THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



125 



Bee-Men in Council. 



Kalamazoo. May lith, 1875. 

 The second siMui-amiiuil session of the 

 JMicliigan Hee-Keepers' Assoeiation con- 

 venetl in (.'orporation flail at 2 o'clock p. m. 

 President liidwell in the chair. 



The Secretary read a report of tlie previ- 

 ous meeting, which was read and then ap- 

 proved. 



After the transaction of business relative 

 to the atTairs of the Association, the pro- 

 ^ranune of the session was taken up. The 

 lirst tojtlc, '"Winterins IJces.'' was intro- 

 (iucetl i)y a paper from Frank Benton, of 

 Ivnoxvilie, Tenn., read by the Secretary. 

 The advantages accruing to the "Sunny 

 South," as a winter resort for the apicultur- 

 ist was considered at length, with the con- 

 clusion that the migratory system of bee- 

 kee])ing might be made bot'i pleasant and 

 profitable. The paper elicited con^ich'rable 

 inquiry rehitive to tlie cost of transportation 

 and other necessary expenses when the topic 

 was discussed at length. 



T. F Bingham— I put liO stocks into win- 

 ter quarters in .January. Wiien put in, the 

 combs were frosty and soon thawed out, 

 creating a bad smell, reminding one of the 

 old dysentery times. They commenced to 

 dwindle down, and when carried out in 

 March, I had 113 in good condition. Have a 

 distant hope of saving two stocks, my pres- 

 ent number. 



A. C. Balch — Did your bees commence 

 rearing brood in winter quarters ? 



T. F. Bingham— They did. largely, as I 

 iiave always found them to do when they 

 die of diease. I winter in a house above 

 ground, ventilated above and below; tem- 

 perature from T to 45 degrees above zero ; 

 bees did not die in the hive. When they die 

 out of doors, I find them in a cluster in the 

 hive. Had abundance of lioney in close 

 liroximity to the bees. 



C. I. Balch— Did your honey granulate? 



T. F. Bingham — It did not. 



H. E. Bidwell— What kind of honey did 

 vou winter on '? 



T. F. Bingham— Boneset, mostly. The 

 quality was very good : at least, people in 

 Chicairo like to "buy it in glass boxes. 



L. IL Albright — Winter in an out-door 

 cellar, in eight-inch frames. They have all 

 come out in good condition. Put tliem in 

 December 1st; give liives no upward venti- 

 lation ; leave entrance open below ; do not 

 disturb the bees after putting them in ; tem- 

 perature above freezing. 



A. C. Balch— Did your bees have brood 

 wlien set out '? 



L. 11. Albright— They did, especially the 

 stronger colonies. 



H. E. Bidwell- Are your bees black or 

 Italians ? 



L. n. Albright— All black bees. 



A. C. Balch— Do you extract honey '? 



L. II. Albright— Xever. Raise all box 

 honey; sources of supply are white clover, 

 basswood and boneset principally. 



A. W. Davis— Do you get any raspberry 

 honey ? 



L. II. Albright- Xot of any account. 



li. E, Bidwell— Bees use raspberry honey 

 in rearing brood, seldom storing it in the 

 combs. 



Julius Tomlinson— Will the President 

 ciTe his experience in wintering in the cold- 

 frame. 



II. E. Bidwell— I wintered 80 stocks in 

 cold-frames, and am only sorry that I did 

 not winter them all in the same manner ; 

 left the balance on summer stands ; they 

 wintered well but didn't spring well, as they 

 '•got sick." 



Julius Tomlinson— How often do you al- 

 low them to lly in winter "? 



II. E. Bidwell— Once in two weeks ; keep 

 the temperature above freezing point : have 

 discovered but one case of dysentery in the 

 cold-frame. 



Julius Tomlinson— Had 2(5 good colonies 

 last fall in hve-inch hives, two sets of combs; 

 wintert'd cmt-of-doors and they have dwin- 

 dled down to 15 ; much of the time they 

 were well banked with snow. 



II. E. Bidwell— Did they occupy the up- 

 per set of combs ? 



Julius Tomlinson— Some did, others did 

 not ; bees mostly black and hybrid ; had 

 plenty of empty combs for bees to cluster 

 in. 



Ezra Rood— 1 have wintered in a great va- 

 rietv of ways ; used to succeed admirably in 

 neai-lv all ways ; now they usually die ; had 

 a siood cellar, dry and well ventilated ; mer- 

 cury stood at from 42 to 45 degrees ; the at- 

 mosiihine was pure and good ; lost three- 

 fourths of niv bees in the cellar ; used to 

 think that I could "run bees" to my satis- 

 taction, but now— run them into the ground ; 

 its a disease— dysentery— that kills our 

 l)ees ; don't think that cold weather raises 

 the mischief, as bees are wintered in Russia 

 and other cold climates without material 

 loss. 



H. E. Bidwell— Did you give upward ven- 

 tilation ? 



Ezra Rood— Some hives I did, others not ; 

 saw no ditt'erence in results. 



E. J. Oatman— How was your cellar ven- 

 tilated. 



Ezra Rood— Bv tubes running above in 

 each corner ; also have the bottom venti- 

 lated. 



E. J Oatman— Did you keep a record of 

 the temperature '? 



Ezra Rood— Yes, and am very careful not 

 to let it go below 40deg. or above 45 deg.: 

 but suppose it should freeze in the cellar ? 

 If the mercurv did not go below 20 deg. even, 

 we should not regard cellars of much value. 

 E. J. Oatman— Extracted stores in August 

 and fed 25 pounds of sugar syrup ; put 

 quilts on top and at end of frames ; when 

 cold weather comes, put them in the cellar 

 and keep them quiet. Do not put them out 

 in spring until warm settled weather. If 

 cold comes again, hustle them in again; 

 leave off cap oi' hive but give no upward ven- 

 tilation ; mercurv ranged from 32to4G deg.; 

 lost eight out of lh» stocks ; prefer sugar 

 syrup to honey, and old to new combs ror 

 wintering. , , 



T. F. Bingham— Your stocks had young 

 bees in the fall ? , ,, 



E. J. Oatman— They did ; especially those 

 that built new combs late, and died the 

 worst. 



T. F. Bingham- That hurts the "old age" 

 theory. How have vour bees "springed." 



E. J. Oatman— Well, for the most part. 

 Have had to double up some of the weaker 

 ones. 



T. F. Bingham— 1 have doubled up over a 

 hundred. 



E. J. Oatman— We did not double up in 

 that style. Was obliged to reduce six stocks 

 toone,"however— bees that were put iu the 



