126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



cold-frame and bumped their brains against 

 tlie glass. Stoclvs tliat were perfectly healthy 

 when put into the cold-frame hadn't a single 

 bee left in less than two weeks. 



Julius Tomlinson— IIow would it have 

 worked to put bees in the "frame" in March 

 and allowed to tly ? 



II. E. Bidwell— I tried about SO at that 

 time and injured them. Do not think it ad- 

 visable. They should be put in in the fall. 



Julius Tomlinson— Would not a single 

 tier in a narrow frame be better f 



H. E. Bidwell— I think it would be as well, 

 perhaps better. 



James Ileddon— I have tried the cold- 

 frame. A tree shaded one corner, and the 

 bees tried to get out and cluster upon it. I 

 think there should be nothing above the 

 frame, except blue sky. 



E. J. Oatman— Would the glass placed in 

 a horizontal position give enough heat ? 



H. E. Bidwell— It would not. 



James Ileddon— Have had much trouble in 

 having bees cluster on the glass in the cold- 

 frame. 



E. J. Oatman— By putting mosquito net- 

 ting on the under side of the glass, 1 pre- 

 vented clustering on the glass, and all at- 

 tempts to counuif suicide by bumping their 

 brains out against it. 



James Heddon— Have wintered fifty-one 

 swarms in good condition and am at as much 

 of a loss t(i know why, as I was when I lost 

 so heavily, heretofore. 1 set them out in 

 March, and they had a good two days fly. 

 Think a partial fly only an aggi'avation. 

 Credit my success in a measure to the Ital- 

 ian bee. Do not think that rearing brood 

 early is dpsirable. It expends the vitality 

 of the bees without a proper recompense. 

 Do not use any (juilts whatever. Prefer a 

 good, plain lioard. They are less cumber- 

 some, and I think, just as good. There is 

 something more important than quilts that 

 is at the bottom (if our success. Tie same 

 is true of ventilation. I have stocks in hives 

 that are badly cracked, so that it snows and 

 rains in them, yet they are strong and 

 healthy. They are tough and you cannot 

 kill them. 



C. I. Balch related instances of how bees 

 have wintered well in one season and nearly 

 all died in others, under the same apparent 

 circumstances. How can we account for it, 

 unless it be a disease ? 



The next topic, '•Building up Colonies in 

 the Spring," was then taken up. 



T. F. Bingham was called upon to give his 

 experience. He said that iu consequence 

 of iiaving met with a serious calamity, his 

 usual buoyancy of sjiirits had departed, and 

 he did not fecllike talking. It's no use to 

 build up colonies, excejit to have them die. 



E. J. Oatman — Has any one used quilts 

 stuffed with bran, on hives ? 



Julius Tomlinson— I have, and find they 

 accunudate considerable moisture, espec- 

 ially at times in spring. 



T. F. Bingham— 1 would advise you to 

 send that item to OleanUuifi. A. I. Root 

 has been trying to invent a watering-trough 

 for his, and" this, no doubt, will lill the l)ill. 

 It can be used in conucction with those 

 beautiful tin corners. 'Tis just the thing. 



A. 0. Balch related hisex)ierience in rear- 

 ing (pieens. Preferred to remove a (lueen 

 from a lull colony, and when the cells were 

 nearly mature, insert them in other colonies, 

 CJueens should be; started from larvic not over 

 two days old, less would be better. Ex- 



changing condis is better than cutting out 

 queen cells. Early in the season is a much 

 better time than later. 



C. I. Balch stated that he had eggs re- 

 moved from inserted comb to other combs 

 developed into queens. .Some were very 

 good, were prolific for nearly five years, 

 while others were valueless. Have raised 

 queens in October that proved hardy and 

 lirolific. There is a vast difference in differ- 

 ent strains of stock. The only way to win- 

 ter successfully is to make good woolen 

 shirts and drawers for the "pets." 



E. J. Oatman gave his experience in de- 

 tail in getting worker combs built iu the 

 fall. Remove all brood combs except two 

 or three containing capped brood, and fill 

 up with empty frames. I ed a (juartof syrup 

 to each hive at night. Fed 500 pounds of C 

 sugar, and obtained worker combs, llxLi 

 inches, at a cost of 20 cents each. 



C. I. Balch— It has been stated as requir- 

 ing 25 pounds of honey to make a pound of 

 comt) ; Does it require as nuich syrup ? 



E. J. Oatman — I cannot state ; only two 

 or three hives l)uilt any drone comb. 



A. C. Balch— Did the bees have any drone 

 comb when they commenced building the 

 comb ? 



E. J, Oatman— They contained none • 



T. F. Bingham— Were the bees gathering 

 honey at the time ? 



E. J. Oatman— Enough for breeding pur- 

 poses, but not to store any. 



Julius Tondinson — What is your experi- 

 ence in getting comb from honey as gather- 

 ed by the bees ? 



E. J. Oatman— Anything but satisfactory; 

 have always got a too large proportion of 

 drone conib. They do not build near as 

 rapidly as they do when fed on syrup. 



Julius Tomlinson— By taking away all 

 full combs of honey I got worker combs 

 built at one side of an upper story. 



T. F. Bingham exhibited specimens of ar- 

 tificial conii:), nuule of paper and coated with 

 wax. Bees store honey in it readily. 



C. I. Balch— Will they brood in it ? 



T. F. Bingham— I ilitln't ask so much of 

 them. 



James' Heddon— I want to^et an artificial 

 comb that the (pieen won't look at, even. 

 Such a comb would be valuable. 



T. F. Bingham — To get honey, use a box 

 to hold three combs, keep black bees, be 

 careful to commence on the right day of the 

 week, observe the changes in the moon, and 

 if it rains honey and the bees don't get their 

 backs up, we are all right ; but if they do, 

 ours are down. 



A conmiittee of three, consisting of James 

 Heddon, T. F. Bingham and 11. A. Knapp, 

 were appointctl to "draft resolutions, when 

 the convention adjourned until evening. 



EVENIXG SESSIOX. 



The assochifion was called to order 

 promjitly at 73.^ o'clock, Fresident Bidwell 

 in the chair. "The first topic "Extracted 

 Honey." was introduced by a ]>aper from 

 James Ileddon, of Dowagiac* who took the 

 ground that we ought to discourage the pro- 

 duction of e\ery single jjouud of honey 

 which costs ;;o cents to produce it, that will 

 be a drug on the market at 15 cents. He al- 

 so urged that wt' should pay more attention 

 to dex'eloiiing a good, reliable market for 

 our pi-o(lucls. Tlie relation of the jiroducer 

 to the "exclusive" honey dealers in cities, 

 was considered at length, with the conclus- 



