278 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr Alexander said, I would sow turnips 

 in the fall, for early pasture for bees 

 in the spring. It furnishes pollen in 

 abundance. Then came fruit blossoms 

 and white clover, which pays, not only 

 for bee purturage, but are valuable crops 

 to cultivate. Then, there is mustard, cat- 

 nip and buckwheat that are rich honey- 

 plants. ,, 



Mr. Hancock spoke as follows :— Mr. 

 President, I see no reason why these hills 

 should not flow with milk and honey. I 

 now propose to become a teacher— have 

 others do the manual labor and I will do 

 the head work. I think we should culti- 

 vate the honey-locuet in hedges, and 

 hedge up all this ridge land, and plant it 

 in fruit trees, and sow it in white clover. 

 Tlie clover is fine for hogs, the apple 

 «r.)p is valuable, and if boiled and fed 

 will pay better than making brandy. 



Mr liichie remarked, I think the honey- 

 locust a good honey-tree, but it will not 

 bloom in hedges, and it is not pleasant to 

 come in contact with, as it is full ot 

 thorns. I agree with Mr. Alexander in 

 regard to the turnip bloom, as it attoras 

 enrlypasturage, that is invaluable. 



The President said, that turnips and all 

 tlie small and large fruits aflbrded excel- 

 lent bee parturage, but that the white 

 clover stands at the head of the list as a 

 honey-plant, affording the finest honey 

 and the greatest yield of all the honey- 

 plants. 'The poplar, linn, sour-wood, and 

 other forest trees might be cultivated with 

 profit For late summer and fall pastur- 

 age he would recommend catnip and 



buckwheat. • . j ♦!,„ 



On motion, the President appointed the 

 following committees, with instructions 

 to report at afternoon session :— 



Committee on state of Bee Culture in 

 southern Kentucky, with instructions to 

 report the number of hives owned by the 

 members of this Society, the kind ot hive, 

 the variety of bees, and their value:— 



R A. Alexander, H. W. Sanders, 

 p. C. Baker, R. M. Cheek. 



Committee on Questions for Debate at 

 evening session:— 



Wm. Cheek, T. H. Hancock, H. C. 

 Baker, J. H. Richie. ^ ^ ^ 



Committee on Hives, Extractors, etc. :— 



R. M. Cheek, James H. Richie, M. 



Hancock. , , ..,, o , i „i. 



The Society adjourned till 2 o clock 



p. M. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The Convention met, President in the 

 chair. The ([uestion was mken up:— 

 "When should bees be fed?" 



Mr Alexander said, for stores to winter 

 on, feed in early fall with sugar syrup in 

 time for them to cap it over, .io teed tor 

 brood raising in early spring, commence 

 about six or eight weeks before the honey- 

 harvest, so as to have them strong when 

 the harvest comes. 



The President agreed with Mr. Alexan- 

 der, and said, they should be fed when 

 they are gathering no honey, in the spring 

 or in the summer, during long wet spells 

 or excessive droughts. It was often the 

 case that they would stop brood-raising; 

 a little feed at such times paid well. 



Mr. Richie said, he had found feeding 

 for brood raising very beneficial. 

 He gave an account of a natural swarm 

 that he gave a sheet of brood-comb, and 

 in two weeks they had filled their hive full 

 of comb, every cell being filled with 

 honey, and not an egg or young bee could 

 he find in the hive. The bees swarmed 

 and he hived them in a new hive. They 

 did well, filling the hive with comb, brood 

 and honey. 



Mr. Cheek said, the most important 

 time to feed was about six weeks before 

 the honey harvest was expected. To con- 

 tinue feeding up to the time the bees 

 began to gather honey, then the hives 

 would be strong in numbers, and the 

 extractor could be used every four or five 



The committee on Questions for Debate 

 reported the following, which was 

 adopted : — . . ^ 



l._The best time and manner ot trans- 

 ferring bees. 



3. — Moth preventatives. 



3 —How to winter bees most success- 



^The committee on Extractors and Hives 

 reported as follows, report adopted :— 



We have examined some kinds ot 

 extractors and hives, and think an ex- 

 tractor with a stationary can the best, and 

 recommend the Langstroth hive. 



Your committee with instructions to 

 report the number of hives owned by the 

 members of this Society, the kind of hives, 

 variety of bees, etc., have not been able 

 to get a complete report from all the mem- 

 bei-s, but beg leave to report the follow- 



^°|[umber of black bees in box hives, 101. 

 Value of same, $505. . 



Number of black bees in movab e 

 frame hives, 284. Value ot same, |2,840. 



Number of Italian bees in movable 

 frame hives, 234. Value of same, $3,<bo. 

 Total 17,110. , .,„,^ 



The question was then taken up, ine 

 best time and manner of transferring 



The President being called on, said, 

 he preferred early spring for transferring, 

 as there was but little brood in the hiye 

 then and not so much honey. 1 he combs 

 were lighter and could be handled easier 

 and with better success. As to the man 

 ner, he would first blow in smoke at tlic 

 entrance until the bees were subdued, 

 then invert the hive and place on it a box 

 to secure the bees, tie a cloth around to 

 keep the bees from coming out, and by 

 drumming on the hive fifteen or twenty 



