THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



523 



mativ times illustrated in the columns 

 of the 15ee JouitNAL. Hut wliat 1 

 most want to do now is, to give a few 

 facts coining under my personal ob- 

 servation within the last 48 liours. 

 Early in the spring I sowed a piece of 

 buckwheat for my bees. It liad just 

 begun to come up nicely when the 

 frost on ]\Iay 6, 7 and S came on and 

 killed all that was up. That coming 

 up after, left it very thin on the 

 ground, but enough I thouglit to 

 justify leaving it for awhile at least. 

 It came on, bloomed nicely, and the 

 other day I examined and found con- 

 siderable matured wheat, and desir- 

 ing to get rid of the weeds, 1 decided 

 to plow it under. Althougli it was 

 full of bloom and bees, on the 6th I 

 started the boy with the team and 

 harrow and gave it a good harrowing, 

 and at a time when the bees were on 

 it the thickest. After a time he came 

 in and said : " Why, the bees are 

 just as thick as they can be on that 

 buckwheat." I asked him if they 

 stung him or the horses. He replied, 

 "no." 



Xow, Mr. Editor, every man that 

 knows anything about bees, knows 

 that if there is anything in the world 

 that bees will attack, it is a sweating 

 horse, i^et my horses harrowed and 

 plowed that piece of buckwheat with 

 bees on it very thick, without one 

 offering to sting the horse or the boy. 

 The National Bee-Keepers' Union 

 meets with my hearty approval, and 

 I herewith send in my membership 

 fee and first assessment. 



Maukato,5 Kans., Aug. 8, 1885. 



Convention Notices. 



tW" The Southern Wisconsin Bee-Reepers' 

 Association will meet at the Court House in 

 Janes ville, Tuesday, Aug-. 25, 1885, at 10 a. m. 

 John C. Lynch, Sec. 



I^" The Des Moines County, Iowa, Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, will hold its fall meet- 

 ing at the Court House in Burlington, on 

 Aug. •;."), 188.^, at 10 a. m. All persons inter- 

 ested in bee-culture are invited to attend. 

 John Nau, Sec. 



^^The Linwood Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will he held at Rook Elm Centre, Wis., on 

 Tuesday. Sept. 1st. at 1 o'clock p. m., in Con- 

 dit's Hall. All intei-ested are cordially invi- 

 ted to attend, and make the meeting a 

 profitable one. B. J. Thomi'Son, Sec. 



{^~ The Western N. Y. and Northern Pa. 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will meet at Sala- 

 manca. N. Y., in Odd Fellows' Hall, on Sept. 

 1 and '3, 188.3. A. D. Jacobs, Sec. 



tS~ The ne.vt meeting of the Northwestern 

 Illinois and Southwestern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will be lield at Rock 

 City, Ills., on Aug. -25, lS8.i. 



J. Stew.\rt, Sec. 



{S~ Owing to a very heavy rain-storm 

 during the forenoon of July 18, the meeting 

 of the Marshall County Bee-Keepers' AssO; 

 ciation was deferred until Saturday, Aug. ^;9, 

 1885, at 10.30 a. m., in the Court" House at 

 Marshalltown, Iowa. Subjects: "Fall Man- 

 agement of Bees" and " Care and Sale of 

 Honey." All bee-keepers are invited. It 

 will be a time of rest from other labor, and 

 ■we hope to have a good meeting. 



J. W. Sanders, Sec. 





~<'-v^-'^**;^(^t^ "^t? '^'*'' -, - - - 



Wonderful Season for Rees.— Miss 

 Anna .Saunders, Woodville, ? Miss., 

 on Aug. 5, 188-5, writes: 



This has been a wonderful .season for 

 liouey. Up to July 1.5, there lias been no 

 cessation ui honey-gatherinu and brood- 

 rearing. From May 2'.l to July 30 ] ex- 

 tracted seven times, and the combs were 

 filled in 3 or 4 days after, each time. 



Bees Not HarmfLil.— A. E. Manum, 



Bristol,+o Vt., on Aug. 8, 18S.5, writes: 



Some time since 1 noticed in the Bee 

 JouRN.VL a proposition from Mr. James 

 Heddon for tlie formation of a Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Union, and 1 was at once favoraljly 

 impressed with the idea. The move is a 

 grand one, and .should be supported by 

 every bee-lveeper in the United States, 

 wlietlier be has one or more colonies. 1 

 am well pleased with the officers elected, 

 and 1 hope that not a leaf will be left un- 

 turned tliat will assist in showing to the 

 world that bees are not as harmful as 

 many suppose. 



[Mr., Manum sent two other membership 

 fees with his own. Let others emulate 

 his wise example.— Ed.] 



Syrian or Holy-Land Bees.— F. J. 



Ahlers, Cincinnati, p Ohio, makes the 

 following request : 



Will some competent person please give 

 a minute description of the physical char- 

 acteristics of the Syrian or lloly Laud 

 bees, and their crosses with the Italians 

 and blacks. Also their action on the 

 combs when removed from the hive, and 

 also when opening the hive. By physical 

 cliaracteristics I mean the markings of 

 the queens, drones and workers, in clear, 

 specific language, not in generalizations, 

 as like Italians only , 1 have pur- 

 chased reputed pure queens cross-mated 

 with Italian drones. One of the queens I 

 am sure is impure and cross-mated with 

 at least an Italian-black hybrid drone. 



Button-Ball, etc.— S. McLees, May, 

 ■lo Mich., on Aug. 5, 1885, writes : 



I send a stem and flower (the only one 

 I ever saw of the kind). It grows on low 

 land about 3 feet high, and blossoms 

 about Aug. 1. The flowers last nearly 3 

 weeks, and it is Utterly covered with bees, 

 flies and wasps ; the humble-bees in 

 scores remain on it over night. At a dis- 

 tance it resembles a bank of snow; upon 

 going to it, at the first sight and sound, 

 one would think he had found a swarm of 

 bees. Please name it. Is it a good honey 

 plant ? I atso enclose a piece of mineral. 

 What is it? I also send a piece taken 

 fioin a rock, that I take tor some kind of 

 mineral. Please name it. 



[This is button-ball {CephalanthMS oe- 

 cidentalis), and an excellent honey-plant ; 

 althougli it is in bloom at the same time 

 as the linden, it keeps in bloom much 

 longer. Another thing in its favor is the 

 fact of its growing in bogs and fens, and 

 so yields nectar abundantly even in times 

 of severe drouth. It is figured in my 

 Manual on page '28.5. The mineral is sul- 

 phite of iron or iron pyrites, sometimes 

 called appropriately, "fool's gold."— A. J. 

 Cook.] 



Boiled Honey for Winter Stores.— 



Win. Lossing, lIokah,<x Minn., on 

 Aug. 8, 188.5, writes : 



1 wish to know if any bee- keepers 

 have ever boiled fall honey and then fed 

 it for winter stores; if so, with what re- 

 sults. I put into winter quarters 302 colo- 

 nies and nuclei, and succeeded in losing 

 nearly all of them. May 10 foiiiiil ine 

 with only <i7 old ijueens \i'.ft, most of them 

 with only two frames of bees and brood. 

 I bought 14, and 1 now have about '200 

 good ones and 7:3 small ones on 3 to H 

 frames. I will try to put '250 in this fall. 

 They have gatliered abinit 1,000 pounds 

 of fine white clover and basswood Honey. 



Siigestions. — Elias Fox, Ilills- 

 boroiigh,-KD Wis., makes the following 

 suggestions : 



1. I do not like to dictate in regard to 

 the organization of the Bee-Keepers' Na- 

 tional Union, but it seems to me it would 

 be proper to make tlie assessments in pro- 

 portion to the number of colonies owned, 

 or the amount of capital invested by each 

 member, and xo-r so much per capita. 



2. It also seems to me that the General 

 Manager slionld pay at least 7 per cent, 

 interest on all moneys held by him, and 

 have it credilvd to each member propor- 

 tionately. This is merely my sugges- 

 tions. 1 should also like to hear from 

 others in regard to this matter. 



[The question is, have we a KiiaiT to 

 keep bee.s — not whether we should invest 

 SIO or .5100 in the business. It attacks the 

 INDIVIDUAL rights of bee-keepeis— lience 

 individual bee-men should unite in the 

 DEFENSE of their pursuit ! 



2. As to the General Manager being re- 

 quired to pay interest for the money, it 

 seems that our correspondent fails to com- 

 prehend the nature of tlie case. Tlie As- 

 sessments are not called for until the 

 money is needed— and the money is sub- 

 ject to call, at a day's notice, to pay the 

 expenses of such defense. It cannot be 

 invested to earn interest, for it can oxl-v' 

 be used for the purpose for -n-liich the 

 fund is created. All the money received 

 by the Manager is in the Bank, and can be 

 checked out at a moment's notice. As the 

 Bank pays no interest on such deposits, 

 would it be keasonable to require the 

 Manager to pay interest for funds he can- 

 not use ? 



The annual fees of 25 cents for each 

 member, creates a "general fund" to 

 cover current expenses. (See Article 

 VIII of printing, postage, etc.) If " in- 

 terest" is to be expected in addition to 

 "brains," time and manual labor, we 

 fancy the office will "go-a-begging" for 

 some one to take it. Business men do not 

 usually throw away their time, energies 

 and money in that manner. 



Gad-Fiies and Sheep. — A. S. Good- 

 rich, Worthington,© Ohio, on Aug. 

 6, 1885, writes : 



I enclose the fees for the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union. I gave the subject at first very 

 little attention, believing there was noth- 

 ing to defend, but 1 liaN-e reconsidered the 

 matter, and send in my mite. I have kept 

 bees and sheep on the same farm for more 

 than half a century, and my sheep liave 

 always driven the bees, not the bees the 

 sheep. Every man of any observaiioii 



