itmm M'mMmivmn bee jouRNai,. 



451 



COIVVENTION DIRECTORY. 



1 800. Time aiul place of mcetm(j. 



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



N. P. Lyles, Sec, Derita N. C. 



Aug. 19.— Northern Illinoia, at Harlem. Ills. 



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



Aug. :29.— Haldiniand, at j^outh Cayui?a, Ont. 



E. C. Campbell. Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



Sept 10.— Ionia County, at Ionia, Mich. 



H. Smith. Sec, Ionia, Mich. 



Oct. -'9-31.— Internatifjnal American, at Keokuk. la. 

 C. P. Dadant, Sec, Hamilton, Ills. 



Oct.— Missouri State, at Mexico, Mo. 



J. W. Rouse, Sec, Santa Fe, Mo. 



' In order to have this table complete, 



Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — Tue Editor. 



International Bee-Association. 



President— Hon. R. L. Taylor. Lapeer, Mich. 

 Secretah Y— C. P. Diidant Hamilton, Ills. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon ..Dowagiac, Mich, 

 SEC'y. AND Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago. 





Fraei-aKl. Avitli Ne^r Honey Odor. 



After having the poorest season I have 

 seen, my bees came through the last winter 

 without the loss of a single colony. I had 

 to feed some during May, on account of 

 so much wet, and very little fruit-bloom. 

 White clover, which is very abundant this 

 year, is now in full bloom. Most of the 

 honey is being stored in the brood-nest. 

 The air in the bee-yard is fragrant with the 

 odor of new honey. This, to me, is quite 

 refreshing. J. W. Carter. 



Pleasant Dale, W. Va., June 23, 1890. 



JUees I>yinsr in the Hive. 



I have started in the bee-business with 

 15 colonies this spring, in box-hives, which 

 I transferred to frame hives, and all have 

 been doing well until to-day. I put on 

 supers sometime ago, and looked at them 

 to-day, and all are doing well but one col- 

 ony, which had commenced work in the 

 super, but it was almost half full of dead 

 bees. I removed the super and found the 

 hive in the same condition, two-thirds of 

 the bees were dead, and all the brood. The 

 bees looked as if they had been drowned, 

 being of a very dark color. I killed the rest 

 ot the colony for fear they would disease 

 the rest of the bees. Will some one tell 

 me what was the cause, or the disease they 

 had, and the remedy i Thomas Powell. 



Macy, Ind., June 23, 1890. 



Xoo Miicii Rain for the Bees. 



This has been the worst spring for bees 

 in this part ot the country that I ever saw. 

 There was no honey in the blossoms, and 

 there seemed to be none in white clover 

 when it first bloomed, as bees did not store 

 any honey for two weeks after it first came 

 out, and were in a starving condition about 

 June 1, but since that time they have been 

 doing well, and swarming ; but the flow 

 does not seem to last. I think that big 

 rains have hurt it some. We are having 

 rain every daj' or two. Thos. Hoet. 



Salineville. O., June 23, 1890. 



Swarm Relm-iiiii"' to Old Hire. 



I bought 7 colonics of bees last Avinter, 

 and put them into the cellar, and when X 

 took them out on April 10, they were all 

 strong except one, that was queenless, and 

 the others robbed it. I had my first swarm 

 on May 28. I have one pure Italian colony 

 that swarmed on June 7, and then as;ai'n 

 on Juno 8. Who can beat that ; They 

 were the largest swarms I ever saw. 



What is the cause of a swarm goiug back 

 to the parent hive when it has a queen ? I 

 had one issue on June 10, I caught the 

 queen, and put her iuto the new hive, and 

 they all came out aud went into the parent 

 hive again. Mrs. S. F. Buukis. 



Wichita, Iowa, June 11, 1890. 



[Something about the new hive was 

 distasteful to them, and so they concluded 

 to go back to the hive they came from. It 

 it a good plan to give them a frame of un- 

 sealed brood, to induce them to stay in the 

 new hive, if they seem dissatisfied.— Ed.] 



Favorable YVeatber tor Bees. 



I cannot afford to do without the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, and no other bee-keeper 

 can, who wishes to keep posted and be up 

 with the age. Bees are slow about swarm- 

 ing. I have had only one swarm from 30 

 colonies — nearly all are strong, and are 

 storing honey in the sections. We are hav- 

 ing very favorable bee and honey weather 

 (except wind, which has blown more than 

 usual this season). A. M. Vannot. 



Hedrick, Iowa, June 23, 1890. 



Bees are Working' Hard. 



Bees are just booming around here — 

 some are filling their second case of sec- 

 tions like the first, with white clover honey. 

 They do not take time to swarm, but keep 

 working away — that is, mine do not, while 

 other bees are swarming much, and lots of 

 them are escaping to the woods. 



Ed. E. Smith. 



Carpenter, Ills., June 24, 1890. 



Bassvvood Blossoms. 



Bees are doing very well ; the basswoods 

 are loaded with blossoms, and may do great 

 things in the honey-flow. I am ready for 

 it. R. P. Holtermann. 



Romney, Ont., Juue 25, 1890. 



Cause of'LiOss in AVinter. 



I have hitherto hesitated in sending my 

 report, on account of my great misfortune 

 in losing about all my bees last winter — 

 133 colonies out of 142 — thinking at the 

 time that it was a misfortune due to my 

 personal neglect, because the forepart of 

 the winter proved so mild that I did not 

 store my bees in their winter repository 

 until quite late. I did Intend to take care 

 of them in December, but waited for a 

 more favorable opportunity, and dry mild 

 weather, for we had, in January, rain and 

 sleet, with some freezing; at one time 1J,< 

 inches of ice covered over the hives and 

 ground. 



I was careful after finding the bottom- 

 boards frozen solid on the ground, to pry 

 only the hives loose from the bottom- 

 boards, and place then on another bottom 

 for ti-ansportation to the bee-house. This 

 jarring aud coat of ice melting in the bee- 

 house after carrying them in, I concluded, 

 gave my bees the death-blow ; 18 colonies 

 I left nut altogether, and of these only one 

 lived through. I afterward heard reports 



all around through this section of country 

 — -^ of all the bees wintei'-killed. some ex- 

 perienced bee-men lo.sing all they had, and 

 in some localities they wintered well. It 

 is generally understood and believed that 

 the cause of so great loss in bees dying last 

 winter, was due to late honey-dew, which 

 proved a poison to the bees, for the symp- 

 toms were everywhere alike — diarrhea. 



In early spring, after putting them out, 

 they would swarm out, with the hive full 

 of honey, and unite in large masses and go 

 off, and those remaining would make no 

 headway in breeding. The blacks suffered 

 the most from the disease, and, strange to 

 say, the bees would kill off their queens 

 and start queen-cells as if they blamed the 

 queens for their misfortune. I watched 

 many colonies do the same, and the weather 

 being so cold in May, the queen-cells would 

 not hatch, and in spite of my efforts to 

 j heat bricks and place them over the brood- 

 I nest, they would dwindle away. In this 

 ' section of country, about ten miles square, 

 last fall we could easily count 600 colonies 

 of bees, and this spring, after spring dwind- 

 ling was over, we could not count 100 

 colonies. 



I presume that many bee-keepers have 

 learned a lesson in neglecting to prepare 

 their bees early for winter, with plenty of 

 wholesome stores and warm packing. My 

 loss in bees, and broken bones, will put a 

 check to my bee-keeping in the future. 



Stephen Roese. 

 Maiden Rock, Wis., June 24, 1890. 



Bees Booming on the Clovers. 



Bees are now booming on Alsike and 

 white clover ; two-thirds of the bees around 

 here perished for want of food during the 

 last half of May. We saved all of ours, and 

 now they are paying for the trouble and 

 expense. H. H. Flick. 



LavansvHle, Pa., June 21, 1890. 



<]!etting Considerable Honey. 



We have had fine rains, and bees are 

 getting considerable honey, and making 

 preparations to swarm. We may have a 

 good season yet. W. J. Cvllinan. 



Qulncy, lUs., June 18, 1890. 



Ciardening tor Vl'omen. 



Bee-culture, poultry-raising, sUk-worm, 

 culture, etc., are often brought to our 

 notice as possible and profitable employ- 

 ments for those residing in the country, 

 who are desirous of adding to their 

 finances. Market gardening aud floricul- 

 ture have been taken up by some enter- 

 prising ladies on a large scale, and made 

 to yield good incomes, providing work for 

 many people, but to the farmer's wife, the 

 residents of small villages, and young girls 

 everywhere (save In the thickly settled 

 parts of the cities), nothing offers more 

 certain returns for the amountof labor and 

 money invested, than in raising small fruits 

 and early vegetables. 



Fresh, green lettuce, bright, crisp rad 

 dishes, cucumbers for the table and pick- 

 ling, squashes, tomatoes, and melons, 

 require but little care after once the 

 ground is prepared. Asparagus seed costs 

 but 10 cents a package, and the two-year- 

 old roots from 75 cents to SI. 50 per 100. 

 It takes patience, of course, to wait for the 

 three years' growth necessary after plant- 

 ing the seeds before the shoots can be cut. 

 Then you may cut from the bed for years. 

 A medium-sized bed has been known to 

 yield .$50 worth of shoots in a single season 

 at very moderate prices. 



Strawberry culture always brings good 

 returns, and though the labor of setting 



