330 



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Susquehanna Co. Convention. 



— H. M. Seeley, Harford, Pa., Secre- 

 tary of the Association, sends the fol- 

 lowing report : 



The Susquehanna County Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association met at the Tarbel 

 House, in Montrose, Pa., on Saturday, 

 May 4, 1889. President E. B. Smith 

 called the meeting to order, then the 

 usual routine of business was attended 

 to, after which was held the election 

 of officers for the ensuing j^ear, as fol- 

 lows : President, E. B. Smith ; Vice- 

 President, A. O. Warren ; Secretarj'- 

 Treasurer, H. M. Seeley. Various sub- 

 jects pertaining to bee-culture were 

 then discussed, and, taken altogether, 

 it was very interesting, as well as an 

 instructive one, being thoroughly en- 

 joyed by all present. 



Abundance of "IVhite Clover. 



— J. T. Wilson, Little Hickman, Kj-., 

 on May 13, 1889, savs : 



We are having copious showers now, 

 which will give us an abundance of 

 white clover ; the ground is already 

 white with it in places. 



Early Pollen from maples J. 



A. Williamson, Lake Station, Ind., 

 writes : 



I send a sample flower of what I 

 call a '• pollen-tree," because the bees 

 gather pollen from it. Perhaps it has 

 a diflerent name, but I never have read 

 of a tree of this kind, that the bees 

 gather pollen from so early in the 

 spring. They begin to work on it as 

 soon as the frost is out of the ground, 

 and it lasts till willows commence to 

 bloom, making 5 or 6 weeks of bloom- 

 ing. The pollen is of a bright-yellow 

 color. The tree is a rapid grower ; the 

 first year it makes a straight growth of 

 4 to 6 feet, and finally reaches the 

 height of 50 or 60 feet. It is an orna- 

 ment as well as a shade tree ; its bark 

 is of a drab or light grey color, and its 

 tassels are from 1 to 2 feet in length. 



[It is one of the maples, all of which 

 jield pollen very early in the spring. 

 —Ed.] 



Bee-Keeping in England Mr. 



HeniT Neve, Warbleton, Sussex, Eng- 

 land, on May 1, 1889, writes : 



The last year here in England has 

 been a most disastrous one to bees and 

 bee-keepers ; many thousand colonics 

 have died from starvation and other 

 causes, but principally occupants of 

 straw hives. Very few colonies gath- 

 ered sutHcient during the past sum- 



mer to carry them through the winter 

 — some districts are entirely depopu- 

 lated. The bees here are, as a rule, 

 all wintered out-of-doors, cellaring of 

 bees being unknown. Our spring is 

 backward ; the last week we have had 

 a higher temperature, with much rain, 

 so that the bees have not been able to 

 do much. Here in the South, we have 

 at the present time, blooming willows, 

 dandelions, furze, and small fruit trees, 

 which the bees are working on freely 

 when the weather permits ; no need for 

 artificial pollen in my apiary in early 

 spring — I suppose I have enough furze 

 within half a mile, in full bloom, to 

 supplj' 200 colonies with pollen. We 

 are hoping for a better season this 

 year ; our sections, etc., are read3% for 

 they are just as they were put on the 

 hives last year, and taken oft" in the 

 same condition. The American Bee 

 Journal is a welcome visitor. 



Hives Crowded with Honey. 



—James McNeill, Hudson, N. Y., on 

 May 13, 1889, writes : 



Bees have had a splendid time on 

 apple-bloom. It was cold and rainy 

 during cherr3--bloom, so they got in 

 only two days' work on that. But we 

 have had real hot weather during 

 apple-bloom, with the mercury up in 

 the nineties some days, and before we 

 knew it our bees, which were on seven 

 frames, were crowded with honey. 

 We had to "fly around " prettj- lively 

 to give them more room. The hot 

 weather is bringing vegetation for- 

 ward with a rush. The season is at 

 least two weeks in advance of the 

 average, and I never had my bees in 

 such uniformly good condition at this 

 time of the year. They will be in 

 splendid condition for the harvest, 

 which, of course, will depend alto- 

 gether upon the weather. 



^Vintered Only One Colony. — 



W. H. Rowe, Bridgeport, Ind., on May 

 13, 1889, writes : 



I have had very bad luck this spring. 

 I left 8 colonies of my bees on the sum- 

 mer stands last fall, packed in leaves, 

 as I thought in good condition, but I 

 am sorrj' to say that during my absence 

 from home, the bees starved, and out 

 of 8 colonies I have only one left, and 

 only saved that by chance. My bees 

 stored no honey last fall, and I did 

 not get a pound from them last year ; 

 but I think that we will have a good 

 season this year, as clover looks well 

 now, and is blooming some alreadj'. I 

 started two j'ears ago with 2 colonies, 

 and did well until the past winter. 

 The Bee Journ.^l is a welcome vis- 

 itor, and I could not do without it. 



Combs of Diseased Colonies. — 



Chas. D. Barber, Stockton, N. Y., on 

 May 10, 1889, says : 



The bees in this locality, as a gen- 

 eral thing, wintered pretty well, but 

 some bee-keepers lost nearly all thej- 

 had. My loss was 8 colonies out of 11. 

 All had plenty of honey, but thej- had 

 the diarrhea, and one was queenless. 

 Are the combs of these diseased colo- 

 nies good to put other bees on again ? 

 The clover looks well, and the outlook 

 for honey is ver^- good. 



[Yes ; it will be quite safe to give 

 the combs mentioned to the bees ; they 

 will clean out the dead bees, and use 

 them without detriment — and will do 

 it much better and cheaper than you 

 can do it. — Ed.] 



Good Season Expected. — Jas. 

 T. Fennel, Venice, Ills., on May 13, 

 1889, says : 



White clover has been in bloom for 

 about 12 or 13 days here — plenty of 

 bloom, but the bees have not been 

 working on it. They have been work- 

 ing on a yellow flower ; but we had a 

 rain yesterday, and I think they will 

 go to work on white clover now. Bees 

 wintered nicely, and I expect a good 

 season this year. We have not had a 

 good season here since 1886. 



AVorking in the Sections. — Mr. 



Edward Margileth, Mt. Carroll, Ills., 

 on May 10, 1889, says : 



I put 53 colonies of bees into the 

 cellar on Nov. 26, 1888, and took them 

 out on March 15, 1889, without the 

 loss of one colony. All are in good 

 condition, and have plenty of honey. 

 They carried in the first pollen March 

 17. At present the bees are working 

 in the sections. The outlook for honey 

 is very promising. White clover is 

 now heading out. 



Mineral Wax. — John C. Swaner, 

 of Salt Lake City, Utah, writes as fol- 

 lows : 



On page 259 is an item with com- 

 ments, pertaining to ozocerite, or min- 

 eral wax. Utah has deposits of such 

 a mineral, but as far as can be ascer- 

 tained, they are not as yet very exten- 

 sive. A company has been incorpor- 

 ated with the intention of mining it, 

 but as nearly as can be ascertained, 

 thei'c has been only one carload put 

 on the market. It can as yet onlj' be 

 found in one location (so I am in- 

 formed), and that in not very large 

 quantities. I examined some samples 



