28 



THE SMERicaif mmm j@orksiu. 



COT^VEXTIOX DIRECTORY. 



1890. Time and place of meeting. 



Jan. 15.— Indiana State, at Indianapolis, Ind. 



Geo. C. Thompson, Sec Southport, Ind. 



Jan. 15-17.— Nebraska State, at Lincoln. Nebr. 



J. N. Healer, Sec, Columbus, Nebr. 



Jan. 20.— Colorado State, at Denver, Colo. 



E. Milleson, Pres., Denver, Colo. 



Jan. 20, 21.— Eastern New York, at Albany, N. Y. 

 W. S. ward. Sec, Fuller's Station, N. Y. 



Jan, 22.— Vermont State, at Burlington, Vt. 



J. H. Larrabee. Sec. Larraoee's Point, Vt. 



Feb. 5-7.— New York State, at Rochester, N. Y. 



G. H. Knickerbocker, Sec, Pine Plains, N. Y. 



May 3.— Susquehanna Co.. at Hopbottom, Pa. 



H. M. Seeley, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



May 19.— Northern Illinois, at Rockford. Ills. 



D. A. Fuller, Sec, Cherry Valley, Ills. 



1^^^ In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 jiarticulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting.— The Editoh. 



S£^^^^^M^M 



Japanese Bnck^rlieat an«l Bt-es. 



In the fall of 1888 I put 61 colonies iuto 

 the cellar, and had 56 colonies in working 

 condition on June 1, 1889; I then sold 2, 

 leaving 54. My honey crop was 1,400 

 pounds of comb, and 5,800 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, with an increase of 27 colo- 

 nies. I had 4 acres of Japanese buckwheat 

 ■within 40 rods of my apiary, which yielded 

 160 bushels of clean seed. Did the near- 

 ness and 'Bmount of bees increase the yield! 



Ionia, Iowa. Geo. H. Potter. 



Xhey Paid lb>* tlieir Keepiug^. 



For the last four seasons I have kept only 

 one or two colonies of bees as pets. Last 

 season I had 5 colonies, and in November, 

 1889, I had 13 colonies, which produced 

 724 pounds of extra-fine comb honey, and 

 613 pounds of extracted, which was mostly 

 from clover and basswood, making a little 

 over 102 pounds per colony, fall count; 

 and a little over 267 pounds per colony, 

 spring count. Owing to business engage- 

 ments. Host at least 200 pounds of honey, 

 by not being able to attend to the extract- 

 ing when it should have been done ; still my 

 pets paid for their keeping. 



H. N. RoGEHS, M. D. 



Chippewa Falls, Wis. 



Effect of Honey on tite Skin. 



The attention of the public is being called, 

 as never before, to the variegated uses of 

 honey. That it is pleasant and healthful 

 food has been known ever since the first 

 man broke honey and the boney-comb. 

 That was a long time ago. It has one use, 

 however, which I do not remember to have 

 seen in print. A few years since, a lady 

 desiring to make a creditable appearance 

 in society, found it necessary to use cos- 

 metics on her arms. Her face was all right, 

 needing neither paint nor soap: but her 

 arms were terrible — rough, with pimples 

 that had come to stay. The work was done 

 faithfully, but in vain, and after three 

 weeks it was a bad job. Intending to per- 

 petrate a "scientific pleasantry'," I said, 

 "Why don't you pnt on honey!" Sure 

 enough, she put on the honey, rubVnng it in 

 thoroughly, with just enough water to 

 make it work. This was left on over night, 

 and washed off iu the morning. Two ap- 

 plications removed the pimples, and left the 

 skin delicate and smooth — not bleached 

 with acid, but with the beautiful surface of 

 health. E. Stuong. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



Bees May Not Winter so ^Vell. 



My report for the season just past is as 

 follows; I commenced with 82 colonies, 

 increased to 155, and took 2,500 pounds of 

 comb honey, and 2,100 pounds of extracted. 

 The forepart of the season was very un- 

 favorable — bees had to be well taken care 

 of, and fed until into June. I do not think 

 that they will winter as well as usual, on 

 account of the honey-dew in their hives; 

 the young colonies are all right, but the old 

 colonies, with the young queens, will be 

 the ones to suffer. I placed 116 colonies 

 into the cellar on Nov. 28, and put 6 more 

 into the cellar that had been out until yes- 

 terday ; those had a flight on last Hundfay. 

 We have had very open weather so far 

 since Thanksgiving, plowing being done 

 every day until yesterday. I hope for a 

 good season in 1890. 



W. Addendkooke. 



North Prairie, Wis., Dec. 21, 1889. 



Only naif a Crop of Honey. 



My bees did very well, but I had onlj' 

 half a crop of nice honey this year. I have 

 most of my bees in the cellar, and are all 

 right. I keep some in separate chaff houses, 

 made after my own notions, and they do 

 well in most of the winters. I do not put 

 "all my eggs in one basket." The cellar, 

 for me, is the surest, year after year. Win- 

 ter commenced early, but there is little 

 snow now, and no sleighing yet. 



J. E. Bkeeii. 



Embarrass, Wis., Dec. 17, 1889. 



Alfalfa an«l Ci!ol«len-Ro<l. 



I vote for the golden-rod for the national 

 flower, though it i)roduces no honey for 

 me. I have noticed carefully for a good 

 many years, and have never seen but oue 

 bee on it, and that looked as if it was lost. 

 It is frequently covered with an ugly, black 

 beetle. I had a small patch of alfalfa clover 

 for five years, and never saw a bee on it, 

 though my bees were within a hundred 

 yards of it. I notice that some recommend 

 it for bees, but it is worthless for honey in 

 this part of the country, and not profitable 

 for anything. A. J. Duncan. 



Hartford, Iowa. 



from one colony that did not swarm. I 

 could have got 15 cents per pound for the 

 honey, but I kept the most of it for my own 

 use. I shall put some sections back on the 

 light colonies, to help them out. Taking aU 

 things into consideration, it was a poor sea- 

 son for me. In the spring the late frost 

 killed the spring blossoms, and it put the 

 bees back in swarming. The most of the 

 honey was gathered from wolf-brush (we 

 call them verbenas), Alsike clover, some 

 from buckwheat, mustard, dogwood, grasses, 

 and other blossoms along the creeks ; also 

 some from golden-rod. They worked very 

 strong on it for awhile, after almost every- 

 thing else failed. The first honey was very 

 light in color, and was the nicest of the 

 season. The bees gathered pollen very late 

 in the season. Our bee-men here are mostly 

 men that seem to think they know enough 

 about bees, and do not need to take a bee- 

 paper; but I like the Bee Joukn.\l very 

 much, and think that all bee-men should 

 read it. Alsike is my choice as a honey- 

 plant. I would like to see more raised in 

 our country. Golden-rod was good for late 

 work here, and I would vote for it as the 

 national flower. Iua N. Lyman. 



St. Peter, Nebr. 



01«l Ideas— A Poor Season, 



I do not remember of ever hearing it 

 hinted that the drones laid the eggs, until 

 the past fall, when an old lady came to 

 visit us. vShe was between 80 and 90 years 

 old, and had been a bee-keeper in her 

 younger days, or owned bees. She took a 

 great deal of interest in my Italians, and 

 gave me instructions in regard to bees and 

 the new-fangled ways. She knciv that the 

 drones laid the eggs, and that if the king 

 died, the bees would do no good,' etc. 



My bees did very well through the past 

 summer, but in the faU they did not do so 

 well. They swarmed on July 21 for the 

 first time, instead of May or June, as it 

 should have been. The queen did not come 

 out, so they returned, and came out on July 

 23. I lost two old queens, and secured just 

 five new swarms from two old colonies; the 

 other two did not swarm, that I know of. 

 I put 9 colonies into the cellar about the 

 middle of November ; 3 or 4 colonies were 

 very light, and 2 or 3 very heavy. I took 

 off 120 pounds of honey in the comb, 

 mostly in one-pound sections, but some in 

 13^-pound sections. I took 100 pounds 



4>ood Yield Per Colony. 



My report for 1889 is as follows: My 37 

 colonies of bees, that I had last spring, 

 averaged about 150 pounds of honey per 

 colony, besides increasing to 54 colonies. 

 The honey is both comb and extracted. 



Empire Prairie, Mo. John Haskins. 



Cloth-Base Foundation. 



On page 779, 1 find an article by John 

 Craycraft, on "cloth-made foundation," of 

 which he claims to be the inventor. In con- 

 firmation of the foot-note of the editor, 

 please let me say that iu making foundation 

 last spring, I immersed cheese-cloth in 

 melted beeswax, and stamped it with the 

 Vandervort foundation-mill, and put from 

 one to three frames of the cloth foundation 

 — named "New Departure" — in three 

 hives. In another hive I put a frame of 

 beeswax foundation, half the length, and 

 the cloth foundation the other part. The 

 bees drew out the wax foundation, and 

 stored their honey, but rejected the cloth 

 foundation. They did not accept the cloth 

 foundation in any of the hives, but were 

 disgusted, and worked to remove it by tear- 

 ing it to pieces; and I found my " New De- 

 parture" in strings, and my anticipations of 

 a patent vanished. 



W. Johnson Baker. 



South Montrose, Pa. 



Results of the Past Season. 



I started in with 27 colonies in the spring 

 of 1889, and increased them to 41 colo- 

 nies, of which I sold 6, leaving 35 on hand 

 now. I obtained a total surplus of 2,036 

 pounds of honey, of which 280 pounds are 

 in one-pound sections, and the rest is ex- 

 tracted; the average per colony being 75>^ 

 pounds, spring count. By the middle of 

 October, my bees were arranged inside the 

 hive for wintering. On Nov. 1 we had the 

 first snow-storm, and have had since then 

 two cold spells, so that the thermometer 

 registered 2 degrees below zero. On Dec. 

 17 and 18, my bees had good flights, and 

 seemed to be all right. On an average, my 

 bees have about 30 pounds of winter stores 

 per colony. I winter them this year with- 

 out outside winter packing, except those in 

 the new Heddon hives, for which I have 

 prepared a vault. All my other hives are 

 doubje-walled, heavily lined with building- 

 paper in between. Wm. Stolley. 



Grand Island, Nebr., Dec. 19, 1889. 



