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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1885. Time and place of Meeting. 



Sept. 23, 24.— Kentucky State at Covington. Ky. 

 J. T. Counley, Sec, Napoleon, Ky. 



*ct. 1.— Southern Iltlnois, at Duquoin. Ilia. 



F. n. Kennedy, Sec, Duquoin, Ills. 



Oct. 2.— Union, at Dexter. Iowa. 



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



Oct. 10.— Wabash County, at N. Manchester, Ind. 

 J. J. Martin. Sec. N. Manchester, ind. 



Oct. 10, 11.— Western, at Independence, Mo. 



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



Oct. 15.— Progressive, at Macomb, Ills. 



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



Nov. 5. e.— N. J. & Eastern, at Trenton, N. J. 



Wm. B. Treadwell, Sec. 16 Thomas St., N. Y. 



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



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



Dec 8— 10.— North American, at Detmit. Mich. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Sec, Rogei sville, Mich. 



Dec. 8-in.— Northwestern, at Detroit, Mich, 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Hogersviiie, Micb, 



tW~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full partlculara of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 





Buckwheat Honey-Crop a failure.— 



G. C.Greiner, Naples,+oN.Y.,on Sept. 

 2, 1885, says : 



The past two weeks have decided 

 the buckwheat hoiiey-crop of this sea- 

 son to be a failure. It has been rainy 

 most of tlie time, with cold, north 

 winds prevailing. It was the time 

 buckwheat passed its most honey- 

 producing period, and bees had hardly 

 a chance to fly in this time. As we 

 have no later honey source of any 

 consequence, the honey-season is 

 ended for this year; the "result is ex- 

 pressed in the following sentence : A 

 full basswood crop, but very little 

 dark honey. The season's experience 

 has strengthened the belief.which I 

 expressed a few years ago in the Bee 

 Journal, that if all our three honey- 

 sources — while clover, basswood and 

 buckwheat— should yield full crops 

 in one season, the product of a single 

 colony would undoubtedly reach a 

 thousand pounds. 



Cold Weather, tlie Season, etc.— W. 



C. Nutt, Newton,© Iowa, on Aug. 29, 

 188.5, writes : 



Last fall I put my bees into winter 

 quarters from Nov. 20 to a few days 

 before Christmas, and of the 2.5 colo- 

 nies put into the cellar just before 

 Christmas, almost all were lost, and 

 the combs were very moldy. The cel- 

 lar was dry, with the temperature 

 from oS^ to 45° above zero. I found 

 that about 90 colonies were alive 

 upon taking them out of the cellar 

 about April 1. I moved them as I 

 got time, about 18 miles. I do not 

 know that moving hurt them any, but 

 some of them were quite weak in 

 bees, and the season being cold and 

 backward, they became reduced to 

 about .5.5 colonies, with which to be- 

 gin the season about June 1. The 



season was fair up to about July 15, 

 when a cold wave from the North 

 stopped the secretion of nectar right 

 in the midst of a heavy basswood 

 bloom. There is plenty of forage 

 now, and there has been for about 3 

 weeks, but the weather is too cold. I 

 will get no fall honey if it does not 

 turn warmer. I have taken about 

 1,800 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 there is perhaps 1,000 pounds more on 

 the hives.but it perhaps will have to be 

 used for winter stores if the weather 

 does not get better. I increased my 

 apiary to 87 colonies. I will unite 

 some of them. I am selling extracted 

 honey at 12 cents per pound. I would 

 like to see bee-men looking more to 

 their interest. All should enroll their 

 names in the " Union." 



Poisonous Wild Honey.— W. G.Fish, 

 Ithaca,© N. Y., writes as follows : 



The following item, from the New 

 Yoik Times needs some explanations : 



"Mrs. .T. Dukefl, of Branchville. S. C, cave a 

 negro servant 91 mie wild himey on which her four 

 sons dined. Airimst as soon as they had eaten it 

 they complained of blindness and dizziness. In 

 ten minutes one was dead, and within half an 

 hour two more had died. By this time the report 

 of the affair had reached Mrs. Dultes. Her entire 

 Lamily were just experiencing the first symptoms 

 of the trouble from wliich tlie netjroes iiad died. 

 Dr. Ott was sent for. and by applvina antidotes 

 the family was saved, after great suffering. Kx- 

 araination of the lioney showed tliat it was im- 

 pregnated witli gelsemium, from yellow jessa- 

 mine, which has been the cause of many deaths 

 heretofore of persons eating wild honey." 



Do bees gather honey that is pois- 

 onous y or is this honey not poisonous 

 to bees, but will poison persons ? The 

 article states that the honey was 

 gathered by wild bees. Do not domes- 

 ticated bees gather honey from the 

 same blossoms ? If so, is it not dan- 

 gerous to keep bees in localities where 

 poisonous honey- plants grow 'f 



LYes ; domesticated bees will some- 

 times, when hard pressed for pastur- 

 age, gather honey which, if eaten, is 

 poisonous to human beings. History 

 tells us that Xenophon's army of 

 10.000, when near Trebizond, ob- 

 tained some poisonous honey, and 

 were attacked with vomiting and 

 purging, and the ground was covered 

 with their bodies, like a field after a 

 battle. They were unconscious for 24 

 hours, but then recovered. Mountain 

 laurel, and its allies, are the usual 

 sources from which poisonous honey 

 is gathered. Where these laurels are 

 found, bees should not be kept. — Ed.] 



Feeding Bees for Winter.— Henry 



Alley, Wenham,(5 Mass., on Sept. 7, 

 1885, writes : 



Bees have gathered no honey here 

 since July 10, though we have four 

 acres of buckwheat in the same held 

 that our bees are kept. We must feed 

 in order to carry the bees through the 

 winter. I shall commence feeding to- 

 day, using for a feeder a two-quart 

 Mason fruit-jar, removing the glass 

 cap and putting in its place a tin one 

 with about 20 small holes made in it; 

 the food will be granulated sugar 

 syrup, and when the sugar is thor- 



oughly dissolved, I will fill the jar 

 and turn it bottom upwards over a 

 IJ^-inch hole in the honey-board, and 

 the bees, if a strong colony, will re- 

 move it in about twelve hours. I will 

 feed about 20 pounds to each colony. 

 I do not believe in late feeding, for 

 bees that are fed late will die before 

 spring, imless the winter is very 

 favorable. 



Gathering Honey Fast.— F. H. Ken- 

 nedy, Duquoin,? Ills., on Sept. 9, 

 1885, says : 



There are only a very few in this 

 locality who take an interest in bee- 

 keeping. This season had been a 

 verv bad one until the rain we had on 

 Aug. 22. The bees are gathering 

 honey fast now. 



Cellars for Bees.— Franklin P. Stiles, 

 Haverhill, (^ Mass., on Sept. 9,1885, 

 writes : 



My cellar, which is very large and 

 quite wet, contains a furnace which 

 is usually run from the last of Octo- 

 ber to the first of May. As I am 

 thinking of testing this cellar for win- 

 tering bees, I would like to have, 

 through the Bee Jouunal, the sug- 

 gestions of any one having experience 

 in that direction. 



Convention Notices. 



i^~ The Southern Illinois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold a meeting- in Duquoin, 

 Ills., on Thursday, Oct. 1, WHr,, at 10 a. m. 

 All are invited. F. H. Kennedy, Sec. 



^~ The Union Bee-Keepers' Association 

 of Western Iowa will meet on Friday. Oct. 2, 

 188."). at De.xter. Iowa. All tiee-keepers are 

 cordially invited to be present. 



M. E. D.VRBY, Sec. 



tS~ The Kentucky State Bee-Keepers' So- 

 ciety will meet in Walker Hall, at Coving-ton, 

 Ky., on Sept. 23 and 24, 188."). The Reverend 

 L. L. Langstroth is e.vpeeted to be present, 

 and all bee-keepers are invited to attend. 

 J. T. CONNLEY, Sec. 



tS~ The Progressive Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, of Western Illinois, will meet at Ma- 

 comb, Ills., on Thursday, Oct. 1.5. 1S8.">. Let 

 everybody come and have an enjoyable time. 

 Good speakers are expected. 



.1. G. Norton, Sec. 



IW The New Jersey and Eastern Bee- 

 Keepers' Association having accepted an 

 invitation to meet with the Mercer County 

 Board of Agriculture, of Trenton, N. J., 

 will hold their semi-annual convention in 

 the Grand Jury Room of the Court House 

 at Trenton, N. J., on Thursday and Frida.v, 

 Nov. 5 and 6, 1885, at 10 a. m. A full attend- 

 ance of the members is requested. To all 

 persons interested in our vocation, we ex- 

 tend a cordial welcome. The committee of 

 arrangements have secured hotel accommo- 

 dations at reduced rates. 



Wm. B. Treadwell, Sec. 



i^9~ All who intend to be systematic in 

 their work in the apiary, should get a copy of 

 the Apiary Register and commence to use it. 

 The prices are as follows : 



For .'iO colonies (120 pages) $1 00 



" 100 colonies (220 pages) 12.") 



" 200 colonies (420 pages) 1 M 



The larger ones can be used for a few col- 

 onies, give room for an increase of numbers, 

 and still keep the record all together in one 

 book, and are therefore the most desirable 



