Ky., on April 

 16, 1885, writes as follows : 



I have just examined my bees, and I 

 found them in good condition. I have lost 

 only 2 out of .50 colonies. Peach trees are 

 just blooming, and the clover prospect is 

 good for a fine harvest. From 1-3 to J^ of 

 the bees are dead in Southern Kentucky, 

 caused by a too free use of the extractor 

 and a failure in the fall harvest, leaving 

 many colonies without snflicient stores ; 

 and the bee-keepers failed to protect their 

 bees from the winter's blasts ; but with a 

 good honey season, we will be able to 

 harvest an average crop of honey. 



Bees Almost Extinct.— Peter IJilling, 

 Pawnee City,o, Xebr., on April 18, 

 1885, writes as follows : 



The saying, " Evils w-illcuretliemselves 

 when human skill seems to fail," has 

 verified itself again in our midst during 

 tlie past winter-. Bees were getting pretty 

 thick in this vicinity, but the past winter 

 has thinned them out. One of my neigh- 

 bors said that he expected to lose half of 

 his bees, but as he only saved 4 colonies 

 out of 40, he lost more than he antici- 

 pated. Out of 193 colonies, last fall, my- 

 self and eight other U' ighbnrs have lost 



175. It is also to be kept in view, that 

 those colonies still livmg are nothing 

 more than nuclei. A great many more 

 bee-keepers having from 3 colonies up- 

 wards, might be mentioned, which, as a 

 rule, lost all. The shortness of winter 

 stores, the severe winter, and the lack of 

 care, are, I think, the causes of loss. 



Convention Notices. 



|^~ The next annual meeting of the Key- 

 stone Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 in the Court House iu Scranton, Pa., at 10 a. 

 m. and 1.30 p. m. on May VI, 188.5. At the 

 morning- session, after the President's ad- 

 dress, which will include a report as delegate 

 to the Ilee-Keepers' Congress at the World's 

 Fair in Feb. last, the anmial election of offi- 

 cers will take place. While the Association 

 is but .iust commencing- Its third year, we 

 congratulate om-selves in having a working 

 membership of over 50; yet there remains 

 much to be accouiplishedi and we trust that 

 all who keep bees, whether for pleasure or 

 profit, will attend this meeting. 



Arthur A. Davis, Sec. 



t^~ The ninth Quarterly Session of the 

 Western Maine Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 will be held at the residence of Mr. Charles 

 Bonney, Mechanic Falls, Me., on May 5 and 

 6, 1885, The opening session will be on 

 Tuesday, May 5, at 1 p. m. Parties desiring 

 to display their goods and wares should send 

 them to the Secretary, at Mechanic Falls. 

 Me., who will place them on exhiliition and 

 care for them free of charge. This is the 

 most important meeting of the j'ear. All 

 are cordially invited to be jn-esent. 



F. D. Wellcome, Sec. 



f^" The Northern Ohio Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold their annual meeting in 

 the CoiHicil Chamber, at Norwalk, ()., on Sat- 

 urday. May 0, 1885. Sul).iects of immediate 

 practical value will be discussed. Officers 

 will be elected for the ensuing year. No one 

 engaged in the production of honey can af- 

 ford to be absent. H. K. Boabdman, Sec. 



^^ The Texas State Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held on Thurs<lay and Friday, 

 May 7 and 8, 1885. at the apiar.v of .ludge W. 

 H. Andrews, at McKinncy, Tex. All inter- 

 ested in the advanconu-nt of ajticulture, are 

 earnestly requesteii to In- present and make 

 this a memorable meeting ot the Association. 

 W. K. Howard, Sec. 



J^' The Progressive Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation of Western Illinois will meetinBush- 

 uell. 111., on Thursday, Jlay 7. 1885. Let 

 e\-ery bee-keeper who can. be present and 

 enjoy the meeting. J. G. Nobton, Sec. 



tS^ The Bee-Keepers of Western Michi- 

 gan will hold their spring meeting on Mayo, 

 1885, at Fremont, Mich. All are invited to 

 attend. F. S. Covey, Sec. 



I^~ The Willamette Valley Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its second meeting at 

 La Fayette, Oregon, on the third Tuesday iu 

 June, 1885. All who are interested are in- 

 vited to attend. E. J. Hadlf.v, Sec. 



J^~ The Central Illinois Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will meet at Jacksonville, 111., at 10 

 a. m., on Saturday, May "2, 1885. 



Wm. Camm, Sec. 



ZW~ The spring meeting of the Cortland 

 Union Bee-Keepers' Association will be held 

 in Cortland, N. Y., on May VI, 1,S85. 



W. H. Beach, Sec. 



f^~ The Mahoning Valley Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, will hold its next meeting at 

 Newton Falls, Ohio, on Thursday, May 28, 

 1885. E. W. Turner, Sec. 



E2^ The second annual meeting of the 

 Western N. Y. and 

 ers' Association 

 on Tuesday, May 5, 1885. 



\V. A. Shewm.vn, Sec. 



nd Nortlii-rn Pa. Bee-Keep- 

 will lie held at Cul)a, N. Y., 



