•FH® MMEMicMjH wmm j&^mumL,. 



695 



In a few days after, I received his 

 answer, stating tliat he conld not do 

 anything for me in regard to the mat- 

 ter, because the rule and classification 

 had been adopted by the combined 

 railroail companies. 



After they had charged such an ex- 

 orbitant price, they would not take any 

 risk whatever. I then asked them 

 what the difterence would be, if I load 

 a car with irou ore or bees, if thej' take 

 no risk for bees : but they left this 

 question unanswered. 



The Superintendent admitted that 

 their ruling was unjust, and the rate 

 too high on bees, but he had to carry 

 them out until thej' are changed. I 

 am of the opinion that if a good com- 

 mittee is appointed bj' the Chicago 

 convention, to bring the matter before 

 the classification committee, a more 

 favorable tarifl' for bees could be 

 gained. Christopher Grimm. 



Mr. Green said that the Chicago, 

 Burlington & Quincy railroad for a 

 year had such a ruling. Less then a 

 carload was cliarged as much as a full 

 carload. 



It was moved that Mr. Thomas G. 

 Newman be appointed a committee to 

 attend the meetings of the railroad 

 transportation committees, and en- 

 deavor to secure a change in the un- 

 reasonable ruling. 



Mr. Newman thought that it would 

 simply be so much time wasted. These 

 bodies did not live up to their agree- 

 ments. He cited the instance where 

 members of the Society had failed to 

 secure reduced rates from the east of 

 Chicago, when such rates had been 

 promised. 



Mr. Heddon — We must treat with 

 railroads upon busi7iess principles. To 

 simply go to them with a complaint 

 amounts to nothing. It must be shown 

 to them that such rulings as the one' 

 mentioned only throws the business of 

 carrying bees into the hands of the 

 express companies. By express is the 

 best way to ship bees, unless sent in 

 large quantities, and the owner with 

 them. 



Mr. Root — We have had quite a little 

 to do with railroads, and have found 

 them quite reasonable. 



Thomas G. Newman, A. I. Root and 

 James Heddon were finally appointed 

 as a committee to confer with the rail- 

 roads. 



Thirty dollars were . voted to the 

 Secretary, and, on motion of Mrs. 

 Harrison, it was voted to pay any bal- 

 ance in the treasury, after all bills 

 were met, to dear Father Langstroth. 



A vote of llianks was extended to the 

 pi'oprietors of the Commercial Hotel, 

 for courtesies shown in giving reduced 

 rates, free hall, etc. 



Xime tor I%ext jYleetin;;. 



As there are uncertainties in regard 

 to when the best railroad rates may be 

 secured another fall (the Exposition 

 buildings are to be torn down), it was 

 decided to leave the fixing of the date, 

 for the next meeting, with the officers. 

 A jjreference was expressed for the 

 latter part of October. 



The convention adjourned to meet 

 at the call of the ofiicers, in the fall of 

 1890. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



FALL HONEY. 



Unfinished Sections — Oallicring 

 Honey Rapidly. 



Written for the American Bee Jounial 



BY AARON COPPIN. 



I have paid particular attention to 

 golden-rod for three seasons ; we have 

 two varieties of it here, and I have 

 never seen bees work on the one 

 shown in "Prang's National Flower." 



1 have seen bees work on the other 

 variety a little, but I do not think that 

 its value is much as- a honey-plant. 

 The aster is our very best fall honey- 

 plant. 



The honey crop has been very poor 

 here, and bees are not in very good 

 condition for winter. I have just been 

 overhauling some colonies that I was 

 working for extracted honej', thinking 

 that I had lots of honey to extract, but 

 those that had honey in the upper 

 stories, had nothing but emptj' combs 

 in the brood-nest, so that the bees need 

 all the honey for winter; hence I have 

 nothing to extract this fall. 



I am also giving all unfinished sec- 

 tions to the bees to clean out, as I do 

 not think that it pays to extract such 

 small pieces, especially when the bees 

 need feeding. 



I was preparing several colonies for 

 winter, from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10, and I 

 found fine-looking queens, but not a 

 bit of brood. I think that it is earlj- 

 in the season for bees to be entirely 

 without brood. 



How long it takes bees to find pa,s- 

 ture, get a load of nectar and return 

 home again, I do not know ; but 1 took 



2 colonies five miles from home, and 

 put them tlown by a farm-house about 

 one-fourth of a mile from a buckwheat 

 field, to see what difference in the 

 quantitj' and quality of honey there 

 would be between those two and the 

 home apiary, as I had no buckwheat at 

 home. I released the bees, and I went 

 right to the buckwheat field and back 

 again, which took me about 15 min- 

 utes, and I never saw loaded bees 

 come home fa.ster than those did. 



Wenona, Ills., Oct. 17, 188!.t. 



HONEY-BOARDS. 



Best Material for Brood-Nest 

 Covers In Winter. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY O. B. BARROWS. 



My neighbor, Mr. Pinkerton, usually 

 keeps from 100 to 150 colonies of bees, 

 all of which he winters in his cellar ; 

 a part (jf them he covered the brood- 

 nest with enameled cloth, a part with 

 quilts, and a part with honey-boards 

 made of wood ; on these last, which 

 have slots for the bees to pass up 

 through, he u.ses the two-pound sec- 

 tions, and when the sections are re- 

 moved in the fall, he covers the slots 

 with a narrow board ; on the others he 

 uses one-pound sections. When he 

 l)ut them out in the spring, he saw no 

 difference, but when they came to 

 storing surplus honey he noticed that 

 he was using the two-pound .sections 

 much the faster, which would indicate 

 that those under the wooden honey- 

 board had wintered the best. 



Now I wish to ask, which is the 

 best material for a honey-board to 

 cover the brood-nest in the winter, 

 where bees are wintered in a cellar ? 

 Will some one please reply ? 



Marshalltown, Iowa, Oct. 12, 1889. 



SEASON OF 1889. 



Carniolan Bees — W^ell Pleased 

 ^vitli tlie Results. 



Written for the American BeeJournul 



BY F. S. JOHNSON. 



One week ago I took the last of the 

 sections from my hives. I began the 

 season with one strong colony and one 

 weak one, and I now have 6 colonies, 

 witli an average of 10 American frames 

 solid with honey, and have taken 862 

 well-tilled sections from them — 362 

 pounds of honey. The old strong col- 

 olony gave 137 pounds of surplus 

 honey, and the new colony, taken from 

 the old one, gave 130 pounds. 



I purchased a Carniolan queen on 

 June 26, gave her one frame of brood 

 and one empty comb ; the colony filled 

 12 American frames solid with very 

 nice honey, and are very strong and 

 in good condition for winter. 



I had one small swarm which I found 

 clustered on one of the rails between 

 the ties on the railroad track, on one 

 windy day, Aug. 25. I scooped them 

 up in my hands, and put them into a 

 box, and by the use of a little smoke, I 

 succeeded in getting them all in. At 

 night I took them home, and gave 

 them foundation, and one frame of 

 honey, partly filled. They now have 



