312 



THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



The evening session was occupied 

 with a general discussion of topics 

 important to bee-keepers. 



Tlie second and last day's session 

 was the most interesting ever held 

 by the Association. There were pres- 

 ent several prominent bee-keepers 

 from abroad. The usual routine of 

 business of the convention was taken 

 up first and disposed of ; then the 

 question, " How sliall we prepare our 

 bees for winter," was taken up, Mr. 

 L. W. Baldwin gave his 20 years' ex- 

 perience in favor of good cellars for 

 wintering. Mr. E. M. Ilayhurst gave 

 his experience in favor of chaff pack- 

 ing and out-door wintering. Mr. Jas. 

 II. Jones was also in favor of chaff 

 packing and wintering on the summer 

 stands. He had wintered his bees 

 very successfully during the past win- 

 ter, both in the cellar and on the sum- 

 mer stands well packed in chaff. Mr. 

 Jas. A. Nelson favored a good, dry 

 cellar, but had wintered bees on the 

 summer stands for 6 years without 

 loss. 



The question was asked, " What 

 sliall we do with the empty combs V" 

 In answer. Mr. Ilayhurst advised 

 storing them in closets made espec- 

 ially for that purpose, and thoroughly 

 fumigating them with sulphur. In 

 regard to fall feeding, Mr.' Ilayhurst 

 thought the best way was to feed the 

 strong colonies, and let them do the 

 storing, and after the food is sealed 

 in the combs, remove them to the 

 colonies in need of food. 



A resolution was entertained as to 

 the presence of pollen in the hives, 

 which resulted in a full expression 

 that pollen is not detrimental to the 

 successful wintering of a colony of 

 bees in a normal condition. Mr. Bald- 

 win asked the question, " What is the 

 liest and clieapest means of shading 

 hives artilicially, and is it neces- 

 sary V" 



Iheconvention thought that shading 

 was necessary. Many suggestions 

 were made, and the matter was left 

 to the choice and convenience of the 

 bee-keepers. At 12 m, the conven- 

 tion adjourned for refreshments, after 

 wliioh to meet at the apiary of Mr. L. 

 W. B^ldwin. 



jriL cue afternoon session, after re- 

 viewing Mr. J}aldwin's apiary and 

 learning several practical lessons, the 

 convention discussed the subject of 

 the healthfulnessof bee-keeping, with 

 the final conclusion that it was a really 

 healthful occupation. 



It was decided that the Secretary 

 be requested to continue to prosecute 

 the duties assigned him as a Vice- 

 President of the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society, and if needs be, call any 

 to his assistance as seems best in his 

 judgment, and that the Association 

 re-imburseliim in any outlay of money 

 in the accomplishment of "the duties 

 of conferring with the various trans- 

 portation lines in securing an equita- 

 ble scheduling of the products and 

 material of the apiary. Tlie conven- 

 tion then adjourned till the annual 

 meeting, six months hence, to be 

 held at a place and time to be deter- 

 mined by the executive committee. 

 ('. M. Ckandall, {Sec. 



1. A. ]5ald\vin, Pres. 



Read at the Bee-Keepers' Congress. 



Honey Production of Virginia. 



J. W. POETER. 



The flora of our State is abundant 

 and greatly varied ; being well wa- 

 tered in every part, with two great 

 mountain ranges largely covered with 

 timber, its sylvan character is equally 

 varied. All the varieties of trees 

 common to the great Middle States 

 are found within her borders, and 

 very abundant in many sections are 

 many of the honey-producing varie- 

 ties, such as the tulip, the yellow, 

 white and honey locust ; and the 

 chestnut, the willow, and the alder. 

 The maple and linden do not abound 

 as they do farther north, but they are 

 quite plentiful in some sections. The 

 orchards, meadows and pastures all 

 over our State supplement the large 

 ranges of the forest, and afford 

 sources of production which are as 

 yet very little utilized. Many varie- 

 ties of the goldenrod, the asters, and 

 above all the blue thistle— which is 

 very abundant in sections, and af- 

 fords a nectar of rare excellence— the 

 nettle, the Spanish-needle, and catnip, 

 with many other honey-producing 

 plants, are common. In natural re- 

 sources for honey-production, I doubt 

 if there is any State in the Union 

 which surpasses Virginia. 



How are the natural resources im- 

 proved y Everywhere in the State 

 one may find men familiar witli hunt- 

 ing bee-trees, and in every neighbor- 

 hood the log " gum " or the box- 

 hive. Here and there we will find a 

 progressive bee-keeper who is trying 

 to keep up with the times, but the 

 great body of those who keep bees are 

 content to plod along as their fore- 

 fathers did. Their productions are 

 not seen in the great markets, and 

 very rarely anywhere outside of the 

 farm house. 



The writer's own production of 

 honey— 6,000 pounds in 1884— largely 

 exceeds that of any bee-keeper known 

 to him in Virginia. He believes he 

 could treble it were he able to give 

 apiculture his undivided attention. 

 From a somewliat extensive acquaint- 

 ance with the markets, I judge that 

 very little more honey is exported 

 from the State than is imported ; cer- 

 tainly not more than 10,000 pounds. 



Charlottesville,© Va. 



For the Auiericun Bee Journal. 



Central Illinois Convention. 



The Central Illinois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at Jacksonville, Ills., 

 on May 2, 188r,. At 1 j). m. Vice- 

 President l$owen called the meeting 

 to order, and after the minutes of 

 the last special meeting had been 

 read, the topic of wintering bees was 

 taken up. 



Mr, A. Reid reported a loss of 2 col- 

 onies out of 7, caused by stores giving 

 out in the combs upon which the 

 bees were clustered, while too cold 

 for them to move to full frames. 



Mr. J. M. Ilambaugh, of Ver.sailles, 

 uses the Langstroth hive, and pre- 

 pared his bees for winter by placing 



them in a temporary house made of 

 fodder ; but out of 60 colonies he lost 

 20. He put them out twice during 

 the winter, the last time being in 

 February. He was of the opinion 

 that honey-dew and unsealed honey 

 is bad winter food, and was the cause 

 of much loss. 



Mr. J. R. Lieb, of Scott county, 

 wintered 100 colonies in common 

 hives on the summer stands, and lost 

 oO. A neighbor with 40 colonies in 

 common hives lost 13 ; another with 

 50 in Common-Sense hives, lost none. 



Mr. Thos. Kershaw, of Concord, has 

 9 colonies left out of 17. They starved 

 for want of honey. 



Mr. Middleton, though the high 

 winds were well broken from his 

 hives, lost all but 8 colonies out of 30. 

 He uses Langstroth hives with only 

 eight frames, and thinks it too small 

 capacity for both the brood and the 

 winter stores. 



Wm. Camm reported a loss of 5.5 

 colonies out of 113. Colonies in hives 

 that were sheltered wintered better 

 than those that were exposed. A 

 cross between Cyprian and Italian he 

 thought the hardiest race. He pre- 

 ferred that the sun should shine 

 upon his hives in winter. He left his 

 hives on the summer stands, merely 

 placing quilts over the brood-cham- 

 bers. He thinks that we will have to 

 make warmer hives and use more 

 shelter in this climate. 



Vice-President Bowen lost 7 out of 

 11 colonies in modified Langstroth 

 hives. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, lost 

 125 colonies out of 425. Out of 40 put 

 into the cellar, only 6 were lost. He 

 lost the most in hives with shallow 

 Langstroth frames ; the least in deep 

 Quinby frames. He thought instinct 

 misguided bees when it prompted them 

 to carry in the juices of fruits for 

 winter food. 



Mr. Camm, though admitting the 

 bee to be a domesticated insect that 

 needed the intelligence of man to 

 complement its instinct, preferred to 

 trust his bees with regard to their 

 own food, as he had known them to 

 do well in exceptionally hard winters 

 with stores that bee-keepers almost 

 universally condemned. 



Mr. Dadant allowed the bees to re- 

 move all dead bees from the combs ; 

 but Mr. Camm said that he carefully 

 removed them himself, as the queen 

 refused to lay in combs with dead 

 bees in them, and the cells had often 

 to be cut down to the septums in or- 

 der to get the dead out. 



On the question of relative profit 

 between comb and extracted honey, 

 Messrs. Ilambaugh and Dadant 

 thought that extracted honey was the 

 most profitable, as so much more 

 could be obtained, especially by Mr. 

 D's plan of " tiering-up " the same as 

 for comb honey, and saving time and 

 labor by extracting all at once in the 

 fall. 



Mr. Camm would rather produce ex- 

 tracted honey at 10 and 12 cents per 

 pound than comb honey at 18 and 20 

 cents ; but his market preferred comb 

 honey. 



It was generally considered that it 

 was better to divide colonies when 



