section boxes ? A.— Side boxing is essential 

 in connection with top boxing. 



Q. — How early in this section should bees 

 be unpacked for examination ? A. — Un- 

 pack to examine and repack till May. 



Q.— How to keep your bees strong— as 

 strong colonies get the honey ? A.— This 

 can only be accomplished by long and practi- 

 cal experience. 



Q.— Which are best for honey gathering, 

 Italians, blacks or hybrids? A.— For light 

 honey, Italians ; for buckwheat, blacks or 

 hybrids are preferable. 



Q.— What time, should bees be taken from 

 winter quarters ? A.— About the time soft 

 maple blooms. 



Q.— How to unite weak colonies, as it is 

 often desirable to do in spring and fall? 

 A.— Destroy all but best queen ; cage her 

 and brush all bees into one hive. 



Q — How often should honey be extracted 

 in the course of a season ? A.— This will 

 depend upon the number of combs furnished. 

 It is preferable to furnish a good supply of 

 combs and extract less frequently— about 

 once each week. 



Q. — What is the usual price of quart cans? 

 A. — About one dollar per dozen. 



Q.— The best mode of wintering? A.— 

 Indoor wintering is preferable. One of the 

 committee prefers out-door wintering. 



Q.— The best practical hive ? A.— The 

 practical movable comb hive you are ac- 

 customed to handle. 



Q— How much honey should be given to 

 bees for wintering ? A.— 20 lbs. for indoor 

 wintering ; 25 lbs. for out-door wintering. 



Q. — Is there anything to be gained by ex- 

 tracting closely in a time when the honey 

 comes freely, and then, in a time of scar- 

 city, feeding it back to the bees for them to 

 store in boxes for sale ? A.— This practice 

 receives favor by some bee-keepers — our 

 own exp rience does not favor it. 



Q.— Can old bee-bread be removed from 

 combs without injury to the combs ? A. — 

 Yes. 



Q.— Shall we feed bees in spring to stimu- 

 late brood-rearing ? A.— Yes ; especially if 

 short of honey. 



Q. — If so, how early and how long con- 

 tinue the same? A.— Continue feeding 

 until the yield of honey from blossoms com- 

 mences. Geo. W. House, Sec. 



Fayetteville,N. Y. 



Missouri Valley Convention. 



Pursuant to call for a meeting of the bee- 

 keepers living contiguous to Kansas City, 

 Mo., a large number of people, male and 

 female, assembled at the Court House on 

 April 5th, 1870, and organized by appoint- 

 ing James F. McAdow temporary chairman. 



The object of the meeting being the per- 

 manent organization of an association of 

 bee-keepers, a committee was appointed to 

 prepare and present a Constitution and By- 

 Laws. The report of the committee was 

 adopted and the following who gave the 

 number of colonies of bees which they 

 respectively represent, signed their names 

 as charter membeis. 



Those living in or near Kansas Citj", Mo., 



were J. F. McAdow, 25 colonies ; S. W. 

 Salisbury, 52; J. D. Gregg, 20 ; Alice Gregg, 

 15; E. M. Hayhurst, 85; C. II. Orrendorf, 8; 

 Mrs. F. J. Meyer, 25; J. M. Slociun, . 



Those near Independence, Mo.— S. W. 

 Baldwin, 204 colonies ;J. D. Meador, 175 ; 

 F. J. Fair, 130; P. Baldwin, 125; J. W. 

 Cook, . 



Wyandotte Co., Kan.— W. P. Hogarty, 75 

 colonies. 



Johnson Co., Kan.— Mrs. J. A. Nelson, 34; 

 James Passmore, 100 colonies. 



Westport, Mo.— Henry Segar, 50 colonies ; 

 Martin Wyman, 35. 



Clay Co., Mo.— James H. Jones, 30 colo- 

 nies; George Houston, 17. 



Greenwood, Mo.— Win. M. Kitterick, 104 

 colonies; Jacob Mollett, 20. 



The convention permanently organized by 

 the election of J. D. Meador, President ; P. 

 Baldwin, Secretary; Wm. M. Kitterick, 

 Treasurer. 



president's address. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— It my wishes 

 had been consulted, a gentleman of this 

 city who has been largely instrumental in 

 calling together this assemblage would have 

 been selected as your presiding officer. We 

 are associated together, not alone for the 

 benefit of the bee-keeper, but also of the 

 fruit grower of the entire community. We 

 seek for light and knowledge in every de- 

 partment not incompatible with our own. 

 Some fruit growers believe that bee-keeping 

 is detrimental to their interests and we 

 should invite discussion and investigation. 

 If their views are correct, let us know them; 

 but if erroneous, let us convince them of. 

 the fact. The interests of both are exten- 

 sive. Two thousand colonies of bees are 

 represented by the persons here assembled, 

 the annual surplus production of which may 

 be safely estimated atone hundred thousand 

 pounds of honey at a marketable value of 

 nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. The 

 fruit crop in the neighborhood of our bees 

 is probably quite as extensive and possibly 

 much larger. Is there anything incompati- 

 ble with their existing together and possibly 

 assisting each other in their development? 

 Have not some of you noticed the present 

 condition of the penr bloom ? The bloom 

 is not fully developed — the recent cold snap 

 has impeded if, and side by side you will 

 find two embryo blossoms, one dead and one 

 alive, or rather several dead and o?ie alive ; 

 the dead bloom being covered with a sort of 

 fluid-like gum, but so tenacious that the 

 bloom could not burst it. Thisguminy sub- 

 stance is nectar or honey which has not 

 been removed by either moisture or insect 

 and has destroyed the fruit. Had the 

 weather been warm enough, for the be<?s to 

 work, we should have seen nothing of this 

 and more abundant young fruit would have 

 resulted. A few years ago one of my neigh- 

 bors insisted that the honey bee greatly 

 injured his fruit raising. The spring was 

 cold and in time of peach bloom no bees 

 could fly— one evening, however, for about 

 an hour my bees came among my peach 

 trees in gieat numbers, and visited "most of 

 the flowers. My neighbor's orchard was 

 scarcely 40 rods (iff but no bees visited it. I 

 called his attention to the fact and assured 



