AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



53 



CONVENTION DIRECTORY. 



Time and place of meeting. 



1892. 



July 21.— Carolina, at Charlotte, N. C. 



A. L. Beach, Sec. Steel Creek. N. C. 



Aug. 17.— Wabash Valley, at Vincennes, Ind. 

 Frank Vawter, Sec, Vincennes, Ind. 



Aug. 27.— Haldimand, at S. Cayuga, Ont. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



Sept. 7, 8.— Nebraska, at Lincoln, Nebr. 



L. D. Stilson, Sec, York, Nebr. 



Oct. 7.— Utah, at Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 John C. Swaner, Sec, Salt Lake City, Utah. 



1893. 



Jan. 13, 14.— S.W.Wisconsin, at Boscobel.Wis. 

 Benj. E. Rice, Sec, Boscobel, Wis. 



H^~ In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editors. 



North American Bee-Keepers' Association 



President— Eugene Secor.Jorest City, Iowa. 

 Secretary— W. Z. Hutchinson Flint, Mich. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon . .Dowagiac, Mich. 

 Sec'y and Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago. 



s£LE c JI < & 1 



Reports, Prospects, Etc. 



fcST" Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Working on the White Clover. 



Bees are booming on white clover, but 

 there has been little swarming so far. 

 H. H. Brown. 

 Light Street, Pa., June 24, 1892. 



The Apiary Ground, Etc. 



On page 832 of the Bee Journal for 

 June 23, Mr. S. C. Booher asks how to 

 keep an apiary yard free of grass, and 

 mentions a cement floor. Such a yard 

 would be extremely hot, and no doubt it 

 would have some influence towards 

 starting the vice of absconding, which, 

 at times, renders apiaries nearly worth- 

 less. Moreover, bees will be less profit- 

 able if the colony is overheated. I should 

 prefer the most pleasant lawn that 

 could be produced, instead of heated 



cement, coal-ashes, or barren ground of 

 any kind, even if a queen was lost occa- 

 sionally. 



Mr. B. is also quite right in regard to 

 taking bees from the cellar too early. 

 They should not be placed on the sum- 

 mer stands until there is plenty of pollen 

 to gather. J. H. Andre. 



Lockwood, N. Y. 



Expects a Good Fall Crop. 



I have 44 colonies, but they are very 

 light in bees. I had one swarm on June 

 25. It is so wet here. I look for a 

 good crop of fall honey. 



E. S. Hovey. 



Swanton, Iowa, June 27, 1892. 



Great Crop of White Clover. 



My bees have not done much on ac- 

 count of the wet weather. There is a 

 great crop of white clover, and if the 

 weather is favorable, I think the pros- 

 pects will be good for a honey crop. I 

 had one very large swarm on May 6, 

 and one on May 18. I use the Tinker 

 hive, which, I think, is the best hive 

 made for comb honey. I had one colony 

 of Italian bees in a Tinker hive last sea- 

 son, and took from it 61 pounds of comb 

 honey. N. W. Shultz. 



Shreve, Ohio, June 26, 1892. 



Swarm-Catchers — Prosperous Season. 



I notice on page 806, that Mr. Henry 

 Durham, of Indiana, claims to have 

 made and used a swarm-catcher two 

 years ago, that has been patented by a 

 bee-keeper in Minnesota a few weeks 

 ago. I do not think that the latter can 

 claim priority of invention.* I also made 

 and used the same swarm catcher two 

 years. I have had three of them in use 

 in my apiary since June, 1890, and 

 now have five. Mine was not exactly 

 the same shape, but it covers all the 

 claims that the one just patented can 

 claim. It does not appear to me that 

 the patent is valid. I have had some 

 experience in patents, and if I under- 

 stand the patent law rightly, it does not 

 allow patents to be issued on any article 

 that has been in use for two years, or 

 more, by other parties. I am prepared 

 to show, beyond a doubt, that I have 

 made and used this same invention for 

 two years, and I presume that Mr. Dur- 

 ham can show the same thing. 



I had intended to describe my swarm- 

 catcher in the Bee Journal, and give 



