762 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



. the spring, as spring weather in this 

 latitude is very uncertain, and dire 

 results may follow. When the honey- 

 flow begins, all surplus-boxes and 

 sections should be in their places. 

 Much is sometimes lost by the api- 

 arist being too slow in giving proi)er 

 room before needed. 



In all bee-manipulations care must 

 be taken that colonies do not begin 

 robbing. No honey should be dropped 

 around the apiary where bees can 

 have access to it, as this will incite 

 robbing; and when robbing is once 

 begun it is sometimes difficult to 

 control. One method that I have 

 employed successfully is, to close the 

 entrance of the colony robbed so that 

 only one bee can pass the entrance at 

 a time. Another method is to ex- 

 change places with the colony robbing 

 and the colony robbed, which throws 

 them all into confusion. Each api- 

 arist doubtless has a particular man- 

 agement of his own, but he may 

 improve by the advice offered by his 

 fellow-bee-keepers. Let us each, 

 then, observe carefully and note the 

 facts developed by our experiments 

 and report them for the benefit of 

 others. 

 Wabash, 5 Ind. 



Local Convention Directory. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST for 1886. 



We supply the American Bee Journal 



for 1886, and any of the following publica- 

 tions, at the prices quoted in the last column 

 of figures. The first column gives the regu- 

 lar price of both. All postage prepaid. 



Price of both. Club 



The Weekly Bee Journal 1 00. . 



and Gleanings in Bee-Culture 2 00.. 1 7.5 



Bee-Keepcrs'Magazine 2 00,, 1 75 



Bee-Keepers' Guide 150,, 140 



The Apiculturist 2 00.. 1 75 



Canadian Bee-Paper 2 00, 1 75 



The 6 above-named papers 5 50,. 5 00 



and City and Country 2 00.. 1 .50 



New York Independent 4 00,, 3 30 



American Agriculturist 2 50,, 2 25 



American Poultry Journal ..,2 25,, 175 



and Cook's Manual 2 25,, 2 00 



Bees and Honey (Newman), ,.2 00,, 175 



Binder for Am, Bee Journal.. 1 75,, 1 GO 



Apiary Register— 100 colonies 2 25,, 2 00 



Dzicrzon's Bee-Book (cloth).. ,3 00,, 2 00 



Dzierzon's Bee-Book (paper). .2 50. . 2 00 



Quinby's New Boe-Keeping ..2 50,, 2 25 



Langstroth's Standard Work .3 00,. 2 75 



Boot's A B C of Bee-Culture,, 2 25,, 2 10 



Alley's Quecii-liciuiiig 2 .50, . 2 25 



Farmer's Acc.Hint Itnok 400.. 3 00 



Guide and Iliin.l-iidiik 150,. 130 



1885, Time and place of Meetino- 



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



H, D, Cuttintr. Sec. Clinton, Mich, 



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

 W, Z, Hutchinson, Sec, KogersviUe, Mich. 



Dec. 8-10,— Northwestern, at Detroit, Mich, 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, KogersviUe, Mich. 



Dec, 8— 10.— S. E. Michiean. at Detroit, Mich, 



A, M. Gander, Sec, Adrian. Mich. 



Dec, 10,— Tuscarawas Co,, at Port Wasliington, O. 

 Geo. F. Williams, Sec, New Pliiladelphia. O. 



Dec, 1 1.— Northeastern Kan., at Hiawatha, Kan, 

 L, C, Clark, aec. Granada, Kan, 



1886. 



Jan. 21.— Champlain Valley, at Middlebury, Vt. 



K. H. Holmes, Sec, Shoreham, Vt. 



Apr. 27.— Des Moines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau, Sec.Mlddletown. Iowa, 



ty In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings,— Kn. 



monthly subscribers will, no doubt, be 

 delighted at the prospect of getting the 

 Weekly for a dollar a year. Believing that 

 they will prefer a W^oekly at that price, we 

 shall discontinue the Monthly edition at the 

 end of the present year, and those who have 

 paid for an.y portion of ne,\t year will have 

 credit on the Weekly pro rata for all amounts 

 duo them on the Monthly, 



Tbe Guide and Hand-Book, is a book 

 of ready referr'nce and an encyclop[edia of 

 everything dcsintble to know. As a guide 

 to the hoinr'-sci-kcr-, it is invaluable. Its con- 

 tents are partially given on page 70S, and 

 will convince any one of its value. We do 

 not think any of our readers can afford to 

 do without it. As a l)00k of read.v reference 

 we find it of great value in our library. We 

 will send the Weekly Bee Joukn,u, for a 

 year and the Guide for $1,30. 





Poor Season— Moving Bees.— H. E. 



Hill, Titusville,-o Pa., on Nov. 11, 

 188-5, says : 



A poor honey season in this locality 

 ended about Oct. 15, with a severe 

 frost. For a few weeks previous, and 

 up to that date, the bees worked 

 vigorously on buckwheat and other 

 fall bloom, but the weather has been 

 so as to allow scarcely any flying 

 since. I have moved my bees about 

 14 of a mile, and am packing them 

 outside as I move them. The weather 

 has been so favorable that I think I 

 have sustained no perceptible loss of 

 bees by moving them. 



a large swarm is better at any time 

 than a small one, and in selling bees 

 the larger hive always sells first and 

 for the most money. Tbe Inst winter 

 I wintered GO colonies out of 6-5, with- 

 out any feeding at all, which could 

 not be done in small hives. 



Unfavorable Season, etc. — Jno. 

 jSTebel & Son, High Hill.ot Mo., on 

 Nov. 20, 1885, write as follows : 



Our bees are all packed for winter, 

 with the exception of those that are 

 to be put into the cellar, and they are 

 ready to be put in at any moment 

 when the weather begins to turn 

 wintry. So far the weather has been 

 quite warm, and we have had only 

 two heavy frosts. Bees have a flight 

 every two or three days, and are con- 

 suming a great deal of honey, but 

 they have plenty to carry them 

 through the winter. Last fall we 

 put 105 colonies into winter quarters, 

 lost two during the winter, and three 

 perished with " spring dwindling." 

 The remaining 100 colonies we in- 

 creased to ISO, and took 3,000 pounds 

 of extracted and 1,000 pounds of comb 

 honey, 40 pounds being the average 

 amount of honey per colony, spring 

 count. The past season has been 

 very unfavorable ; in the spring every 

 thing seemed promising ; bees had a 

 a good start ; and white clover and 

 basswood had an abundant yield of 

 blossoms, but owing to the wet, cold 

 spell at the time of their blooming the 

 flowers did not yield any nectar. The 

 past two seasons have been trying 

 ones for the bee-keeper in this 

 vicinity, but we hope for better times. 



Small Hives vs. Large Hives.— 12— 



D. A. Fuller, (60—80), Cherry Valley, 

 5 Ills., on Nov. 20, 1885, writes : 



The articles on " Small Hives vs. 

 Large Hives" I have read with much 

 interest. Jly experience has been 

 only with the 8 and 10 frame Lang- 

 stroth hive, but it has been very much 

 in favor of the large hive, for the fol- 

 lowing reasons : 1. The large hive 

 produces larger and stronger swarms 

 with less manipuhations. If honey is 

 scarce in the spring, there will always 

 be honey in outside combs for them. 

 If not needed, as was the case last 

 spring, I extract the honey from 

 the outside combs just before the 

 honey harvest, placing them in the 

 centre of the brood-chamber, spread- 

 ing the combs, and in this way 1 have 

 10 frames of brood, which is certainly 

 better than 8 frames. 2. The larger 

 hive gives more room on top for 

 surplus honey, as the closer we can 

 keep the surplus arrangements to the 

 brood-nest the better. While 1 can- 

 not agree witli Mr. Ileddon as to size 

 of hive, I think that his surplus super 

 for comb honey is the best and most 

 economical, all things considered. On 

 the 10-frame hive it will hold :i2 one- 

 pound sections. I do not see how 

 location can make any difference, as 



Very Mild Weather— Hibernation. — 



Joshua Bull, Seymour,^DWis., on Nov. 

 23, 1885, writes : 



We are having very mild weather 

 for this season of the year, and 

 although it is cool and cloudy most of 

 the time, with some frosty nights, 

 yet it generally thaws again during 

 the following day. My bees are ready 

 for winter, and they seem to invite 

 cold weather by dozing themselves 

 into hibernation. They have not 

 come out to fly much for more than 

 five weeks, although there have been 

 several days that were warm enough 

 for them to do so if they would. On 

 one mild day I opened a hive to see 

 what kept them so quiet, and I found 

 them all clustered closely together, 

 and as still as death. I lifted out 

 some of the frames to examine them 

 more closely, but it took several 

 minutes to get the bees roused up so 

 that they would take wing freely. 

 Now, how far were they from hiber- 

 nation 'f I hope they will all wake 

 up and take a good flight yet before 

 winter really sets in. 



Ready for Winter— Straw Hives. — 



Abe lloke. Union City ,0+ Ind., on 



Nov. 23, 1885, says : 



Last spring I began with 14 colo- 

 nies, and this fall I had increased 

 them to 30, but I sold 4, so I now have 

 32 left, and these are well packed on 

 the summer stands. All have plenty 

 ' of good clover honey to winter on. 



