540 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Good Season for Increase.— J. J. 



Martin, North Manchester, 5 Ind., on 

 Aug. 19, 1885, says : 



A good season is reported from all bee- 

 keepers in this immediate neighliorhood. 

 It has been especially good for those work- 

 ing their bees for increase, and that has 

 been the principal object here, as nearly 

 all bees were destroyed by the extreme 

 cold of tlie past winter. No honey of any 

 acconnt has been gathered during the past 

 three weeks, but all look for a good fall 

 honey-flow from goldenrod, buckwheat, 

 etc. 



Northern Michigan Honey.— L.Reed, 

 ofOronn.5 Mich., has sent us a sam- 

 ple of his honey, and on Aug. 19, 1885, 

 wrote as follows : 



I have sent you a sample of our North- 

 ern Michigan honey. How does it com- 

 pare with the honey of Illinois and other 

 States farther South ? The honey season 

 is over, and we have had a splendid yield. 

 Bees are gathering .some honey from buck- 

 wheat and other fall flowers. Some colo- 

 nies are killing their drones. 1 have lost 

 only one young queen this season, and 

 then 1 gave the colony a laying queen in 

 time. 



[The honey is very fine, and will com- 

 pare favorably, both in color and flavor, 

 with that produced in the best honey- 

 producing locations of the Continent. 

 Northern Michigan is, we believe, almost 

 unequalled for its honey-producing 

 flowers.— Ed.] 



A (Jreat Countr? for Bees.— B. W. 



Lawton, Viola,? Wis., writes : 



1 am one of a thousand bee-keepers in 

 the Kickapoo woods that are liable to hear 

 complaints similar to the one made against 

 Mr. Freeborn. This is a great country for 

 bees ; we have both wild and tame bees, 

 and an abundance of hasswood timber, 

 white clover, soft and hard maples, and 

 all kinds of wild tiowers and wild fruit 

 trees. This year 1 can stand on a bluff 

 and count hundreds of acres of buckwheat 

 sown where our little honey-gatherers are 

 securing their harvest. We all should 

 join in heart and hand and have our wel- 

 fare protected ; and if Sl.S.i is not enough, 

 I will double that amount. 



law aeainst us bee-keepers. My uneasi- 

 ness arises from having heard that our 

 bees are to be killed by the wholesale, by 

 setting baker's yeast for them. It is said 

 that yeast is sure death to bees ; how is 

 it? It seems hard to be at the mercy of 

 belligerent horticulturists. What are we 

 to do?" 



Bees Lying Ont.— 2— F. S, Elder & 

 Bro., (67—80), Lake Village,<x Ark., 

 on Aug. 16, 1885, write : 



On page .508, Mr. C. H. Dibbern re- 

 marked that his bees laid out so much 

 while the mercury was up to 90% and asks 

 how to prevent them from doing so. Tlie 

 following is what we did to keep our bees 

 in when the mercury was up to 9t° : 

 Nearly all of our bees are in Blanton-Sim- 

 plicity hives, and the fronts of them were 

 covered all over with bees. We just took 

 the covers off and laid the mat back 

 about 4 inches, and put the cover back, 

 letting the cleet on the back end of the 

 cover rest on the top of the hive, and we 

 have not seen any more bees lying out 

 since. Bees are doing well in this locality 

 this season. 



Second-Swarms, etc.— Chas. Mitch- 

 ell, Molesworth, Ont., on Aug. J7, 

 1885, says : 



Every fifth colony hived on t|je lleddon- 

 plan has cast a second-swarm this year. 

 But much the greatest proportion was 

 from colonies on deep frames, as 1 had 

 oulv one secoud-swarm from those on 

 shallow frames. Can any one account for 

 this, as thev all had plenty of room ? Also 

 2 colonies that 1 sold last fall were win- 

 tered in a snow-bank, and have increased 

 to 6 ; each of the old colonies having 

 swarmed twice. Tliis has been a poor 

 honey season. Basswood was a failure, 

 though it bloomed well. 



Convention Notices. 



t^~ The Southern Wisconsin Bee-Reepers' 

 Association will meet at the Court House in 

 Janesrille, Tuesday, Aug. 2.5, ISsn, at 10 a. m. 

 John C. Lynch, Sec. 



t^^ The Des Moines County, Iowa, Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, will hold its full meet- 

 ing- at the Court House in Burling:t.on, on 

 Aug. 2.5, 188.5, at 10 a. m. All persons inter- 

 ested in bee-culture are invited to attend. 

 John Nau, Sec. 



I3'~The Llnwood Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will be held at Kocls Elm Centre, Wis., on 

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

 dit's Hall. All interested are cordially invi- 

 ted to attend, and make tlie meeting a 

 profitable one. B. J. Thompson, Sec. 



Cone-Flower.— Chas. Ilarrold, Ham- 

 burg, p Iowa, on Aug. 15, 1885, writes: 



' Please give ne the name of the flower I 

 send you. It is a good bee-plant with us, 

 the bees getting both honey and pollen 

 from it. it grows on the low lands and 

 on creek-bottoms in the timl)er land. It 

 usually grows about feet high, and some- 

 what resembles the sun-flower. Bees are 

 doing well here this season. 



[It is called the " cone-flower"— blooms 

 In August, and yields considerable honey. 



Ed.1 



t^" 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, 1885. A. D. Jacobs, Sec. 



^F" The next meeting of the Northwestern 

 Hlinois and Southwestern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will be held at Rock 

 City, Ills., on Aug. 25, 188.5. , 



J. Stewart, Sec. 



tW~ Owing to a very heavy rain-storm 

 diiriiiK' llie lorencmn nt July Is, the meeting 

 uf the .Marshall County I!rc-Kec|ii'is' Asso- 

 ciation was deferred until Saturday, Aug. 29, 

 188:), at 10.:50 a. m., in the Court House at 

 Marshalltown, Iowa. Subjects: "Fall Man- 

 agement of Bees" and "Care and Sale of 

 Honey." All hee-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. 



Poisoning Bees.— W. A. Pryal.North 

 Temescal,*o Calif., on Aug. 14, 1885, 

 says : 



Of late I have taken some interest in 

 the bee-poisoning "business," and I have 

 just read Mr. Bray's letter on page 491. 1 

 have heard of several such cases this year. 

 Here is one from a letter by a Ventura 

 county apiarist: "1 have an apiary in 

 the foot hills, and not far off are some 

 orchardists. One fruit-raiser says that 

 the bees destroy his fruit, and they must 

 go. 1 felt easy until lately, as there are 

 more bee-keepers about here than there 

 are fruit men, and this particular fruit- 

 grower 1 complain of would fare poorly at 



(Jueen-Cells, Feeding, etc.— A lady 

 apiarist asks the following questions : 



1. Do strong colonies, with plenty of 

 sections, rear queen-cells and swarm dur- 

 ing the month of August ? 



3. Does feeding bees make them lazy ? 

 1 have been feeding three of my colonies 

 for four weeks, and they seem to depend 

 upon this. They bring in plenty of pollen, 

 but do not have a great deal of brood, yet 

 they seem unable to store any honey. 



3. I have a colony of bees that on each 

 afternoon mass themselves upon the out- 

 side of the hive. They had two frames of 

 comb to finish and fill ; thinking to induce 

 them to go inside, 1 put on a tier of sec- 

 tions with starters. They do not mass 

 quite so badly as they did at first, but 

 more than they should. They are in the 

 same location 'that they were in last year, 

 and where they worked the best of any 

 colony 1 had. Can you give a reason why 

 they do this ? 



[1. Mucli depends upon the weather and 

 secretion of nectar. There are other con- 

 ditions, some of which are not wholly un- 

 derstood, that induce the swarming fever 

 in August. 



2. No. 



3. As you describe it, doubtless you are 

 now passing through a honey-dearth, one 

 that did not occur (at least as complete) 

 last season. With plenty of room and 

 shade, your bees would never "mass" 

 upon the outside of the hive, if there was 

 nectar in the flowers.— James Heddon.] 



{^~ The 4th semi-annual meeting of the 

 Wabash Countv Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will be held at North Manchester, Ind., on 

 Oct. 10, 188.5, in the G. A. K. Hall, Union 

 Block. First session at 10 a. m. All bee- 

 keepers are cordially invited to be present. 

 J. J. Martin, Sec. 



IW~ The next meeting of the " Patsalaga 

 Bee-Keepers' Society "will be held at the 

 residence of the President, Mr. J. K. McLcn- 

 don, at liamer, Ala., on Sept. 10, 188.5. It is 

 hoped that the membership will be largely 

 increased at this meeting, and that all who 

 can will attend. M. G. RusnTON, Sec. 



iag~ The .3rd annual convention of the 

 Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held on the Fair Grounds at DesMoiues, 

 Iowa, during the Fair week. The first meet- 

 ing will held at the bee-keepers' tent, on 

 Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 2 p. m. ; also there will 

 be a meetiug held on each succeeding night, 

 or as often as the convention may desire. 

 Those who wish to do so may bring blankets 

 and make the tent their head-(iuarters, as 

 meals can be procured on the Grounds at 

 reasonable rates. The State Agricultural 

 Society offers liberal premiums on honey, 

 beeswax, etc. Many prominent apiarists are 

 expected to be present. All interested in 

 the production and sale of honey should not 

 fail to attend. "'■• '-■""" *■'"" 



Wji. Goos, Sec. 



To give away a copy of " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " to every one who buys a 

 package of honey, will sell almost any quan- 

 tity of it. 



Bee-Keepers' Badges at Fairs. 



AVe have some ELEGANT 

 RIBBON BAUtiiES, having 

 ii rosette and gold Bee, for 

 liei'-kecpfrs' use at Fairs, 

 Conventions, etc. Trice 

 50 'cents each, by mail, postpaid. 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN & SON, 



923 & 925 West Madison St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



