50 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



President Kinney appointed as com- 

 mittee to boom the picnic, the following 

 with their wives : 



Messrs. J. H. Kennedy, Cortland ; J. 

 H. Manchester, Preble ; M. H. Fair- 

 banks, Homer ; Miles Morton, Groton ; 

 C. M. Bean, McGrawville ; George 

 Green, Dryden ; and Marvin R. Wood, 

 Cortland. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet in a short session at the annual 

 picnic. C. W. Wilkins, Sec. 



Visits Among Iowa Bee-Keepers. 



THOS. JOHNSON. 



As mentioned in last week's Bee Jour- 

 nal, I was visiting at Denison. About 

 11 a.m. I went 15 miles east of Denison 

 to West Side, where I found what bees 

 there are in and around the town in 

 good condition, considering the cold 

 spring. The place being more on the 

 highlands, caused a better circulation of 

 air, so that mold and sour stores are not 

 frequently met with, as in the lowlands 

 along the river. 



Now I wish to call the attention of 

 the readers to what I discovered at 

 Logan, what some bee-keepers call 

 "spring dwiudling." In visiting one 

 apiary I noticed that the owner was 

 taking too much care of his bees, by 

 protecting them from cold air, etc. His 

 yard was arranged so that it could be 

 closed when the wind blows ; secondly, 

 all evaporation was gathering on the 

 top, causing great quantities of water 

 to gather, and causing mold, and dis- 

 easing his bees in such a way that the 

 poor creatures wanted fresh air, but 

 daring not to make a circulation of air 

 by using their wings, on account of 

 chilling the brood. The bees would 

 venture out, and the result would then 

 be spring dwindling by mold and sour 

 honey, on account of not having proper 

 ventilation. 



While at Dow City, one man said it 

 was caused by honey-dew. In looking 

 around I saw that his honey extractor 

 was full of what he called " honey-dew." 

 It looked more like heart's-ease honey 

 than anything else — at any rate nine- 

 tenths of it was granulated. Our experi- 

 enced and well-informed apiarists say 

 that honey-dew is a secretion of insects ; 

 if such is a fact, who ever heard of such 

 secretion granulating, with a liquid 

 covering it ? 



So much for the learned apiarist at 

 Dow City. My opinion on most of his 



loss was on account of meddling with 

 his bees in' cold weather, and not hav- 

 ing their honey capped. At 6 p.m. I 

 left the place and went to Arcadia. 



The next morning I visited the firm of 

 Pruter & Wunder, and I found that the 

 bees in and around the town are doing 

 well, and the loss will not reach 10 per 

 cent., as far as heard from. This in- 

 formation was* derived from different 

 bee-keepers of the surrounding country 

 inquiring for bee-supplies. 



I saw Mr. H. P. Radden, who had a 

 few colonies, with no loss up to that time. 

 Arcadia and the surrounding country 

 are settled by Germans, and the farmers 

 have just started in the bee-business. 

 Bidding my German friends adieu, I next 

 visited Carroll, which is a railroad town; 

 I call it one of the liveliest places in 

 Western Iowa, for its age. It sprung 

 up about 25 years ago, and has 2,500 

 population. Not finding any bee-keep^ 

 ers, I left at 3 p.m., and went to Glid- 

 den, where I met some old-time friends. 

 Mr. D. N. Smith has a few colonies, 

 having just started in bee-keeping. Mr. 

 J. M. Campbell, the bee-man, had a 

 "queen" up in the post-office that I 

 would rather associate with than the 

 ones in his bee-yard. Mr. G. M. Thorne 

 had 30 colonies, and lost 7 by smother- 

 ing. Mr. G. W. Hill had 15 colonies, 

 and lost 3 on account of lack of stores. 

 I made a personal examination of Mr. 

 Thome's bees on April 15, and know 

 whereof I speak. 



The loss in Glidden township did not 

 exceed 10 per cent., and all the loss 

 was caused by carelessness in not hav- 

 ing sufficient stores and proper ventila- 

 tion. 



I next went to Scranton City, Greene 

 county. In the morning I met Scott 

 Barker and John Garland, they having 

 a great many bees, but their loss will 

 not exceed 5 per cent., spring count. 

 Mr. D. R. Ansden lives one mile west of 

 Scranton City. I intended to visit him, 

 but time would not permit. Mr. A. lives 

 in Carroll county, and is County Super- 

 visor. I learned that his bees, as well 

 as those of other bee-keepers, are doing 

 well, considering the cold, backward 

 spring. 



I left at noon for Jefferson, the county 

 seat of Greene county, a railroad junc- 

 tion, with a population of 2,000. Here 

 I met John Dodge, sheriff-elect, who had 

 10 colonies last year, and obtained 12% 

 pounds of surplus honey per colony. His 

 loss from Nov. 24, was 5 per cent. Also 

 Mr. Samuel Wise, City Marshall, had 

 quite a start in bees, and his loss will be 



