162 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan., 



The next topic was : 



"The best method of wintering bees, and 

 their spring management." 



W. B. King said the south needed informa- 

 tion on this subject. A great many things that 

 were necessary for success in wintering bees 

 north, were useless at the south, and their man- 

 agement differed in many respects. At the south 

 the bees wintered themselves. Mr. Hosmer's 

 or Mrs. Tupper's method was of little value at 

 the south, where the winters were mild and 

 short. He would like to have General Adair 

 give his views of this question. 



D. L. Adair said it was true that the manage- 

 ment of bees necessarily differed with climate 

 and locality, and there was not the same neces- 

 sity for housing bees in the south as there was 

 in the extreme north. It was better to do it in 

 every climate where flowers did not bloom the 

 whole year. There was no more difficulty in 

 keeping bees in depositories in the south, than 

 at the north, and while, perhaps, there w*as not 

 the same necessity for it, it was resorted to with 

 advantage. But few beekeepers would take the 

 trouble to do it, as their bees wintered well out 

 of doors. Mr. Moon had said that if bees could 

 fly out once in three weeks, they would escape 

 the bee disease. Now, at the south, even in 

 Kentucky, there was seldom three weeks to- 

 gether that bees could not fly out, yet, in 

 1868, the disease was very fatal over a large part 

 of the south. The sudden and repeated changes 

 in the weather at the south, he considered were 

 injurious to the bees, and could be avoided by 

 housing. 



Mr. Zimmerman visited Dr. Hamlin's in 1871. 

 He arrived there on the 9th of March and found 

 the bees flying out. He concluded that the bees 

 flew out too much and too' early, and that they 

 needed housing to restrain them. 



1. Z. Smith, Weston, O., said he had built a 

 wintering house, 26x12 feet, and 10 feet high, 

 with double walls filled in, with an 8 inch square 

 hole, top and bottom for ventilation. Has in it 

 fifty-two colonies. 



Dr. Bohrer thought Mr. Smith's house a good 

 one. He had lower ventilation in his own house, 

 but had never been able to see its use, as we 

 know that bees winter well in cellars, where 

 there is necessarily no under ventilation. It is 

 too much the case, that the people cannot be 

 made to understand the advantages of housing 

 bees in winter. Gen. Adair had said that the 

 beekeepers of the south could not, many of 

 them, be induced to take the trouble to put bees 

 in houses. The same was true of the north, 

 but its advantages were so great north and south 

 that he urged it upon all. 



The business committee reported a resolution 

 locating the next annual meeting of the society, 

 which after amendment, was adopted as follows : 



Besolved, That when this society adjourns, it 

 adjourn to meet at Louisville, Kentucky, on the 

 first Wednesday in December, 1873, at 10 o'clock 

 A. M. 



The society then adjourned. 



Eveking Session. 



The society met at the usual hour, President 

 Clarke in the chair. 



The business committee, by Seth Hoagland, 

 chairman, reported the following resolution, 

 which was adopted. 



Besolved, That the president of this society 

 be authorized in its name and behalf, to address 

 a circular to all the beekeepers of this continent, 

 urging the formation of neighborhood, county, 

 State territorial and provincial associations, 

 auxiliary to this society. 



The order for the evening was, ' ' The Question 

 Drawer." It consisted of a series of questions 

 which had been handed in to the president by 

 members, and which Mrs. Tupper was re- 

 quested to answer, but which would, also, be 

 open for general discussion. 



Question 1. — The first question was : "Is the 

 rocky mountain bee plant profitable, and how 

 should it be cultivated? " 



Mrs. Tapper said Mr. Terry had sent her 

 seeds two years ago, which she planted early in 

 the spring. It should be planted in the fall. 

 She planted one-half acre. It blossomed in 

 May, and continued till frost. It came up again 

 the next year. She considered it a good plant 

 for bees. Its botanical name is Polanisia pur- 

 purea. It is an annual, but re-seeds the ground, 

 and once sown, comes again each year from the 

 seed. She considered it valuable, even as an 

 ornamental plant. She planted it in drills, and 

 also broadcast, with equal success. She had 

 planted borage, and could say as much in its 

 favor as a honey plant, but it is a bad weed. 



M. L. Dunlap. The plant is Polanisia pur- 

 purea, of the western plains. In Colorado it 

 grows from three to four feet high. It has 

 large seeds, and makes good chicken feed. He 

 had sent out seeds all over the country. It 

 blooms all summer, from the middle of May till 

 frost. It promises to be more valuable for honey 

 than any other plant. It is native to the dry 

 plains, and in favorable situations, the stalk at- 

 tains a diameter of one inch. It would be a bad 

 weed if so used, but can be easily eradicated. 

 It grows best in damp locations, and grows vig- 

 orously all along the waterways in Colorado. 

 It is described in the botanies as only growing a 

 foot high. 



A. J. Pope has had it growing for two years. 

 Cattle will browse on it. Is easily eradicated, 

 and is not dangerous as a weed. It produces 

 an abundance of seed. 



Question 2. — " How far have Italian bees been 

 known to fly in a swarm before settling? " 



Mrs. Tapper had them to go eight miles from 

 her apiary. Had heard some reported as going 

 thirteen and fourteen miles. 



D. L. Adair reported a small swarm or nu- 

 cleus as being found more than fourteen miles 

 from his apiary, when his were the only Italians 

 near to where they settled. 



N. E. Prentice knew a swarm to come from 

 Kelley's Island to the mainland, a distance of 

 seventeen miles. 



Aaron Benedict said when he went to Kelley's 

 Island there were no black bees on it. While 



