DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 19, 1881. 



No. 42. 



iFsisa >*, tV i£ ^WG^^J^g^ 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION I 



WEEKLY— (52 numbers) S»S a. year, in advance. 



Three or Six Months at the same rate. 

 SEMI-MONTHLY— The first and third numbersot 



each month, at * I .00 a year, in advance. 

 MONTHLY— The first number of each month, at 



SO cents a year, in advance. 

 %W Any person sending a club of six is entitled 

 to an extra copy (like the club) sent to any address 

 desired. Sample copies furnished free. 



l^~ Remit by money-order, registered letter, ex- 

 press or bank draft on Chicago or New York, pay- 

 able to our order. Such only are at our risk. Checks 

 on local banks cost us 25 cents for collecting. 



Free of postage in the United States or Canada. 

 PoHtiiire to Europe GO cents extra, 



Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter. 



1(3" We give up much of the space 

 in tills number of the Bee Journal 

 to the the Report of the National 

 Convention. 



The Value of the Honey Crop of Amer- 

 ica.— In the Bee Journal for last 

 week an error occurred in the figures 

 representing the value of the honey 

 crop. The last two ciphers should 

 have been pointed off to represent 

 cents, leaving the value at fifteen mil- 

 lions 0/ dollars. To save misappre- 

 hension, we subjoin the paragraph 

 corrected, as follows : 



There are inAuiericaabout3,000,000 

 colonies of bees, but our reports are 

 from less than a quarter of a million, 

 or one-twelfth of the whole. If the 

 one-twelfth that are reported are a 

 fair average of the whole, then the 

 crop of American honey for 1881 

 amounts to 120,000,000 of pounds. If 

 we call it only a hundred millions, it is 

 worth $15,000,000.00. Surely the in- 

 dustry is of sufficient magnitude to 

 satisfy the most enthusiastic of its de- 

 votees. 



^ The Chicago District Conven- 

 tion will be held at the office of the 

 Bee Journal, on Oct. 25, 26, and a 

 cordial invitation is extended to all 

 bee-keepers who can, to attend. Ar- 

 rangements for hotel accommodation 

 and table board will be made known 

 at this office. Let there be a general 

 rally. 



The Langstroth Donation Fund. 



A meeting was called at Lexington, 

 Ky., after one of the sessions of the 

 National Convention, to take some 

 definite action relative to the recent 

 illness of the Rev. L. L. Langstroth. 



Mr. D. A. Jones said that as Mr. L. 

 had been defranded out of the results 

 of his labors, he proposed that he be 

 presented with a testimonial, as a 

 slight appreciation of his genius as an 

 inventor, and his eminent ability as a 

 writer and scholar. He would inau- 

 gurate the movement by offering two 

 Cyprian queens to be sold, and the 

 proceeds to be paid to the donation 

 fund for Mr. Langstroth. 

 ' Thomas G. Newman was chosen to 

 negotiate the sale of articles contribu- 

 ted. On accepting the appointment, 

 he announced he would contribute 

 $10, which was followed by a contri- 

 bution of $10 each from Prof. Cook, 

 Dr. Parmly, C. F. Muth and Dr. J. P. 

 II . Brown. 



Judge Andrews purchased one of 

 the queens contributed, for $13, re- 

 marking he had no use for the queen. 

 Mr. Newman purchased the second 

 for $10. 



T. F. Bingham contributed 6 of his 

 smokers, which were sold to Messrs. 

 J. C. Peden, J. T. Connley, W. H. 

 HovvletandC. F. Muth. 



C. II. Dean contributed a chaff hive, 

 which was sold to Rev. L. Johnson. 



T. F. Bingham contributed a Bing- 

 ham & Hetherington uncapping knife; 

 sold to Dr. A. B. Barker. 



J. M. Davis contributed his honey 

 carriage on exhibition. This is still 

 for sale by Mr. Newman. 



Prof. Cook contributed 6 copies of 

 the Manual of the Apiary, which were 

 sold to A. W. Windhorst, Nelson Per- 

 kins, J. W. Northcutt, G. M. Free- 

 man, and 2 to Wm. Williamson. 



Wm. Williamson contributed a 

 queen ; sold to J. W. Northcutt. 



T. G. Newman contributed 13 pho- 

 tographs of Rev. Mr. Langstroth, 

 which were sold at 50 cents to the Rev. 

 L. Johnson, D. A. Jones, Dr. E. 

 Diane, G. W. Demaree, O. O. Popple- 

 ton, A. J. Cook, J. R. Williamson, H. 

 C. Hersperger, J. W. Northcutt, Mrs. 

 L. Harrison, Wm. Williamson, J. T. 

 Wilson and J. T. Connley. 



Any one wanting a pure Imported 

 Cyprian queen of the Jones importa- 

 tion, or one of " Davis' Patent Honey 

 Carriage Revolving Comb Holder, 

 Tool Box and Recording Desk, Com- 

 bined," can obtain them and at the 

 same time do a kind and generous act 

 to our friend Langstroth. Apply at 

 this office for the queen or Honey Car- 

 riage, and any one desiring to do so, 

 can send any amount to be added to 

 the sum already collected. 



l@" It will pay to devote a few hours 

 in getting up a club for the Bee Jour- 

 nal. Read the list of premiums on 

 another page, and take advantage of 

 the fall gatherings to get up clubs. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Good Fall Harvest. 



O. CLUTE. 



After the long drouth of July and 

 August, it seemed probable that there 

 would be little fall bloom, and hence 

 little honey. I made up my mind that 

 some of my late-made colonies would 

 have to be fed or else doubled up, but 

 my unfavorable expectations were 

 happily overthrown. There has been 

 a very good fall harvest. 



The heavy flood about the middle of 

 July swept the bottom lands along the 

 Iowa river clean. All crops and weeds 

 were killed. This left a free field for 

 the heartsease, which came on in great 

 profusion ; there are many acres of it. 

 Its delicate pink gives a beautiful 

 color to the borders of the stream. It 

 yields honey well, though not so co- 

 piously as white clover. The color is 

 a clear amber, a shade darker than 

 white clover. The comb is a clear 

 white, and when filled with honey 

 there is often a faint blush of pink; 

 the flavor is excellent. Here the 

 weather has been extraordinary. I 

 am writing this the 3d of October, 

 and there has, as yet, been no frost 

 that would kill the honey flowers. 

 Tomatoes in my garden are as green 

 and luxurant as ever plants were. 

 There has been but few cloudy days, 

 and only one cold storm which lasted 

 for 2 days, hence the bees have been 

 able to work nearly every day and all 

 day long. The abundance of bloom, 

 and the long-continued line weather 

 are making the fall harvest much bet- 

 ter than was expected. 



Iowa City, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preparation for Winter. 



WM. STOLLEY. 



In No. 39 of the American Bee 

 Journal, I find an article headed, 

 Extracting from Surplus combs, etc., 

 (preparing for winter). "This prep- 

 aration should be attended to during 

 the last of Sept. or the 1st of Oct." 



Considering this advice to be good, 

 I this morning went to work, begin- 

 ing with a young colony, I found that 

 of the 10 frames fully occupied (12J^x- 

 12^2 inches), 8 were partly filled with 

 brood in all stages, and 2 of them con- 

 tained considerable eggs. I therefore 

 concluded that it would not do yet, to 

 contract their space much, and took 

 out but one frame solidly filled with 

 honey sealed. The lower part of the 

 hive including 9 frames and comb, 

 weighed 31% lbs., and the total weight 

 after I had put back bees, brood and 

 honey, was 94J^ lbs., besides the one 

 frame taken out which weighed about 

 6 lbs. 



Now the question with me is : " Is 

 it not better to wait with the final 



preparation for winter until nearly all 

 brood is hatched ? " 



We had a severe hail storm on Sept. 

 29, doing away with my buckwheat 

 entirely, but my bees work on wild 

 autumn flowers as though they had all 

 they wanted or more. My maxim is 

 (as it always was), sloio, but sure, and 

 all my bees (14 colonies) have more or 

 less surplus in their brood chamber, 

 and I will get my surplus when I pre- 

 pare them for winter. 



I only extracted so far but about 50 

 lbs. out of middle frames, wherever 

 the bees were crowding out the queen 

 by storing too much honey in the 

 brood chamber. 



Grand Rapids, Neb., Oct. 1, 1881. 



[Yes ; but as a rule, the sooner pre- 

 pared in the fall, the better.— Ed.] 



sALJ c I4S&mp« 





(iooil Crop of Honey.— The honey 

 crop has been good this fall. My bees 

 average 125 lbs. comb honey per colony 

 this season. Chas. M. Gaylord. 



Clyde, Kan., Oct. 7, 1881. 



Young Basswood Trees. — Correspon- 

 dents often inquire where they can 

 get young basswood trees. They can 

 be obtained from almost any of the 

 large commercial nurseries. Ameri- 

 can linden (basswood) seedlings are 

 quoted at S6.00 per 1000. The young 

 seedlings of basswood transplant very 

 easily, and I believe it would almost 

 grow from cuttings in a deep, cool 

 soil, which the linden prefers. The 

 linden may be propagated by layers. 

 If raised from the seed, should be 

 sown when ripe or kept in damn sand 

 in a cool place till spring. Seed sells 

 at $1.00 lb. D.P.Norton. 



Council Grove, Kan., Sept. 29, 1881. 



Mr. J. S. Hill's Method of Preparing 

 Bees for Winter. — As the Bee Jour- 

 nal gives to its readers the painful 

 intelligence of Mr. Langstroth 's fail- 

 ing health and his sorrowful utter- 

 ance, " I am unable to take any inter- 

 est in bee matters," we cannot expect 

 him to give us the much-desired plan 

 practiced by Mr. J. S. Hill, of Mount 

 Healthy, O., of preparing his colonies 

 of bees for wintering, as he promised. 

 I respectfully request him to give to 

 the Journal readers a clear and prac- 

 tical statement of the preparation lie 

 gives his colonies of bees, so as to 

 safely pass through such a cold winter 

 as the last, and oblige many readers of 

 the Journal. L. James. 



Atlanta, 111., Oct. 5, 1881. 



Large Crop of Honey. — You made a 

 mistake in my report; I had 25 and 

 increased to 92 colonies ; took3,107 lbs. 

 extracted and 2,920 lbs. of comb— in 

 all, 6,127 lbs., averaging 241 lbs. One 

 colony with increase ( 1 swarm ) gave 506 

 lbs. of box and 10 Langstroth frames of 

 honey, with plenty left for winter. 



Burlington, Wis. H. Newhaus. 



