TMM mm^mmicmm mmm j©iiJRN3M,. 



2fJ7 



David Wagoner winters liis bees in 

 ;i oollar ; removes tlie liive-covor, and 

 puts a cloth over the top of the hives. 

 The bees winter suecessl'ully. 



L. J. Pearco gives top ventilation to 

 prevent moldy combs. 



President Kimble thinks that a bee- 

 house is preferable to a cellar, for win- 

 tering bees. He raises his liives from 

 thii bottom-boards, and gives plenty of 

 ventilation. He thinks that the top 

 should be kept tight. 



H. L. Harrington said that bees will 

 winter all right if suljject to proper 

 ventilation. 



Mr. Jacobs believes in ventilation 

 for bees, but would avoid a draft. 



The next question discussed was 

 til at of 



FEEDING BEES. 



Mr. Hammond was asked to give his 

 views, and in answer he said that he 

 would never feed bees unless it was 

 absolutely necessary, as too much feed- 

 ing stimulates an overplus of breeding, 

 when not desired. If feed must be 

 given, use full combs of sealed honey. 



FOUL BROOD. 



Mr. Jacobs inquired if anj' member 

 present knew of the existence of any 

 foul brood in this vicinity. Mr. Coe 

 did not think tliat the disease was in 

 Iowa ; he had seen it in California. 



President Kimble stated that the dis- 

 ease had been prevalent years ago in 

 adjoining counties. 



CRATES FOR SHIPPING HONET. 



" Which are the best crates for ship- 

 ping comb honey ?" 



Mr. Coe favored the single-tier, 24 

 sections in a crate, with glass sides. 

 He would not advocate re-packing, as 

 it does not ship as well, and he receives 

 no better prices. 



C. Kuebler re-packs and ships in the 

 Lewis crates. 



It was quite unanimously thought 

 that shipping-crates holding only one 

 tier is best. 



"Which is the most profitable race 

 of bees to keep ?" For all practical 

 purposes, the Italian bees were consid- 

 ered first on the list. 



At the evening session, after prayer 

 by Rev. F. J. Norton, and some pleas- 

 ing music, Hon. L. W. Stewart, of 

 Monmouth, gave a rapid but most in- 

 teresting sketch of bee-culture. From 

 the earliest history, the bee had been 

 the companion of man ; honey in 

 Sacred Writ was often referred to as 

 an article of food and of commerce ; 

 this industry, like all others, has its 

 ups and downs, but it is now, through 

 the investigation of Huber, and the 

 improved hives of the present day, 

 rapidly coming to the front as one of 

 the principal industries. 



" Do Ifces injure fruit?" was the sub- 

 ject of an interesting essay read by 

 Mr. A. M. Tinker, in whi(th lie eon- 

 tended tiiat l)y distributing th(^ pollen, 

 it actually increased the fruit product. 



The average yield of each colony, 

 spring count, for last year, was 112 

 pounds — about half extracted. 



Welton, Iowa. 



INCREASE. 



How to manage It when Work, 

 ing for Extracted Honey. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY AARON BENEDICT. 



to swarm out. By placing tlic queen 

 in the emi)ty hive, she has ample njom 

 to deposit lier eggs for i)rodticing 

 workers to gather the honey, and, if 

 the honey-llou- is abundant, the bees will 

 fill the parent hive full of honey. This 

 can be extracted at intervals, or all at 

 once. Try my plan, and see if it is 

 not better than Mr. Funk's method. 

 Bennington, Ohio. 



COWVENTION DIRECTORY. 



Mr. H. W. Funk's prize essay on 

 page 198, is excellent, all but the ven- 

 tilation of the colon}'. I put the extra 

 hive under, instead of on top, of the 

 old hive. If the old colony swarms, I 

 hive them, place them on the old 

 stand, put the old hive on top with a 

 screen honey-board between. After 

 they get fairly to work in the new 

 hive, remove the screen honey-board, 

 and let the bees together again. Re- 

 move all the queen-cells from the old 

 hive. 



If there is a case of sections on the 

 old hive partly filled, leave it until 

 finished. By the time the queen gets 

 the lower hive filled with eggs, the 

 young bees will all be hatched ; and if 

 the honey-How be good, the bees will 

 have filled it with honey. This can be 

 extracted before the fall harvest 

 comes. 



DIVIDING COLONIES FOR INCREASE. 



This is done the same as above, by 



1890. 

 May I.- 

 May S.- 

 May T.- 

 May 7, 8, 



Time and place of meeting. 



-Southwestern Wi8conain. at Boscobel, Wis. 

 BenJ. B. Rice, Sec, Boscobel, Wis. 



-Susquehanna Co.. at Hopbottom, Pa. 



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



■Capital, at Springtleld, IDs. 



C. E. Vocora, Sec. Sherman, Ills. 



-Texas State, at Greenville, Tex. 



J. N. Hunter, Sec, Celeste, Tex. 



May 19.— Northern Illinois, at Cherry Valley, Ills. 

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



July 17.— Carolina, at Charlotte, N. C. 



N. P. Lyles, Bee, Derita, N. C. 



In order to have this table complete. 



Secretaries are requested to torward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editor. 





moving the old hive, 

 new one in its place. 



CiettiHg' Wees Out of'tlic Cases. 



I use two methods for getting bees out of 

 cases filled with honey, viz: 1. In warm 

 weather I slip a board under the case to be 

 taken off, and leave it there for three or 

 four hours (but not longer), after which I 

 lift the cover off quickly, raise one end of 

 the case, and blow a few puffs of smoke 

 under — then you should see my bees es- 

 cape. 3. Later in the season, when the 

 nights are cool, I use a cloth (burlap) in- 

 stead of a hoard, with one corner turned 

 back, so as to leave a small hole for the 

 bees to get down through, I do this in the 

 evening; the next morning before the sun 

 is up, I can carry the cases into the honey- 

 house with scarcely a bee, and no robbing 

 started. I have taken several tons of honey 

 off, by the above methods, and know that 

 they work all right. I have neither boards 

 nor cloth to sell, and do not use any funnel 

 in my bee-escape. Everebody is welcome 

 to use the plans. Joiix H.^ndkl. 



Savanna, Ills. 



as 

 and putting a 

 Now open the 

 old hive, take out the comb that the 

 queen is on, place this in the new hive, 

 put a frame of comb in its place, put 

 on a screen honey-board, and place the 

 parent hive on top. In eight or nine 

 days cut out all queen-cells in the old 

 hive, take away the division-board, let 

 the bees together, and the job is done. 

 This is the best plan for out apiaries 

 to secure extracted honey with the 

 least trouble. 



After the honey harvest is over, 

 place the bees back in the hive, giving 

 them plenty of good, sealed honey. 

 All the rest can be extracted. If the 

 bees swarm again, hive them, and 

 place them under the other two, as in 

 the first place. This keeps the work- 

 ing-force togetlier. If the empty hive 

 is placed on top of the parent hive, the 

 bees ma}', or they may not, work in 

 the upper hive. 



If the queen is left in the parent 



hive, and is cramped for room to de- J",""''?' *''^' tj^e State has ever known, and 



, , ' .,, , '""'" '■'-' i"= that lessened still more our chances for an 



posit eggs, the bees will be almost sure | early honey crop, by cutting off the bloom 



Apiciiltiiral Prospect in Florida. 



The greater portion of Florida has been 

 suffering from a six-months' drouth. I do 

 not thinli that an inch of rain has fallen in 

 all that time. Capillary action is very 

 active in our sandy soils, and brings up 

 water from below to supply, in a great 

 measure, the wants of vegetation, but on 

 the surface there has been much dried 

 grass and other material, and the forest 

 fires have licked up hundreds of acres of 

 this, and, in doing so, destroyed much of 

 the early bee-pasturage. 



As another result of the dry spell, we 

 have been visited by one of the most 

 distructive "freezes," lasting but a few 



