AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



COIVYENTION DIRECTORY. 



Time a/nd place of meeting. 



1893. 



Nov. 2. — Connecticut, at Waterbury, Conn. 

 Mrs. W. B. Riley, Sec, Waterbury, Conn, 



Dec.l2, 13.— Illinois State, at Springfield, Ills. 

 Jas. A. Stone, Sec, Bradfordton, Ills. 



Dec. 19, 20.— Northern Illinois, at Rockford.TU. 

 B. Kennedy, Sec, New Milford, 111. 



In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — Thb Editor. 



XTortli American Bee-Keepers' Association 



Pres.— Emerson T. Abbott St. Joseph, Mo. 



Vice-Pres.— O. L. Hershiser.... Buffalo, N. Y. 

 Secretary- Frank Benton, Washington, D. C. 

 Treasurer- George W. York. . .Chicago, Ills. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— Hon. R. L. Taylor. .Lapeer, Mich. 

 Gen'l Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago, 111. 

 147 South Western Avenue. 



I^T Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with eifher part of the letter. 



Those Untested Queens. 



On page 463 Mr. H. W. McCombs com- 

 plains of a queen-breeder sending out hy- 

 brids and blacks instead of Italians. If I 

 understand Mr. McCombs, the queens were 

 discovered to be hybrids and blacks on 

 their arrival. The strange part of it is to 

 me, how Mr. McCombs, or any one, could 

 tell what they were until they were tested. 

 I never could tell anything about them 

 until their brood commenced to hatch. 

 Some of the yellowest queens will produce 

 very dark bees, showing they were mis- 

 mated. Then I have some very dark 

 queens that produce very fine 4-banded 

 bees. The largest queens I ever saw were 

 reared from a mismated mother. It is 

 probable that the queens were judged by 

 their attendants. Queen-breeders make a 

 practice of buying cheap bees to make 

 their nuclei, instead of cutting up fine 



Italian colonies; that would account for 

 the different colored workers. 



There are very few queen-breeders that 

 will send out a mismated queen for an un- 

 tested queen. If there are any that do so 

 knowingly, they should be reported; but 

 be sure that you are right before making 

 complaint to the paper. Always give a 

 chance first to the parties from whom you 

 bought the queens. Charles White. 



Aurora, Nebr. 



Results of the Past Season. 



I have 40 colonies of bees to winter. I 

 started with 16 in March, 1893, two dwind- 

 led away, and one did not give any surplus ; 

 the balance (13) gave me 604 pounds of nice 

 clover honey in one-pound sections. I 

 bought 14 colonies this fall. My increase 

 was 18 swarms, a number of which I united. 



G. D. LiTTOOT. 



Tacoma, Wash., Oct. 11, 1893. 



Poor Season for Honey. 



This has been the poorest season for 

 honey since I have kept bees. They did 

 well the forepart of the season, but the 

 drouth set in earlier than usual, and lasted 

 so long that some colonies did not gather 

 enough honey to carry them through the 

 winter. I did not get an ounce of honey 

 this season. J. W. Mathent. 



Argos, Ind., Oct. 14, 1893. 



Cure for Throwing Out Brood. 



On page 396 is something about bees 

 throwing out their brood while having 

 plenty of stores in their hives. All my col- 

 onies treated me the same way. The cause 

 I believe to be this : The weather was too 

 cold for about two weeks, and they gath- 

 ered no honey, and before they would draw 

 on their stores the little misers would 

 rather pull out their brood. The cure I had 

 was to give each colony a little feed once a 

 day until the weather permitted them to 

 go out and gather for themselves. There 

 is plenty of golden-rod and other wild 

 flowers at present. They have acted like 

 that before when the weather kept them 

 in-doors, and the feed always cured them. 

 I would like Mr. Walker to try it and see 

 how soon they stop it. 



Hamilton, Ont. J. Somervillb. 



The Value of the " Bee Journal," Etc. 



I consider the American Bee Journal 

 too valuable a paper to do without, as I am 

 satisfied it would be cheap to a beginner at 

 ^'5.00 a year, if he would read it carefully 

 and follow the instructions given therein. 

 When I say beginner, I don't refer just to 

 one who has never kept a colony of bees on 

 his farm before, but I mean also those who 

 have kept them in a rather careless way for 

 years. To the latter class it would be safe 

 to say that the Bee Journal would be 



