T. F. Bingham, Michigan, gave the 

 following address : 



Wintering Bees North and South, 



Is the subject which lias been assigned to 

 me ; not because I am master of the aub- 

 ject, but because I am not. The fact that i 

 shall not exhaust the subject, but shall say 

 just enough to provoke a hearty discussion 

 and call everybody out, is the reason I have 

 been selected— probably. 



Every bee-keeper, and many other intelli- 

 gent people, are aware that bees have peri- 

 ods of activity and periods of repose, and 

 that while bees are presumably as busy as a 

 bee, they are just the most lazy, idle and 

 vindictive insect known, when out of em- 

 ployment. When there is nothing to do 

 they do nothing butspeculate. They are on 

 the lookout for a nice job. They are very 

 tractable and have a keen eye to business. 

 But while they have this practical turn, and 

 are often pugnacious about it, they never 

 make smokers, or house apiaries, or com- 

 plicated chaff hives, for their own use. 



In no country or section of the world is 

 the flow of nectar continuous through all 

 •periods of the year; hence even in the 

 tropics, periods substantially corresponding 

 to winter exist ; though in such a limited 

 •degree as to require practically no attention. 

 It is in the northern belt lying between 37° 

 and 47° north latitude, that we find winter 

 in its nobler sense — winter worth considera- 

 tion as a leading factor in apiculture and 

 sherry cobblers. 



In New England, New York, Minnesota, 

 "Wisconsin and Iowa, cellars entirely under 

 ground have given the most uniform ai d 

 satisfactory results ; while in Michigan, 

 -Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc., surface pro- 

 tectors, such as house apiaries and chaff 

 packing have given good results. The lat- 

 ter plan under the stimulus of complicated 

 and expensive hives, has received much at- 

 tention, and while the results have not 

 been uniform, they have been generally 

 satisfactory. In that part of the winter 

 belt of which Kentucky and Tennessee 

 afford fair illustration, a straw, cotton or 

 wool mat, 2 or 3 inches thick, placed upon 

 the frames of shallow hives, renders the 

 wintering of bees a matter of certainty ; 

 while in Alabama, Mississippi, etc., no 

 special winter protection is required. 



Though I believe a cotton seed mat or 

 mat of unginned cotton would be of great 

 value on the frames of shallow hives. By 

 shallow hives 1 mean all the popular frame 

 hives in use. Much more has been said, 

 perhaps, than has been specially interesting, 

 on the subject of protection of bees in win- 

 ter, yet the matter of external protection 

 •does not wholly cover the ground of winter- 

 ing bees in any section. Bees wintered in 

 deep, dark cellars, consume less honey than 

 by any other method. Bees, properly pro- 

 tected and allowed to fly when they are so 

 disposed, consume more honey but require 

 little or no spring care, except in removing 

 the combs from those that have lost a queen 

 or failed in the race of accidents to demon- 

 strate their right to survival, when only the 

 fittest survive. 



First. To winter safely there should be a 

 large average colony of bees. 



Second. If to bewildered in the open air, 

 properly protected. An average hive should 

 contain 25 lbs. net of honey in November. 

 If to this be added an extra set of com lis, or 

 the hive to be wintered is the equivalent of 

 2 cubic feet, it should contain from 10 lbs. to 

 15 lbs. more honey, exclusive of combs, 

 pollen, bees and frames. 



Bees in Kentucky, Tennessee, &c, re- 

 quire fully as much honey for winter and 

 spring as in Ohio or Michigan, and. except 

 in epidemic seasons, suffer about the same 

 ratio or loss from death and other causalties. 

 The entire loss of an apiary of any con- 

 siderable size by winter epidemic in any of 

 the Southern States, I believe, has never 

 been reported. 



Winter losses in any section of our 

 country from November until the swarming 

 season, will average 15 per cent., and in 

 large apiaries the summer losses will aver- 

 age about the same, except in poor seasons. 

 In poor seasons the average accidents are 

 greatly diminished and the summer losses 

 much "less. T. F. Bingham. 



Otsego, Mich. 



M. Hayes, Ohio, offered the following 

 resolutions, which were adopted unani- 

 mously : 



Eesolved, by the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, in Convention assem- 

 bled. That the importation of pure 

 Italian, Cyprian and Holy Land bees 

 into North America, ought to be en- 

 couraged for the sole purpose of adding 

 new and different strains of blood to 

 that we already have. 



2. That the strain of Italian blood 

 we now have has reached a higher 

 standard of excellence than is to be 

 found in the native home of the Italian. 



3. That queens reared from pure 

 selected home-bred Italian mothers, 

 should command at least as high a mar- 

 ket value as those bred from imported 

 mothers, where pure Italian stock is the 

 sole object desired. 



C. F. Muth, Ohio, addressed the Con- 

 vention upon the subject of 



A. Rational Increase of the Apiary. 



When in early spring the days begin 

 to lengthen, the queen of every hive in 

 normal condition begins to deposit her 

 hist eggs, if not induced to commence 

 sooner by warm weather. At first she 

 lays a small circle of eggs on each side 

 of and in one or two combs, according 

 to the strength of the colony. About 

 twenty-one days after the first eggs are 

 laid, the hist young bee make their ap- 

 pearance. The circles of brood become 

 larger and more combs are made use of. 



Bees older than 10 or 12 days are poor 

 nurses,and do all house work reluctantly. 

 They are foragers. Young bees, how- 

 ever, are nurses and comb-builders and 

 do all housework pertaining to the well- 

 fare of a colony, such as cleaning hives 

 and combs, preparing cells for the re- 



