sugar syrup and stir in wheat flour until it 

 is quite thick, then let it cool till it is hard, 

 like candy, in pans. I then turn these pans 

 over the frames, under the quilts. 



J. W. Barlow. I use oat and rye flour, oat 

 flour and corn meal together ; the bees used 

 bushels of it. 



W. F. Bell. I like the unbolted rye flour 

 best ; 1 fed 160 lbs. of it last spring, about 

 February. 



E. C. Crane. Have fed rye and corn meal 

 I think they rear brood faster with it. 



L. H. Scudder. 1 have fed as much as 2 

 bushels a day ; but they did not keep it up 

 long ; not more than 3 or 4 days. A few 

 bright days brings willow out, then bees 

 abandon the flour. Feeding rye and oat 

 meal will stop robbing in the spring. 



Quest' on : What do bees get from box 

 elder. 



L. H. Scudder. I think they get honey. 



Providing room for Queen to lay in. 



Question : How can we prevent the bees 

 from crowding out the queen in a large flow 

 of honey ? 



L. H. Scudder. I think the main cause is 

 cool weather during the flow of honey ; cool 

 nights drive bees out of boxes, and as it 

 does not get warm enough to let them re- 

 turn to them, they have to store it below. 



E. D. Godfrey. A good queen will not lay 

 at that time of the year, (the last of Sept. 

 or first of Oct.) 



H. Brown. I have plenty of colonies 

 with brood hatching now. 



E. D. Godfrey. Old queens will not lay 

 as late by 30 days as young ones. This 

 year's queens will lay very late. I find colo- 

 nies of bees with August queens come out 

 best in the spring. 



L. H. Scudder. I do not fear any bad 

 results, if I do not find brood in October, if 

 there are already only Dees enough. 



Prolific Queens. 



Question : What method shall we pursue 

 to procure the strongest and most prolific 

 queens ? 



Win. H. Smith. Take eggs from the most 

 prolific queen, then take the queen from a 

 strong colony and let them raise the queen 

 cells from these eggs, and rear your queens 

 from the best cells. If no honey is being 

 gathered at the time, you must feed. Bear 

 them as early in the spring as practicable. 



Question : Has the size of the queen 

 anything to do with her prolificness ? 



Will. M. Kellogg. No ! the best and 

 most prolific queen I ever had, was the 

 smallest one in the yard. 



E. D. Godfrey. I have seen some small 

 queens far more prolific than larger ones. 



Question : Is a queen reared from a larvse 

 three days old, as good as one from an egg ? 



W. H. 'Smith, and Geo. Bischoff. Yes ! 



Question : Is a queen reared at a season 

 of the year when no honey is coming in, as 

 good as any other ? 



Geo. Bischoff. 1 think it all depends on 

 the weather. 



Will. M. Kellogg. Yes, if the bees are 

 fed during the time, and it is not too cold. 



Adjourned to 7:30 p.m., at Avhich time the 

 members re-assembled to hear the Rev. O. 

 Clute, of Iowa City, Iowa, speak on the sub- 



jectof "Points of Progress in Bee-Culture," 

 but nearly all present being bee-keepers, it 

 was thought it would be of more interest to 

 hear a report of the National Convention at 

 Chicago, and the evening was spent very 

 pleasantly in listening to an interesting 

 account of that meeting by Bev. 0. Clute 

 and E. D. Godfrey. 



MORNING SESSION, OCT. 31. 



Called to order at 9 a.m. The following 

 Essay was read by the Secretary. 



Our Society. 



It has been said that bee-keepers' societies 

 are run in the interests of bee publications 

 and supply dealers. I differ from that 

 opinion very decidedly. It is true, at our 

 Conventions are seen' the wares of various 

 dealers, and copies of the various bee peri- 

 odicals. But have we no need of these ? 

 Are we not using them every day ? What 

 practical bee-keeper of to-day would try to 

 get along without prize boxes, shipping 

 crates, comb foundation, honey extractors,, 

 honey knives, smokers, etc. The demand 

 that has grown up for honey put up in the- 

 highest fancy styles, compels us to adopt 

 and use these attractive packages if we 

 would hope to compete with our brother 

 bee-keepers wish any show of success ; for 

 as a general rule, it is the style of the 

 article that sells it, more than its merits. 



Admit that we have to use these supplies, 

 next comes the question, where shall we get 

 them ? But very few of us can afford to 

 own a horse or steam power machinery for 

 making them, hence we must apply to 

 those who can make them for us, and were 

 it not that there are such dealers, the 

 majority of us would have to give our honey 

 away in the old fashioned, rough, inch, 

 board box. Next are the bee periodicals, 

 without which our bee-keeping interests 

 would still be almost unknown, instead of 

 taking their place by the side of other long- 

 established industries, as they are fast 

 doing. 



Our bee papers are ever on the elert to 

 forward our interests in every possible way, 

 and to promote the science of bee-culture 

 to its highest attainable point. "But they 

 make money by it," say some ; my friends, 

 do you work for nothing ? No more then 

 should we refuse to pay these men for their 

 efforts in our behalf, as we would pay our 

 lawyer or our doctor. I claim that our 

 societies are working for the interests of all 

 classes : the producer, consumer, and all 

 others connected in any way with the pur- 

 suit. 



There are more features of these Conven- 

 tions than just that of dollars and cents. 

 The social enjoyments had at our meetings, 

 when we grasp the hands and seethe smiling 

 faces of our brother or sister bee-keepers, 

 more than repays all the cost and trouble it 

 takes to get there. I have heard some say, 

 "what is the use of my going, they cannot 

 learn me anything." Well, suppose they 

 cannot, it will warm up your hearts and do 

 you good to meet your fellow workers now 

 and then, and perhaps you may be able to 

 learn some one else a little. I heard of one 

 member coining 50 miles to attend one of 

 our meetings, saying, " these bee-keepers- 



