©OUttCUti Cits- 

 Lancaster County, Pa., Convention. 



The Lancaster county Pa., Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association met at 2 o'clock Mon- 

 day November 10th, at Lancaster, Pa. 



Reports. 



Eeports on the past bee season hav- 

 ing been called for, the following mem- 

 bers responded : 



J. F. Hershey, of Mount Joy, who is 

 one of the largest bee-keepers in the 

 county, said that the present season 

 could not be regarded as a very success- 

 ful one. In the early part of the sea- 

 son the conditions were favorable. 

 There was an abundance of flowers and 

 the bees stored the nectar rapidly. This 

 state of things lasted until haymaking, 

 say about June 20, when the dry spell 

 came on, and from that time until the 

 present the little honey makers were 

 unable to do much. The season is now 

 over, and the honey crop has been 



{fathered. It may be regarded as about 

 lalf an average yield. This is not the 

 case in Lancaster county alone, but 

 seems to be the prevailing condition of 

 things the whole country over. 



But there has not only been a poor 

 honey season ; many colonies are in 

 u poor condition to go into winter 

 quarters. Cases are reported where 

 colonies have already starved, not hav- 

 ing gathered sufficient to last them 

 until now. There is no question but 

 that many bee-keepers will have to 

 feed at least a portion of their bees 

 during the approaching winter. An 

 average colony will consume about 

 20 lbs. of honey or its equivalent be- 

 tween the time when the honey season 

 closes and the 1st of May. Where a 

 considerable number have to be fed 

 this will be quite a tax on the owners. 



The Italians, as usual, have done bet- 

 ter than the native black bees. The 

 former have in almost every instance 

 filled the brood-chamber and com- 

 menced work in boxes, although some- 

 times the black bees have clone the same. 



The increase in new colonies has 

 averaged about 63 per cent., which is 

 less than the average, but Mr.IL, gives 

 more attention to rearing queens than 

 to honey or swarming. He started 

 Avith 62 colonies last spring. He re- 

 ported having reared 200 queens realiz- 

 ing $225.00 from this source. He also 

 got about 650 lbs. of honey, and sold 5 

 colonies, and now has 72 colonies with 

 which to go into winter quarters. All 

 his own colonies have plenty of honey. 



He will winter them' in the peculiar 

 house, half underground, already des- 

 cribed in former reports. 



He also made remarks on wintering 

 bees. This is one of the most impor- 

 tant points in bee-keeping. Each 

 colony should be carefully examined 

 before it is put into winter quarters, to 

 ascertain whether it has honey enough 

 and bees enough. If it is too weak in 

 bees, then unite them with another; if 

 short of honey, feed it. Food is pre- 

 pared by taking 2 lbs. of ordinary cof- 

 fee sugar and 1 lb. of water, and bring- 

 ing them to the boiling point. 



Protect your bees from the north and 

 west winds. Take off the honey boxes 

 and put an old quilt or blanket on the 

 top of the frames, and place on a cap 

 of straw. Place a protector on the 

 alighting board, to keep the sun off 

 from the entrance when there is a loose 

 snow on the ground; if there is no 

 snow on the ground, take the protector 

 away from the entrance and let the bees 

 have the full benefit of the sun's rays. 



Never disturb bees when it is cold. 

 If bees are long in confinement when 

 there is a loose snow on the ground, 

 and there comes a warm day— warm 

 enough for the bees to fly — take away 

 your protector from the entrance, to 

 allow the warmth of the rays to fall 

 directly on the entrance. Scatter straw 

 in front of the hives on the snow, for 

 the distance of about 15 feet from the 

 hives, for the bees to alight on, in case 

 any should drop down from cold or 

 other cause. 



So soon as the weather becomes warm 

 and bees fly freely, all colonies should 

 be examined to see whether they have 

 queens. If some are queenless, unite 

 the coionies with weak ones that have 

 a queen. Cage the queen about 12 

 hours after the colonies are united, as 

 they will sometimes kill her when 2 colo- 

 nies are put together, Colonies that 

 are short in honey in the spring, ought 

 to be fed, for they require a great deal 

 of food to supply the brood in March 

 and April. They consume more honey 

 at that time than during the 3 winter 

 months. 



Mr. Samuel Dillmnn, of New Hol- 

 land, presents the most favorable report 

 so far heard from in the county. He 

 had 17 colonies last spring. He has by 

 judicious swarming increased these to 

 24, and got besides 800 lbs. of honey, 

 nearlv all comb. 



W.I3. Detwiler, of Mt, Joy, started 

 with 75 colonies last spring. These 

 have now increased through swarming 

 to 100. lie got from them aboutSOO lbs. 

 of honey. All his bees are in good con- 

 dition to go into winter quarters. 



