300 



TTMm MMBRKCAIf WMM JOmRMmiU, 



COIVVENTIOIV UIRECTOKY. 



1890. Time and pUirc nf mccllnij. 



Miiy 7.-Cllpltul, lit SprliiKtleld. IIIh. 



C. K. Vofom, See Sherman, Ills. 



May 7, H.— ToxiiM State, at GroenvlHo, Tex. 



,T. N. lliiiitor, 8oc., Celeste, Tex. 



May 10. -York and Cumberland, at Huxtctn Ctr.. Me. 

 C. W. CostelUiw, Sec., Wttterboro, Me. 



May I7.~IIaIdtnnvnd, at Cayutfa, Ont. 



E. C. Cadipbell, See., Cayuga, t>nt. 



May 20.— Northern IlIlncplH, at Cherry Valley, Ill«. 

 I). A. Kullor. Sec., Cherry Valley, 1118. 



July 17.-Carollna, at Charliitte, N. C. 



N. 1". Lyles, See., Dorlta N. C. 



1138?" In order to have this table complete, 

 Sooretaries ai'o rcquosted to forward full 

 partii'iilars of tlie time aud the place of 

 each future meetiug. — The Riiitou. 



Internationa,! Bee-Assoclatlon. 



PiiKsiDKNT— llini. U. I,. Tayhir. . I,apccr, Mich. 

 SECiiKTAiiv— ('. P. Umlaut Ilaiiillldii, Ilia. 



ITational Bee-Keepers' Union. 



PliKRiDBNT— .lames Hcddoii . Dowatfliu', Mich. 

 Sec'y. and Manaoku— T. G. Ncwiniin.ChU^UKO. 



Not HO 4;ol<l— Wintered ■'''iix-ly. 



Yea, verily, it will uot do to combine 

 pleasure with letter-writinp, especially if 

 one is pressed for time, as was the case 

 when I prcparc<l the article on '* Winter- 

 ing Hees," which was published on page 

 2(!J. The type writer operator, among 

 other mistakes made, caused mo to say 

 that the theriuometer at one time last win- 

 tor, registered (it) degrees below zero. Now 

 be it known that it never has been that 

 low in any jiortion of Nebraska; I shoidd 

 have said 2ii degrees below zero. Since 

 writing the article referred to above, I have 

 taken the bees from the collar, and find 

 that every colony is in fine condition, and 

 breeding rapidly. A. C Tvuum.. 



Madison, Nebr., April 19, 1890. 



HeeM are at tVwrlc. 



My bees have been at work for some time. 

 Last fall 1 put ."i <'iilonies into winter (juar- 

 ters, and this spring 1 have taken only 8 

 out alive --the other 2 have gone to the 

 "hai)py hunting grounds." 1 intend to 

 build large hives Ibis year, and let only 

 one swarm issue from the hive of each 

 colony. O. K. Hawkins. 



Heliport, N. Y. 



Paiiiliiis: llir«>M— 1Viiit<T4Ml M'«'II. 



As the subject of painted and unpainted 

 hives is being discussed, I would say that I 

 paint all of my hives white, and never use 

 any shade, and have no troublt^ about 

 combs melting down; but Inst season 1 

 made some hives that 1 did not paint, and 

 in nearly every one the cdmbs melted 

 down. I had 5 colonies in iinpaiiitcd hives, 

 and there was not one of them that came 

 through in good condition. I like my hives 

 painted on tbe insidt^ as well as outsitle —it 

 pays. 



The weather so far has not been very 

 good for bees, but they have been working 

 for the last few days on box-elder, and 

 seem to be in pretty good (»ndition. All 

 the 235 colonies that 1 put iuto the cellar 

 wintered well, except 5J that were queen- 



less. 1 notice that one writer who has less 

 than 50 trolonies, wants to know who can 

 beat him. I think that I can do nearly as 

 well with more bees. Three years ago I 

 had 100 colonies, and had no loss; 2 years 

 ago 140, and no loss; and 235 last year, 

 witli only 2 lost, and if I would have had 

 time to look them over last fall, I would 

 not have lost those, for I would have 

 doubled them up with some others. They 

 came out far ahead of my expectations for 

 not being looked over at all in the fall. As 

 I had to build a new house very late, I had 

 no time to attend to the bees. 



N. Staininoeu. 

 Tiptou, Iowa, April 22, 1890. 



llccM ^Viiiter<Ml Very Well. 



My bees have wintered very well. I 

 never saw so much honey in the hives at 

 this time of the year. J. L. Way. 



South Newbury, O., April 19, 1890. 



PIntteriiiK ProMpectH— ^o I..OMi!ieH. 



The prospects for a good honey crop in 

 this locality are very flattering. Nothing 

 but unfavorable weather will prevent it. 

 There are no winter losses hero; in fact, 

 colonies wintered with the surplus on, did 

 well. K. I!. WooDWAUi), M. D. 



Somerset, O., April 23, 1890. 



Ilei-s Win<cre4l iH Pinf 4'on«lilion 



Hees have generally wintered in fine con- 

 dition; those out-doors, packed in chaff, 

 shavings, etc., are especially fine. Those 

 wintered in the cellar, I expected to lose, 

 as they were very uneasy. My 88 colonies 

 all wintered, but one is queenless. Bees 

 cainiot help but boom, this census year. 

 White clover looks ])romisiug. Honey is all 

 used up. (iuo. Simtleu. 



Mosiertown, Pa., April 22, 1890. 



Kee.H ill Wt'itic <7oii<lilioii. 



Hees here are in a very weak condition, 

 as the loss was very heavy in bees, in the 

 cellar, although the loss in colonies was 

 only about 5 per cent. The weather has 

 been warm and very dry thus far, an<l if it 

 does not rain soon, the outlook will not be 

 very encoui'aging. The soil was in excel- 

 lent condition ft)r spring work, and farmers 

 have seeding mostly finished. 



Wm. Enke. 



Rochester, Minn., April 23, 1890. 



'I'Ik^ l*i-»N|M-<rlH ill FIoi-l«1a. 



Til da^• we are about where we were 8 

 weeks ago - with not as much honey in the 

 hives, but more bees. The orange trees 

 were beginning to bloom; the frost then 

 cut them oK, and killed nearly all the 

 blooni and buds, as well as much of the 

 young growth. The second growth is put 

 (Hit again and is full of bloom, ami we hope 

 that we will have some orange honey yet, 

 but it will be mixed with the wihl grape. 

 Our honey season will be shorter than 

 usual. The palmetto will soon be in bloom 

 also, but much of it was killed by the frost, 

 or so damaged that the bloom will bp later, 

 niid not so plentiful. The button-ltall was 

 killed back a great deal, but the second 

 growth is coming out finely, and will be 

 very abundant. I think that it lost nearly 

 all the summer months. 



( )ur prospects for a fall flow of honey is 

 not very lu-oniising, but we aic not dis- 

 ccniraged in the least, and believe that 

 along the upper St. Johns river is one of 

 the best locations in the State, or in almost 

 any other State. There are only a few 

 days in the year that bees cannot gather 



their supi)ort — there are very few that take 

 any care of their bees with the care that 

 they deserve and require for a profit. Suc- 

 cessful bee-keeping can only be done by 

 specialists who have no other occupations 

 that may cause the bees to be neglected a 

 single day. Strict attention aud skill in 

 their care with a manipulation of each 

 colony as to its needs, are the only certain 

 road to success. To know every colony ■ 

 reiiuires the closest observation, with no 

 putting off until to morrow. 



John Ckavcuaft. 

 St. Francis, Fla., April 19, 1890. 



Wiiit4' C;iov4'r a, Pcrl'ect Mat. 



Bees in this county have wintered very 

 well — mostly on the summer stands. I 

 think that the loss will not be more than 5 

 per cent, of all good colonies in the fall ; 

 the reason is that almost all had good 

 clover honey in the brood comhs. Kees are 

 doing nicely now on fruit bloom and 

 maple buds. I think they are gathering 

 honey from the aiiple, and if the weather 

 continues as favorable as it is now, a week 

 more, or until all of the apple-trees are in 

 bloom, there will be some swarms. The 

 weather is fine now, and everything bids 

 fair for a good lioney year. The white 

 clover is a perfect mat all over the ground 

 —it has a good foothold here in Kansas. 



Hiuam J. Waud. 



Farmington, Kans., April 21, 1890. 



4jallierine Pollen and llwney. 



I put 42 colonies of bees into the cellar 

 last fall, and put out 42 this spring, but 

 one swarmed out, and two were light and 

 queenless, which 1 put with another weak 

 one, leaving me now 89. All are carrying 

 in pollen and honey from willow and pop- 

 lars. We are having nice spring weather, 

 wheat is about all sowed, and some people 

 are making garden. I have 50 acres of 

 land, 30 of it being heavy timber, with a 

 good many basswood and box-elder trees, 

 and hard and soft maple. 



Geo. H. Ai'uiNOEK. 



Bonuiwell's Mills, Minn., April 23, 1890. 



Iiietlins: Keady tor the Season. 



We are having splendid weather now — 

 1 1 days without rain. Pollen is coming in 

 plentifully, and some honey. Everything 

 looks like a good season with the bees. We 

 are getting our apiary into shape, and 

 expect to have drones ilying from our best 

 imported colony in 2 or 3 weeks. We shall 

 run 300 of our nuclei hives with small 

 section frames; many of the small combs 

 are filleil with brood in all stages, ready to 

 be broken up at any time. 



Our method of forming nuclei that will 

 stay wliere they are put, is very sim]ile: 

 Six of the small hives will just fit on top of 

 a full colony, aud we can get a few queens 

 mated there lietoro breakingu]) tiine 

 comes ; then all we have to do is to lift 

 them off and start a new lot, by lifting 

 hatching brood up in small combs from the 

 brood-combs below, and placing screen- 

 cloth between; put in 2 combs of honey 

 and a (|ueen cell, and in a few days they 

 will Im ready to come off. 



In this way, we can get all the working 

 nuclei we need, without the usual bother 

 of bees going back. They soiuetimcs swarm 

 out as soon as they get their liberty, but 

 the ipieens are held by nectnr, and they 

 return all right. The next <liiy we put in 

 n comb of brood, and the (]iu'eii is allowed 

 to lly and be innted to our select drones 

 that we shall have in great ipittutities dis- 

 tributed among the small hives. 



E. L. Pn \TT. 



Marlboro, Mass., April 21, 1890. 



