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COWVENTION DIRECTORY. 



1889. Time and Plact of IteeUng- 



Jan. 30, 31.-N.E.O..N.Pa.& W. N.T., at Franklin, Pa. 

 O. H. Coon. Sec New Lyme, Ohio. 



Feb. 6.— Northeastern Michigan, at Flint. Mich- 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Sec, Flint, Mich. 



Feb. T.— Wisconsin State, at Madison, Wis. 



C. A. Hatch, Pres,, Ithaca, Wis. 



May 1, 2.— Texas State, at Greenville, Tex. 



a. A. Wilson, Sec, McKinney, Tex. 



May 4.— Susquehanna County, at Montrose, Pa. 



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



tW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particularB of 

 time and place of future meetinus.— BID. 





UuckwUeat and Fall Flowers. 



—Mrs. O. F. Jackson, Sigourney, Iowa, on 

 Jan. 12, 1889, says : 



White clover honey was quite scarce liere 

 the past season, and most of our honey was 

 gathered from buckwheat and fall flowers, 

 but it was excellent quality. The bees filled 

 the brood-charabers, and gave some surplus 

 in the sections. We have honey for our 

 buckwheat cakes, and I have sold enough 

 to pay all expenses of the past season. I 

 did not have to feed any of my colonies for 

 winter, as I took frames of honey from 

 strong colonies, and gave them to late 

 swarms. I feel quite hopeful of their safe 

 wintering, when ihey have an abundance of 

 natural stores. 



torn double, with chaff filled between the 

 walls. On this I have four boards 8 inches 

 wide, nailed together like a box without a 

 bottom ; this fits on the main hive, and an- 

 swers as a receptacle for a super, or section- 

 crate in the summer, and for packing ma- 

 terial in the winter. On top of the brood- 

 nest I lay one or two thicknesses of burlap, 

 and on top of that I put about a bushel of 

 fine wood shavings ; such as is made 

 when sawing out sections. To complete 

 the work, I put a chatf cushion, 4 or 5 inches 

 thick, on the other packing material ; and a 

 roof or cover finishes the hive. This hive 

 suits me. My bees had a nice flight yester- 

 day. 



Xlie Winter iu Aiislrla.— Alex. 



Schroeder, Jr., of Trieste, Austria, on Dee. 

 ■27, 1888, writes : 



We had splendid weather in December up 

 to the 23d, when rains and fogs set in. My 

 bees were flying busily on the Nespola 

 Japonica and the watering place. 1 hope 

 that they will go through tlie winter all 

 right, though I do not like too mild winters, 

 with occasional frosts. 



Mysterious Carelessness.— Mr. L. 



Eastwood, Waterville, 0., on Jan. 7, 1889, 

 writes : 



Tears ago bee-keeping was full of mys- 

 teries, but one modern mystery remains un- 

 solved, and that is, the carelessness of bee- 

 keepers of their own interests, by remain- 

 ing out of the Bee Keepers' Union, it is a 

 pleasure to belong to a society where men 

 are equal, and covetousness unknown ; there 

 the strong are willing to help the weak 

 without, and where there is no danger of 

 retroactive salary-grabbing. It may be 

 asking too much of our good friends, the 

 officers, but while they are doing so well, I 

 do not want to see any change. It is a bad 

 time to "swap horses while fording a 

 stream," and we are not yet over the dark 

 waters of Prejudice and Ignorance. 



Hybriclizins: Uees. — C. Gardiner, 

 Lyn, Ont., on Jan. 8, 1889, asks the follow- 

 ing questions : 



1. Having 100 colonies of brown Germans, 

 would crossing the queens with selected 

 Italian drones improve them as honey-gath- 

 erers ? 3. If an improvement, could drones 

 be purchased by tlie pound from selected 

 stock ? 3. Would drones be accepted, or 

 could they be united, and be all right in the 

 hives ? 4. What would drones be worth by 

 the pound ? 



By request, Mr. James Heddon replies to 

 the above as follows : 



1. No better bees can be produced than 

 by crossing your brown German queens 

 with just the right kind or strain of Italians. 



2. I do not know what to say about the 

 practicability of buying drones. My way 

 always was, and I guess always will be, to 

 buy the Italian queens and keep them at 

 work in drone-comb, getting my drones in 

 that way. 



Poor Stores for Winter.— S. J. 



Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Jan. 13, 

 1889, says : 



My 59 colonies of bees were put into the 

 cellar on Dec. 1, 1888, and so far they are 

 wintering first rate. They stored 300 pounds 

 of comb honey, and 400 pounds of extracted, 

 all being fall honey except 100 pounds from 

 linden. Last winter and spring 1 lost two- 

 thirds of the bees, leaving 37 weak colonies 

 to commence with on June I. 1 think that 

 the cause of loss was poor stores for winter 

 food. 



WUite Clover l.,ooks Promising-. 



—Frank Coverdale, Welton, Iowa, on Jan. 

 10, 1889, says : 



My bees are in the cellar, and thus far 

 they are wintering well. They are very 

 quiet, with no signs of disease yet, with the 

 temperature at 43° to 44°. The first snow- 

 storm of any account fell yesterday and day 

 before, to the depth of about 5 inciies. I 

 was glad to see the ground covered. It will 

 help to save the clover, which is now in a 

 promising condition. The American Bee 

 JouBNAi, is superior to all other bee-papers. 



ValnaMe.- W. M. Rowe, Lawrence, 

 Kans., on Jan. 14, 1889, writes : 



I wish to congratulate the Editor on the 

 improvements made in the American Bee 

 Journal. It grows better and more inter- 

 esting with each issue. The number for 

 Jan. 12, 1889, alone, is worth the price of a 

 year's subscription. Success to it. 



ITIaine Bee-Keepers. — Mr. L. F. 



Abbott, editor of the Lewiston Journal 

 writes as follows : 



In the face of one of the poorest honey 

 seasons for 2.5 years, the Maine bee-keepers 

 are as hopeful and enthusiastic as ever. It 

 is useless to be discouraged over a failure 

 now and then. It is better far to keep right 

 on in tlie even tenor of our way, and as tar 

 as possible avert the results of poor seasons 

 by good management. How to do this, the 

 American Bee Journal is showing most 

 admirably, and I hope that the editor may 

 long continue iu the good work, and be well 

 paid for it, too. 



Ileart's-Ease Honey, etc.— S. G. 



Palmer, Tobias, Nebr., on Jan. 9, 1889, says: 



1 am a beginner in bee-keeping, and I 

 have 13 colonies of bees in chaff hives. 

 They are wintering finely, having a flight 

 every few days. I gave each colony 2.5 

 pounds of honey for winter. The crop of 

 honey was light here the past season. We 

 have to depend upon heart'sease for our 

 honey here, which lasted only about twelve 

 days. It gives a good quality of light, thick 

 liohey. 



Bees IMrt Very W^ell.— 0. P. Miner, 

 Cincinnatus, N. Y., on Jan. 8, 1889, writes : 



I had 10 colonies in the spring of 1888, 

 which I increased to 16, and took 370 pounds 

 of comb honey. One colony that did not 

 swarm stored 97 pounds. Considering the 

 poor season, with scarcely any yield from 

 basswood, I think that this is doing very 

 well. My surplus was obtained principally 

 from white and Alsike clover, with some 

 from milk-weed. My bees have done better 

 than the average in this locality. On Dec. 

 26, and two or three succeeding days, the 

 bees had good flights, and appeared to be in 

 a healthy condition. 



I>oii1>le-^ValIed Hives, etc.— Mr. 



Daniel Wyss, New Philadelphia, Ohio, on 

 Jan. 13, 1889, writes : 



I have read the American Bee Jour- 

 nal with great pleasure since June, 1886. I 

 read quite a number o: papers, but no other 

 gives nie more pleasuie than it does. I have 

 14 colonies of bees ih splendid condition, 

 packed on the suiura<ir stands, in hives of 

 my own manufacture!. The hives consists 

 of Simplicity framew, lower story and bot- 



Honey-Vinesfai — Hoarlionnd.— 



J. H. Brown, Prescott, Ariz., on Jan. 1, 

 1889, writes : 



Please answer the following : 1. How 

 long will bees prosper without new stock 

 from a distance ? 3. Will vinegar made of 

 honey keep without change, if bottled up 

 air-tight ? I secured about a ton of honey 

 this year, and about the same last year, 

 from about 40 colonies, spring count, most 

 of it being dark honey. Of all the plants 

 we have sowed here, nothing will grow but 

 hoarhound, and if anvthing would grow 

 that cattle would eat, it would do us no 

 good as a honey-plant. 



[1. For an unlimited time. 



3. As honey-vinegar is made by the com- 

 bined action of heat and air, it must not be 

 corked up tight— it needs air.— En.] 



Bees liad Fi-e«iMent Fliglits.- F. 



H. McDonald, Star, Idaho, on Jan. 2, 1889, 



writes : 



I had 9 colonies of bees last spring, which 

 1 increased to 2S, by natural swarming. 1 

 obtained about 300 pounds of honey, and 

 sold 200 pounds at 30 cents per pound. Bees 

 got plenty of honey for winter stores. They 

 have flown on almost every day until two 

 weeks ago, when the ground froze 4 inches 

 deep, with just snow enough to cover the 

 ground. It is clear and pleasant through 

 the day. This morning it was the coldest— 

 the mercury being at zero. 



