which she seldom will in the cold weather 

 of spring, but when it is warm and the bees 

 are plenty, then she will lay anywhere in 

 the hive. As soon as the strongest colonies 

 are full, I take a frame of hatching brood 

 out and put it in a weaker one, and then put 

 an empty comb in the stronger one for the 

 queen to fill again, and so I keep on till all 

 are full. Then put on the honey boxes, so 

 that if they gather honey, they must 

 put it in the boxes, the hive below being all 

 taken up with brood. Each box should have 

 a small piece of comb attached to the'top 

 for a starter, or, if you have no nice white 

 comb put in a narrow strip of comb-founda- 

 tion. 



J. F. Hershey had some weak colonies 

 last year. He took outnearly all the combs, 

 and began to feed them. They tried to 

 raise too much brood, and the colonies died. 

 Others that were left alone did very well. 

 If they have plenty of honey in the spring, 

 he did not think they should be fed. High 

 winds often injure colonies in early spring. 

 They should be protected. 



1. G. Martin generally gives his colonies 

 frames with honey, instead of feeding. 



J. F. Hershey said in an experience of 20 

 years, the queen of his best colony did not 

 begin laying until April ; he got 135 pounds 

 of honey from that hive. He does not 

 believe in feeding until after the apple 

 blossoms are over. To do so is to stimulate 

 them in rearing brood. Sugar is the best 

 artificial substance to feed bees with. 



MARKETING HONEY. 



J. F. Hershey thought the better the honey 

 is put up, the more you can sell. He has 

 sold much, and the nicer, cleaner and 

 whiter honey is, the better it will sell. He 

 will use one-pound boxes hereafter, believ- 

 ing them more salable than those of larger 

 size. The honey sells faster. Have the 

 boxes nice, clean and attractive. 



I. G. Martin exhibited boxes intended to 

 hold one and two pounds. Three months 

 ago he had these same boxes on exhibition 

 filled with honey, and they were exceedingly 

 beautiful. He preferred the two pound 

 boxes. In selling extracted honey, two or 

 three pound jars are best to put it in. He 

 had a sample on exhibition, which was a 

 most beautiful specimen of clover honey, 

 and as good as it was beautiful. 



J. F. Hershey advised that honey be 

 kept in a warm place ; it keeps better and 

 nicer. He has found that pound boxes of 

 honey sell better in the market than two 



Eound boxes. He will use single pound 

 oxes hereafter if experience shows him 

 they will continue in demand. He also 

 proposed to have the association composed 

 of paying members, and that a fair be held 

 next fall by the association, giving pre- 

 miums to the honey exhibited in the best 

 marketable shape. 



Elias Hershey suggested that a committee 

 be appointed to inquire whether we could 

 not hold an exhibition in conjunction with 

 the Agricultural Society. 



A motion to that effect was made and 

 carried. Peter S. Reist, Elias Hershey and 

 I. G. Martin were the committee appointed 

 by the chair. 



J. H. Mellinger thought questions should 



be assigned to different members, to be 

 answered at a future meeting. The motion 

 was made and carried. J. F. Hershey, J. H. 

 Mellinger and H. H. Myers were appointed 

 to prepare essays to be read at the next 

 meeting in May. 



FEEDING BYE FLOUR. 



J. H. Mellinger asked whether it was ad- 

 visable to feed rye flour. 



J. F. Hershey had fed this flour early in 

 the spring, as soon as the bees begin flying. 

 Don't feed too much. If you do, they gather 

 too much pollen. Feed a little each day. 



I. G. Martin thought where only a few 

 colonies were kept it was no advantage to 

 feed rye flour. Oats with the rye was better. 



Elias Hershey said where there were 

 maple trees it was not necessary to feed 

 rye flour. 



I. G. Martin said the willow was also a 

 good tree from which to gather pollen and 

 honey; it came into season immediately 

 after the maple. 



On motion, the Society adjourned to meet 

 again on the second Monday in May, 1879, at 

 Lancaster, Pa. 



North-Western Ohio Convention. 



Met at Wauseon, Jan. 2, 1879. The Presi- 

 dent,. Capt. W. F.Williams, delivered the 

 following address: 



Gentlemen of the Convention: — On this 

 cold winter day I greet you. More than 

 forty years ago, when a mere boy, I remem- 

 ber of roaming with the Indian through the 

 almost unbroken forests of this neighbor- 

 hood in pursuit of the wild deer and the 

 turkey. It was then a land of wild game, 

 and flowed (not much with milk), but plenty 

 of honey. But time has made a change. In- 

 stead of the almost unbroken forest, we now 

 have this beautiful town of Wauseon ; sur- 

 rounded by fertile and well-improved farms. 

 Instead of howling wolves we now have the 

 rumbling cars, and the whistle of the steam 

 engine. Instead of looking among the hol- 

 low trees and old logs of the forest, or pos- 

 sibly in the log gum or salt barrel around 

 the log cabin, for that most delicious sweet 

 honey, we now have the movable frame 

 hive, with its section boxes, the extractor, 

 comb foundation, and many other improve- 

 ments in apiculture. To these latter let us 

 direct our attention. That, while our little 

 pets are enjoying their winter slumber, let 

 us prepare for the coming summer labor. 

 The time allotted for our deliberation is 

 short. To utilize time permit me to call 

 your attention to some of the subjects that 

 require your notice, and submit questions 

 for your discussion. At our last convention 

 in the city of Toledo the following resolu- 

 tion was passed, viz : Resolved, That the 

 national convention at New York should 

 establish a standard of purity for Italian 

 queens, and that no queens should be 

 sent out by any queen breeder unless previ- 

 ously tested and up to the standard. Our 

 convention at the same time adopted the 

 standard of purity of the Italian. (See 

 American Bee Journnal, 1878, page 

 400), as follows: An Italian queen to be 

 pure should be of a golden or leather color, 



